Dave
-------------
In article <199508162336.QAA28591@ami.atnet.net>, pgwduane@ami.atnet.net (Duane Sessions) writes:
|> I just recently (1 day now) moved from the x86 world to the Alpha world. I
|> have always enjoyed running Linux on the x86. I would like to be able to
|> run it on my new Alpha; however, I still must be able to boot Windows NT
|> 3.51. How difficult would it be to switch between the Arc console & the srm
|> console to run these two operating systems. I purchased my system from
|> Carrera Computer in CA, so it is using a Cabriolet MB at 200 Mhz.
|>
|> Is any of this possible? Any guidance and help would be greatly appreciated.
I'd like to suggest you another thing. The bootloader Milo for the Linux/Alpha
seems (I don't have an Alpha nor do I track the Alpha project very closly) only
to support the SRM firmware.
>
> The SRM console/firmware is *entirely* sperate. Alpha MILO was
> written to substitute for that, particularly on clone boards. It's
> an enabler to allow clone vendors to sell Alpha systems without
> having the engineering costs of porting the SRM console. At the
> same time, Alpha MILO has the advantage of (theorettically at least)
> being able to use *any* Linux device driver.
>
But I wrote the bootloader Milo (yes, the same
name. Purely random, I swear!)
>
> Yeah, I think that the biggest problem in computing today is
> to come up with a new name. How about Alpha MILO? You should
> note that my milo could be applied to other platforms (with effort).
>
for the Linux/MIPS systems running an ARC
firmware conforming to the MS specification. As I assume that the ARC firmware
in both systems is quite compatible and the assembler part in the MIPS / ARC
version of MILO is very low it shouldn't be to hard to change the bootloader
to support the Alpha. Just as proof - Milo itself is based on an old version of
the Linux/68k bootloader for the Amiga. That way booting from the ARC console
either one or another OS would be very convenient. If I however should have
based this posting on a wrong assumption about the ARC firmware for Alphas just
forget this posting.
Ralf
>
> I wouldn't assume that the WNT ARC firmware for 3.5.1 is
> compatible with the last issued ARC specification as that's
> somewhat old. It embodies the same principles though. I have
> managed to get Alpha MILO loaded via WNT ARC but I get problems
> swapping to the new PALcode (WNT PALcode is different from
> Digital Unix/Linux PALcode). It's on my list of things to do.
>
> Nice to hear from you.
>