The video will most likely be an S3 864/964 type chipset, and the
Ethernet will be a 10/100 Tulip chip for sure (since DEC makes them :-).
So really, your only concern will be the core chipset and whether it's
currently supported by Linux or not. All the peripheral stuff will work
fine.
Heikki Kortti wrote:
>
> Hullo,
>
> a certain group of people I know are planning on buying a Digital Server
> 5305. According to the vendor and one poxy fax-festered Digital tech info
> sheet, the specimen at hand sports the following:
>
> * 1 533MHz 21164 cpu with 4 MB cache
> * 1 GB RAM
> * 6 PCI + 1 PCI/EISA- slots
> * 2*9GB UltraSCSI hot-swap disks
> * TZ88N 20/40GB internal DLT tape drive
> * an _unspecified_ 3-channel RAID controller
> * an integrated 1 MB DRAM PCI SVGA controller
> * an integrated PCI Fast-Ethernet controller
>
> Of course there are also the usual extras thrown in for measure, such as
> cd-rom drive, floppy drive, monitor, keyboard, blah blah blah. Now, while
> all this seems so very fine and dandy, I'd like some expert opinions and
> educated guesses as to whether this machine would run Linux/Alpha without
> any hindrance, as the server is only designated as "64-bit Windows
> NT-ready" and having Windows NT 4.0 as "Certified Operating System", oh
> the horror! ;)
>
> Specifically, do any of you see any reason why the RAID controller or the
> DLT drive wouldn't work (driver availability etc.)? The make and type
> of the RAID controller is strangely unspecified; does this mean that
> it's likely to be some DEC thingy, or simply that it doesn't matter one
> way or another? Neither is the system board type defined -- do you see any
> problems there?
>
> The people who are buying this magnificent beast are very keen on
> promoting Linux and would be very pleased if someone could shed light on
> these functional matters before they start dishing out the money :-)
>
> * Heikki Kortti *