DEC ALPHA

[Ronald Maggio]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert F. Stockdale IV" <javabob at localnet.com>
To: <nflug at nflug.org>
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 4:38 AM
Subject: Re: DEC ALPHA


> Not familar with MILO. Does it require a DOS partition?
> I noticed  when rereading it this AM that I left out the 1 on sdd1 at
> 170mb. nice catch. None the less as you start to use it you'll begin to
> see what partitions you need and their size requirements.
> I've always wanted to build an Alpha box so please keep me informed.
> Thank you.
> Bob
>
MILO is a system (hardware) booter. It works like LILO but its written for
DEC Alpha's.
After MILO boots the system it brings up linload.exe to start boot which
starts the boot
process. ie: the linux kernel, and your then cooking with gas! (The small
DOS partition is
needed because MILO and linload.exe are DOS files.)

Question?

How does one know how big to make the boot partition. The RedHat
Installation Guide
suggests a maximum of 30-something mb, but how do you know if what you've
made (size) as the
partition for boot is the correct amount in mb needed?

Well I got a few Alpha boxes and stuff for free. I had to clean them up and
rebuild one and put all of
it together. Now I'm trying to get it running.  I plan to get one or two up
and running and the
others for parts. I will be looking for more Digital stuff (DEC Alpha) as
soon as I can get some
money coming in. eBay has often people selling them, but you have to know
what your looking for
which I'm trying to learn what to go after. You have to be careful with eBay
so many people are out to
sell stuff that doesn't work or is missing parts. I would like to find if
there are any hanging around WNY that
nobody wants or is willing to sell for (cheap). The larger models have more
features, one or more CPU's
raid, and so on. The unites I have are the smallest web servers I've ever
seen. That is apparently what they
where used for at one time. Now their to slow for current web needs. An
Alpha 166Mhz unit is around the
same speed as a Pentium 100Mhz or so. I'm going to use one of them for
dialup and lan server/workstation.
Another one I have slated for use as a server/workstation no dialup on this
one just connected to the lan.
I read that if your interested in Alpha's that these small DEC Alpha's
(VX4...series) are the cheapest way
to go and they are a great way to learn Linux on an Alpha box. Let alone the
challenge of getting this type of
hardware working!

Ron M.