Help needed with AlphaPC 164LX

Chris · External Since: Oct 07, 2006 Posts: 4

I will like to access the bios and i don't know how its a new toy i got
from a friend and tryingf to install windows 2000 server on it.

Chris · External Since: Oct 07, 2006 Posts: 4

Thank you for your info. I have no clue how to use this AlphaPC or
install freebsd on this. I should just sell it or do a trade

Cheers
Robert M. Riches Jr. wrote:
> On 2006-10-08, Chris <singlenightlife.TakeThisOut@rogers.com> wrote:
> > I will like to access the bios and i don't know how its a new toy i got
> > from a friend and tryingf to install windows 2000 server on it.
>
> It appears something garbled your posting, removing a lot of
> punctuation and capitalization. I think you meant to post
> the following:
>
> I would like to access the BIOS, and I don't know
> how. It's a new toy I got from a friend, and I'm
> trying to install Windows 2000 Server on it.
>
> In case you're not aware, the Alpha computer instruction set
> architecture is entirely different from the X86 (aka IA32)
> instruction set architecture found in most of the computers
> sold on the street. Unless you have a copy of Windows 2000
> Server for the Alpha architecture, you're probably not going
> to get very far, unless it might be possible to run it in
> emulation. Unless I'm mistaken, I believe the machine model
> you gave in the subject line is an Alpha machine.
>
> On all the Alpha machines I have seen or heard of, you
> access the system firmware by powering up the machine. The
> system firmware you find on an Alpha machine is going to be
> much different from the BIOS you would find on an X86
> machine.
>
> If you're wanting to use it as an Alpha machine, please post
> exactly what you see on screen or from the serial port when
> you power it up.
>
> If you're wanting an X86 machine, I suspect you might be
> able to find someone willing to buy that Alpha machine or
> trade for it. I wouldn't be intereste, however.
>
> HTH
>
> --
> Robert Riches
> spamtrap42.TakeThisOut@verizon.net
> (Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)

Robert M. Riches Jr. · External Since: Apr 19, 2004 Posts: 1289

On 2006-10-08, Chris <singlenightlife.TakeThisOut@rogers.com> wrote:
> I will like to access the bios and i don't know how its a new toy i got
> from a friend and tryingf to install windows 2000 server on it.

It appears something garbled your posting, removing a lot of
punctuation and capitalization. I think you meant to post
the following:

I would like to access the BIOS, and I don't know
how. It's a new toy I got from a friend, and I'm
trying to install Windows 2000 Server on it.

In case you're not aware, the Alpha computer instruction set
architecture is entirely different from the X86 (aka IA32)
instruction set architecture found in most of the computers
sold on the street. Unless you have a copy of Windows 2000
Server for the Alpha architecture, you're probably not going
to get very far, unless it might be possible to run it in
emulation. Unless I'm mistaken, I believe the machine model
you gave in the subject line is an Alpha machine.

On all the Alpha machines I have seen or heard of, you
access the system firmware by powering up the machine. The
system firmware you find on an Alpha machine is going to be
much different from the BIOS you would find on an X86
machine.

If you're wanting to use it as an Alpha machine, please post
exactly what you see on screen or from the serial port when
you power it up.

If you're wanting an X86 machine, I suspect you might be
able to find someone willing to buy that Alpha machine or
trade for it. I wouldn't be intereste, however.

HTH

--
Robert Riches
spamtrap42.TakeThisOut@verizon.net
(Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)

Chris · External Since: Oct 07, 2006 Posts: 4

I will try to install windows NT, But the problem is how to i get it to
boot from Cd-rom theres a linux os install on it right now. Whats the
key to enter to the cmos

Thanks
Chris
MC wrote:
> Chris wrote:
> > Thank you for your info. I have no clue how to use this AlphaPC or
> > install freebsd on this. I should just sell it or do a trade
>
> Dear Chris,
>
> If you want a windows operating system, you can use Windows NT 4.0, as
> it is also made specifically for Alpha (unfortunately it never made it
> past RC2 for windows 2000). Normally the firmware/BIOS/ARCloader will
> allow you to install NT from CD directly.
>
> Once NT is installed you can also run x86 programs on it with FX!32,
> Digital's emulator. So you don't need to have alpha-specific programs
> per se (although it will be slower than native programs of course)
>
> If arcloader (system partition) isn't installed yet, you can use the
> installer (ARCINST) from the NT4 CD in the \Alpha subdirectory
>
> HTH
>
> MC

MC · External Since: Oct 05, 2006 Posts: 3

Chris wrote:
> Thank you for your info. I have no clue how to use this AlphaPC or
> install freebsd on this. I should just sell it or do a trade

Dear Chris,

If you want a windows operating system, you can use Windows NT 4.0, as
it is also made specifically for Alpha (unfortunately it never made it
past RC2 for windows 2000). Normally the firmware/BIOS/ARCloader will
allow you to install NT from CD directly.

