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Hi,
I'm new to plan 9 but am interested in getting it running on an Alpha
600a workstation that currently runs Redhat 6. I was wondering where I
should look to get started, and if this will be feasible. I've checked
out the website and docs but still have a few questions:
* It seems that the live cd has only x86 binaries. Is there a version
for the Alpha architecture?
* Are there any known hardware issues with the Alpha port?
Thanks!
On Feb 13, 2008 6:22 PM, devrin talen <jackfrost13@gmail.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> Hi,
>
> I'm new to plan 9 but am interested in getting it running on an Alpha
> 600a workstation that currently runs Redhat 6. I was wondering where I
> should look to get started, and if this will be feasible. I've checked
> out the website and docs but still have a few questions:
>
> * It seems that the live cd has only x86 binaries. Is there a version
> for the Alpha architecture?
> * Are there any known hardware issues with the Alpha port?
>
> Thanks!
>[/color]
AS600 has an EV5 cpu, not an EV56, so IIRC you might have to clean up
some assembler code and add some assembler for drivers to work
properly without BWX instructions (This is also a problem for my
AS255). Plan9 supported Alpha only by netbooting and only as CPU
server, at least this is what I heard (full transcript could be found
in archives). In order to get alpha binaries you will have to
recompile the system on a machine with working Plan9 installation (VM
is fine too) and for starters you will probably need one configured to
work as fileserver with alpha binaries.
You can find most of required CPU docs on the net, also *BSD might be
a good place to look for details about hardware and SRM. If you are
lucky enough, you might find somewhere the developer kits for Alpha
hardware manufacturers, which contained PALcode and SRM sources (If
you find, share them - I doubt there would be copyright problems,
given how much time passed since Compaq killed Alpha for Itanic)
Unfortunately my time for working on Alpha port is really limited and
my AS is in need of parts (It's really hard to get parity FP simms
these day, at least here, and 48 MB is not enough). And also my main
priority is to get a newer VMS installed on it, so Plan9 will need to
wait even more.
An interesting thing to try for porting might be DS10, for which
someone has been writing an emulator - It would be nice to show a
working Plan9 network composed of only Alphas one day :-)
--
Paul Lasek
Paweł Lasek wrote:[color=blue]
> Unfortunately my time for working on Alpha port is really limited and
> my AS is in need of parts (It's really hard to get parity FP simms
> these day, at least here, and 48 MB is not enough). And also my main
> priority is to get a newer VMS installed on it, so Plan9 will need to
> wait even more.
>
> An interesting thing to try for porting might be DS10, for which
> someone has been writing an emulator - It would be nice to show a
> working Plan9 network composed of only Alphas one day :-)[/color]
I have AlphaStations in Sydney, Australia which are free to good homes.
A pile of AS200s and a very big pile of AS255s (I think - I'll have to
check again).
I probably have enough to give at least one to everybody active on
9fans. (I'm not kidding).
I have to get rid of them too.
E-mail me off-list if you're interested to negotiate transport/pickup.
I will also make it clear that I don't have time to pre-test to weed out
broken units or to run around chasing couriers, so only if you're
serious, thanks.
- Chris.
> Paweł Lasek wrote:[color=blue][color=green]
>> Unfortunately my time for working on Alpha port is really limited and
>> my AS is in need of parts (It's really hard to get parity FP simms
>> these day, at least here, and 48 MB is not enough). And also my main
>> priority is to get a newer VMS installed on it, so Plan9 will need to
>> wait even more.
>>
>> An interesting thing to try for porting might be DS10, for which
>> someone has been writing an emulator - It would be nice to show a
>> working Plan9 network composed of only Alphas one day :-)[/color]
>
> I have AlphaStations in Sydney, Australia which are free to good homes.
> A pile of AS200s and a very big pile of AS255s (I think - I'll have to
> check again).
>
> I probably have enough to give at least one to everybody active on
> 9fans. (I'm not kidding).
>
> I have to get rid of them too.
>
> E-mail me off-list if you're interested to negotiate transport/pickup.
>
> I will also make it clear that I don't have time to pre-test to weed out
> broken units or to run around chasing couriers, so only if you're
> serious, thanks.
>
> - Chris.[/color]
Yes, people, please take them and work on the port... my AlphaStation
250 is lonely only running VMS.
John