That all was overly simplified and I'd say even incorrect (Sorry). When
Alpha boots, powered on, or halts the control is being passed to a
special program that controls system console. That programs is always
present and it eats about 2Mb of system memory. The "console", in
addition to being able to perform some basic system tests and play with
some devices and firmware, knows how to start a boot sequence from any of
"bootable" devices using any of "bootable" protocols. From what I
understand, the PAL code is written in the way that it cannot screw up
those 2 Mb of RAM.
Wow. The extravagance of permanently keeping 2 megabytes of RAM tied up
for the convenience system ROM monitor is.... breathtaking.
- Ted