Once NT is installed you can also run x86 programs on it with FX!32,
Digital's emulator. So you don't need to have alpha-specific programs
per se (although it will be slower than native programs of course)

If arcloader (system partition) isn't installed yet, you can use the
installer (ARCINST) from the NT4 CD in the \Alpha subdirectory

HTH

MC

MC · External Since: Oct 05, 2006 Posts: 3

Chris wrote:
> I will try to install windows NT, But the problem is how to i get it to
> boot from Cd-rom theres a linux os install on it right now. Whats the
> key to enter to the cmos
>
This should give you a lot of info. note especially chapter 7:

http://www.microway.com/downloads/LX/LX_USER.pdf

voyeur · External Since: Sep 27, 2006 Posts: 9

MC wrote:
> Chris wrote:
>> Thank you for your info. I have no clue how to use this AlphaPC or
>> install freebsd on this. I should just sell it or do a trade
>
> Dear Chris,
>
> If you want a windows operating system, you can use Windows NT 4.0, as
> it is also made specifically for Alpha (unfortunately it never made it
> past RC2 for windows 2000). Normally the firmware/BIOS/ARCloader will
> allow you to install NT from CD directly.
>
> Once NT is installed you can also run x86 programs on it with FX!32,
> Digital's emulator. So you don't need to have alpha-specific programs
> per se (although it will be slower than native programs of course)
>
> If arcloader (system partition) isn't installed yet, you can use the
> installer (ARCINST) from the NT4 CD in the \Alpha subdirectory
>
> HTH
>
> MC
Have one. positively works 50X faster in Linux than in NT. Would
Recommend you take a look at all the Alpha OSes over at
http://livecdlist.com and http://distrowatch.com

The first is 310 liveCDroms of Linux, BSD, and you search sorted by
machine, for the Alpha architecture.

The second goes into more depth in the reviews, uses, etc. Lists 500+
OSes, and does searches, with the top 100 OSes on the first page.

If you listed the unit for sale, it would go pretty fast. Check out the
listings in eBay. Of course, you can list it here, and probably get
some of us to squabble over it! That machine would be an Update, for my
network!

Some of the deals for Alpha OSes are:
FREE Debian Linux for the Alpha at both the URLs above.

Kondura Server in the Retail box, for $4.95 at http://cheapbytes.com
in the Clearances section.

Red Hat runs Alpha systems, and I think I remember that there were some
30 in my search of the LiveCDlist site.

Chris · External Since: Oct 07, 2006 Posts: 4

I will like to sell it open to offers i can make a full system if you
wish

Alpha 164LX
533MHZ CPU and board
512MB

voyeur wrote:
> MC wrote:
> > Chris wrote:
> >> Thank you for your info. I have no clue how to use this AlphaPC or
> >> install freebsd on this. I should just sell it or do a trade
> >
> > Dear Chris,
> >
> > If you want a windows operating system, you can use Windows NT 4.0, as
> > it is also made specifically for Alpha (unfortunately it never made it
> > past RC2 for windows 2000). Normally the firmware/BIOS/ARCloader will
> > allow you to install NT from CD directly.
> >
> > Once NT is installed you can also run x86 programs on it with FX!32,
> > Digital's emulator. So you don't need to have alpha-specific programs
> > per se (although it will be slower than native programs of course)
> >
> > If arcloader (system partition) isn't installed yet, you can use the
> > installer (ARCINST) from the NT4 CD in the \Alpha subdirectory
> >
> > HTH
> >
> > MC
> Have one. positively works 50X faster in Linux than in NT. Would
> Recommend you take a look at all the Alpha OSes over at
> http://livecdlist.com and http://distrowatch.com
>
> The first is 310 liveCDroms of Linux, BSD, and you search sorted by
> machine, for the Alpha architecture.
>
> The second goes into more depth in the reviews, uses, etc. Lists 500+
> OSes, and does searches, with the top 100 OSes on the first page.
>
> If you listed the unit for sale, it would go pretty fast. Check out the
> listings in eBay. Of course, you can list it here, and probably get
> some of us to squabble over it! That machine would be an Update, for my
> network!
>
> Some of the deals for Alpha OSes are:
> FREE Debian Linux for the Alpha at both the URLs above.
>
> Kondura Server in the Retail box, for $4.95 at http://cheapbytes.com
> in the Clearances section.
>
> Red Hat runs Alpha systems, and I think I remember that there were some
> 30 in my search of the LiveCDlist site.