Alpha Core

No News Is ...

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 22:53:37 +1000

... interesting news.

Alpha Core has been quiet lately, but it's not for lack of activity behind the scenes. We have something important to announce; there will not be an Alpha Core 4.

Don't start crying yet, though.

Instead of Alpha Core 4, we hope that in a few months you'll join us in celebrating the release of Fedora 8 for Alpha. It's been a long time coming, and a lot of work has gone into the project, but it looks like the Alpha platform will be synchronised up with the mainstream releases of Fedora for the first time.

You can read more about what's going on with the Fedora Secondary Architectures proposal here, and we'll post more updates as they come in.

We could really use package builders and testers, and if you'd like to get on board and help out in any way, please get in touch with us, because the more people involved, the better.

Alpha Core 3 - "Nastia"

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 09:13:19 +1100

Alpha Core 3 is now available, based on Fedora Core 5, with some modifications. See the download page for links. Mirrors will be added as they become available.

This release will only boot on SRM console machines, MILO support is not available. Continue reading below for the full release notes. Alpha Core 3 Release Notes
==============================

Welcome to Alpha Core 3 (Nastia) final version !

This release is based on the Fedora Core 5 release + some packages from updates. Everything's just been a straight rebuild of the SRPMs where possible. Where changes have been necessary, the release number has had "axp" and a further revision number appended.

Where a package has failed to build properly, or something not worked we followed the following steps:

1) Check for obvious problems caused by the build system having older versions of supporting utilities. Rebuild those first.

2) See if the cause is something obvious that can be fixed with a simple change to the .spec file. A couple of the uglier hacks come from this step (see the Beecrypt SRPM).

3) Grab the latest version of the package from the Rawhide tree and try building that, try match a compromise version but not necessarily latest (see kernel).

4) Hunted alpha specific bugs and write patches wich are submited to Fedora folks upstream, and merged with our alphacore.

Things in AC3 (in addition to FC5 release notes)
================================================

1. gcc 4.1.1-1 - one of the latest version of gcc tree with working java. Most of the java packages are built and included into the distribution.

Special features
----------------

1. mono 1.2.2.1.fc5axp - preview of C# on Alpha. Just-In-Time (JIT) produces native code.

Alpha Kernel Notes
------------------
1. Recent kernel 2.6.17. The distribution kernel supports some new sysctl calls (they are not exported in vanilla kernel).

2. Support for TITAN-based machines (DS15/DS25/ES45) and TSUNAMI-based machines (DS10/DS20/ES40/XP1000) can now handle graphics controllers not on the primary PCI "hose" (aka domain). This is important especially for DS15 and ES45, since the PCI bus with slots on DS15 is hose #2, and the AGP slot on ES45 is also hose #2.

3. Support for MARVEL (ES47 et al) is now working (default: 16 CPUs max)

4. The problem with AS800/Digital Server 3305 and DE500-BA tulip NIC crashing is now fixed

Huge thanks to Jay Estabrook.

Alpha XORG 7.1.1 Notes
----------------------

1. DRI/DRM for Radeon-based graphics cards seems quite stable.

2. DRI/DRM will now work on graphics cards not in "hose" #0, so 3D apps will run on DS15 and ES45/AGP.

3. Modular Xorg server is expected to work.

Known Issues
============
1. Java packages could produce "unaligned access exception" (UAE) messages in /var/log/message. They are very rare.

2. gcc could produce a code that can generate UAEs. In most cases that is the problem in source code that should be fixed.

3. No support for MILO machines. Sorry.

4. The installer offer less functionality than before. Don't try to customize packages during install - it likely won't work. Just let the installer to install packages for one of predefined configurations. Additional packages could be installed later manually or via "yum" from local repository.

5. The SMP kernel is not installed by default - it should be installed manually.

6. The installer doesn't install the correct xorg driver (as far as I understand it installs vesa driver). The proper driver should be installed manually.

7. The NFS image install expects to have just iso images in exported directory (not the full install tree). Just copy distribution iso images to exported NFS directory and select "NFS image" install method (the installer should be ran with "askmethod" parameter).

8. The "prelink" package doesn't work.

The iso images are available at:
ftp://ftp.rdsor.ro/pub/Linux/Distributions/AlphaLinux/core/3.0b/iso

The SRPMS iso image is available too.

Hall of Fame
============
Thanks very much to Jay Estabrook (HP) for his kernel/xorg patches and testing efforts and support. He helped to resolve a showstopper issue with xorg packages that really delayied the AC3 release.
Thanks very much to Cristian Balint for being with the project.
Thanks to RedHat who accept patches for Alpha.

