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dnl $OpenBSD: prep,v 1.22 2004/03/23 21:05:06 jmc Exp $
OpenBSD/MACHINE requires the SRM console. Some alphas come with
the AlphaBIOS (also known as the ARC firmware on older machines) instead;
this is what Windows NT uses. It is fairly simple to replace the AlphaBIOS
with the SRM firmware.
Switching your MACHINE to SRM console:
Recent machines (such as the Miata and later models) have enough flash
ROM space to carry both the AlphaBIOS and the SRM console.
To switch to SRM from AlphaBIOS, do the following:
- enter the AlphaBIOS setup upon startup
(F2 key, or ^B from serial console)
- choose "CMOS Setup" from the menu
- select "Advanced CMOS Setup" (F6 key, or ^F from serial console)
- change the "Console Selection" setting to "OpenVMS console (SRM)"
- confirm your changes with F10 (or ^U) twice, then enter.
- power-cycle your system for the changes to take effect.
If you didn't find a "Console Selection" entry (for example on 164SX or
164LX), your system can not hold both the AlphaBIOS and SRM console in
flash, and you will have to upgrade your firmware.
You can get replacement firmware either from a firmware update CD-ROM
or via FTP from
ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/
Please refer to
http://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/readme.html
for more information.
AXPpci33 Motherboard specific notes:
The 1994 version of the OEM guide has an incorrect pinout
for the serial ports. The newer version from
ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/Digital/axppci/design_guide.ps.Z
has a corrected pinout (as well as more information than
the 1994 edition). Note that there are two flavors
of PC serial connectors. If you have the wrong kind,
you won't get any output from the serial console.
Using the SRM console:
This is not intended to be an exhaustive guide on using the
SRM firmware console. It should, however, give you enough
information to boot OpenBSD/MACHINE.
To see a list of devices connected to your alpha, you can
use the "show device" command. For booting, the devices you
are interested in are "dva0" (the floppy drive) and
"dka*" (the disk drives).
You can set ROM variables by saying "set VARIABLE VALUE".
Some variables you will want to set:
auto_action Determines what happens when you turn the power on,
halt, or crash your machine. Valid values
{:-include-:} "halt", "boot", and "restart".
Most users will want to set this to "boot".
bootdef_dev Default boot device (or list of devices).
boot_file Name of the kernel to boot. If this variable is
empty, "bsd" will be loaded. Note that this
variable does not exist in all versions of the SRM
console, in which case you need to always specify a
kernel filename if it differs from "bsd".
boot_osflags Flags to pass to the kernel.
IMPORTANT! For multiuser boot, this needs to be
set to "a".
To see a list of all variables on your machine, use the "show"
command with no arguments.
You can bypass the boot_file and boot_osflags values from the command
prompt, with the -fi (to override boot_file) and -fl (to override
boot_osflags) options. For example,
boot -fi bsd -fl ac dka0
will boot the "bsd" kernel with the "ac" flags on dka0. However, some
versions of the SRM console (mainly on DEC 3000 series) will only let
you specify uppercase filenames.
SRM console boot device restrictions:
The SRM firmware on your system may or may not be able to boot from
any disk controller you may install in your MACHINE.
The built-in disk controllers on your MACHINE will always be supported,
however on IDE-based machines, such as the EB164, 164SX and 164LX, as
well as the low-end Personal Workstation (non-u models), you can plug
in a SCSI controller, and boot from it if it is recognized.
Recent SRM releases for these machines will be able to boot from the
following controllers:
QLogic PCI SCSI controllers
Symbios Logic (NCR) 53C8xx (but not on PC164)
Adaptec AHA-[23]9[34]x[U][W] cards
The following controllers are known not to be supported as boot devices
by the SRM:
Adaptec AHA-[23]9[34]xU2 cards
Depending on your specific model, your mileage may vary, though.
A more detailed, and perhaps more up-to-date, list is available at the
following URL: http://www.pofo.de/alpha-boot
OpenBSD/MACHINE console device restrictions:
On systems with no framebuffer supported, including all
TURBOchannel-based machines, OpenBSD/MACHINE must be used with a
serial console. Setting an Alpha system to use a serial console
is system-specific. The procedure for most common hardware is:
DEC 3000/[4-9]00's:
Flip the appropriate switch on the back of the machine.
DEC 3000/300 family machines:
Boot the machine with the keyboard/mouse connector
unplugged.
Other machines running the SRM console on local display:
From the SRM console, enter
set console serial
at the SRM prompt, then enter
init
or cycle power.
See your owner's manual for more details on how to set your machine
to use a serial console.
Note that some MACHINE computers currently *require* a serial console
and can't be used from a regular keyboard/display console, even though
the motherboard has appropriate connectors.
Currently, only the TURBOchannel MACHINE computers (DEC 3000) require
use of a serial console.
If booting using the regular console aborts with ``not configured to
use display && keyboard console'', then you need to use a serial
console.
If your machine was not listed in the list above, please report this
to <alpha@OpenBSD.org>.
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