NetBSD/sys/arch/alpha/README

$NetBSD: README,v 1.8 1996/04/25 00:11:09 cgd Exp $

Obtaining NetBSD/Alpha sources and binaries:

	NetBSD/Alpha's sources, with the exceptions of the GNU
	toolchain and X11 code, are integrated into NetBSD-current,
	and are available from:
		ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-current/

	The latest NetBSD/Alpha binary snapshot, and source snapshots
	for the toolchain and X11 code, can be found at:
		ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/alpha

	Binary snapshots include two different set of system binaries:
		(1) an rz25 disk image, for first-time installation
		    (see below for instructions), and
		(2) three tar files of the binaries, for updates.
		    (one of the tar files is the contents of /etc,
		    one contains X11 binaries, and the last is everything
		    else, except the kernel and the installed boot block.)
		    There are no instructions on how to use these.
		    Good luck!  8-)

	Binary snapshots include two precompiled kernels available: one
	generic kernel which will prompt for a disk name to be used as
	the root device, and one which tries to boot diskless via
	bootp and NFS.  The generic kernel is included in the rz25
	disk image.

	The sources provided seperately from the normal NetBSD-current
	distribution are:
		(1) complete compiler toolchain sources
		(2) diffs against the XFree86 3.1.2 distribution to
		    make X work with NetBSD/Alpha.  (Note that
		    at this time, the diffs are against 3.1.2,
		    i.e. not against 3.1.2D, etc.)
	
	If you are using or are interested in the NetBSD/Alpha port, I
	suggest that you subscribe to the NetBSD "port-alpha" mailing list
	by sending an email message to majordomo@netbsd.org with no
	subject and with a body of "subscribe port-alpha" (without the
	quotes).  For help on using majordomo, send it mail with an empty
	subject and body.  In general, questions about NetBSD/Alpha
	are best asked on that mailing list (rather than by sending me
	mail directly).

Installing the NetBSD/Alpha distribution:

	[ Note that these instructions are minimal; it's assumed that if
	  you're going to be installing this, you're knowledgeable about
	  booting Alphas and doing sysadmin-ish stuff, are willing to look
	  in your Alpha documentation, or are brave.  If they're really not
	  good enough to get you running, get in touch with me and I'll try
	  to help you. ]

	To install the NetBSD/Alpha distribution, you'll need a disk at
	least the size of an RZ25 -- about 406Mb.  Once you've gotten the
	binary distribution, gunzip it and dd it to the raw disk.  The binary
	distribution includes a disklabel and boot block, so you don't need
	to do anything special to make it bootable.  The binary distribution's
	file systems are created with an older version ("Level 1") of the
	Berkeley Fast File System format, so that you can mount, read, and
	write them under Digital UNIX.

	If your are using one of the supported systems that includes a
	PCI bus, and have either a PCI VGA frame buffer of any type or
	a ZLXp-E1 frame buffer, you may use it as console.  (If you
	are using your frame buffer as the console, you should use the
	terminal type 'sun'.)  Otherwise (if you are using a TurboChannel
	Alpha or have a different kind of frame buffer, you have to use
	a serial console.)
	
	Boot the Alpha with the NetBSD disk, supplying the boot flag "-s".
	It should print something like "NetBSD/Alpha Boot program", load
	the kernel, print a copyright, and print various startup messages.
	Included among those startup messages will be names (e.g. "sd0",
	"cd0") for all of the SCSI disks in your system that NetBSD
	recognizes.  Eventually, you will be prompted for the name of
	the root device, and should enter the device name (e.g. "sd0")
	of the device that corresponds to your NetBSD disk.

	After a short while, you should be asked for the name of a shell
	to use; just hit return.  You're advised to fsck the disk at this
	point (the root partition is partition 'a' and the /usr partition
	is partition 'd'), remount the root partition read-write (use mount
	-u root-dev /), and create some necessary system information files:
		/etc/hosts
		/etc/resolv.conf
			DNS resolver configuration information, if you
			want to use DNS.
		/etc/myname
			The hostname of the machine.
		/etc/mygate
			The LAN's gateway's IP address, if your network
			setup requires that a static route to the
			gateway be created.
		/etc/hostname.xxy
			(where "xxy" is your machine's ethernet
			interface name, e.g. "le0" for TurboChannel
			machines or "de0" for PCI machines.)
			The IP address, etc., for the named network
			interface.  (You can have multiple of these
			files, for example, if the machine is
			multi-homed.)  The format can be discerned by
			looking in /etc/netstart, and is typically
			something like:
			    inet hostname.in.etc.hosts net.mask broadcast.addr
			where the netmask is formatted as a hex number
			(e.g. 0xffffff00), and the broadcast address
			is formatted as an IP address (e.g.  128.2.255.255)
		/etc/fstab
			The file system information table for the system.
			A prototype is in /etc/fstab.sd.
	(You can also create the files mentioned above by mounting the
	disk's file systems under Digital UNIX.)

	Once those files are created, you should be able to boot the system
	multi-user.  To do so, halt the system and boot again from the
	NetBSD disk, this time supplying the boot flag "-a".

	If you used a disk other than an RZ25, you may want to edit the
	disk's disklabel, and create one or more partitions after the
	existing partitions to use the extra space.


Chris Demetriou
cgd@cs.cmu.edu