Starting FreeBSD from AlphaBIOS

[Nikos Ntarmos]

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On Fri, Nov 30, 2007 at 10:50:37AM +0100, Ruzsinszky Attila wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Can I start my FreeBSD from AlphaBIOS? If yes, how?
> Or how can I switch back to SRM from AlphaBIOS?
> 
> I'm on the serial console and after I started AlphaBIOS
> I just can push the reset button on the machine. And if am I
> far from the machine?

If you're going to run anything other than NT, you'd better go the SRM
way. If your board doesn't have SRM loaded, head over to [1] for
download and installation instructions. You will then be able to enter
the AlphaBios setup program and select SRM from Utilities -> CMOS Setup
- -> Advanced -> Console selection. Keep in mind that you'll need BSD-type
disklabels on your boot disk, but that's ok with Linux and all BSDs.

There is also a method to swith between AlphaBios and SRM; have a look at
[2] (although that one pertains more to the linux folk). FWIW I switched
my 164SX to SRM a decade ago and never looked back at AlphaBios since
then...

Some of the alpha boards didn't have enough space for both firmware
images and you could have only one of them loaded at each time (and
needed to flash the other one back, should you decide to change
firmwares), so ymmv.

\n\n

[1] http://ftp.digital.com/pub/Digital/Alpha/firmware/readme.html
[2] http://lists.debian.org/debian-alpha/1999/04/msg00009.html
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Comment: Nikos Ntarmos <ntarmos at ceid.upatras.gr>

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