Also a very special thanks for people who participated on the mailing list with posting suggestions and bug reports.

If want to participate or just simply feel that something not work please mail or check these out:
AXP-List: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/axp-list

"Do svidania", hope for meeting on an AC 4 release.

Regards,
Sergey.

tsv@solvo.ru

All The Cool Kids Have a Wiki

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 18:10:25 +1100

In an attempt to decrease our reliance on these frequently spammer-targeted forums, I've set up a Wiki for the Alpha and/or Alpha Core.

There's absolutely nothing there yet, but I'd like to encourage anyone and everyone who knows of something useful that's in these forums to just paste it in to the Wiki somewhere.

Don't stress over formatting or "proper" presentation. We can figure that out later. For now, I think the important thing is to start getting some of the really good information about the Alpha that we've got into some well-defined and searchable place.

2.0 Reseeded

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 13:11:29 +1000

No, this isn't a new release, or a dodgy sequel. Just a note that the 2.0 release ISOs are being re-seeded, so there's a new BitTorrent link on the download page.

Thanks to Jeff Garzik for noticing the issue and sorting something out. The 1.0 and even the 0.9 releases are also on his mirror, if you're the curious and experimental type.

2.0 Release - Tosia

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 18:32:45 +1100

Alpha Core 2 is now available, based on Fedora Core 4. See the download page for links. Mirrors will be added as they become available.

This release is expected to boot on most modern Alpha systems.

MD5SUM list:
b9739b349941b558c06814b5b2e5318b ac2-disk1.iso
b078896e1862ba211364e6286aa6ee26 ac2-disk2.iso
e58d2c4956e7c46aaec664a2fe04a5e2 ac2-disk3.iso
f6c6946e095c238c7242d36adba59d06 ac2-disk4.iso
Main features of this release:
- GCC 4.0 with working Java
- All packages are built with GCC 4.0
- Most Java packages
- Eclipse IDE
- Fixed autopartitioning and update mode during setup
- Framebuffer driver for TGA video adapters works

Known issues:
- SMP kernel doesn't work (someone could try older AC1 kernel)
- Java interpreter (GIJ) could generate unaligned access exceptions (UAE) while running Java code
- GCC could generate code that will produce UAEs. This is due bad coding practices. :)
- AS800 still requires a disconnect of network cable in order to boot

2.0 Boot Test

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 10:21:20 +1000

A new boot ISO image is available, to test compatibility for the upcoming 2.0 release. If you have any Alphas around, and a little time to spare, please download the image and try it out.

Please note that there are no packages on this disc - it is simply to test the boot kernel. Booting into "rescue" mode is sufficient.

Submit success or failure reports to the forums. Thanks!

CentOS 4.1 on Alpha

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 10:42:25 +1000

This is bordering on "old news", but since a fair few people come by here as a result of searches, it'd be best noted.

Note to self: moving to a new house and maintaining a web site is a tricky thing to balance.

A beta port of CentOS 4.1 for the Alpha is now available. CentOS is a community built and maintained distribution based on Red Hat's Enterprise Linux distribution. It's much less of a moving target than Fedora Core, and may well be a good option for those of you wanting to run a more stable server system.

The Alpha is looking less like a second-class citizen every day. Good work, folks.

History of the Alpha

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Sat, 21 May 2005 14:29:43 +1000

An informative article on the history of the Alpha was recently mentioned on the NetBSD Alpha mailing list (and passed on to others). Worth a read.

Other Operating Systems

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Wed, 18 May 2005 13:42:30 +1000

In the interests of bumping up the "useful information" quotient of this site, I've started building a list of links to other operating systems for the Alpha.

Suggestions to this thread in the forums, please.

Compatibility List

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Thu, 12 May 2005 16:36:18 +1000

While all my Alphas are still in storage, I'm going to try making myself useful by maintaining a somewhat definitive compatibility list.

If you've had a success or a failure installing on a particular variant of an Alpha system, please make a post in the forum detailing how it went.

This will eventually lead to machine-specific pages on the site, and possibly the beginnings of an FAQ.

Forums Open

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Wed, 11 May 2005 10:57:58 +1000

The discussion forum is now open. It's very minimal, but should be a decent enough place for anyone to get some questions answered.

Another good option is Red Hat's Alpha mailing list. All the developers hang out there, and many other good people too. It's worth joining up.

Soap Box

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Wed, 11 May 2005 00:44:53 +1000

While the release of 1.0 has some people's attention, I'd like to get in a little plug for a site I'm trying to get started out. Practical Unix is an idea that's been kicking around in my head for a while (since 2001, according the the domain registration date) and it's now time to send it off into the world and see what happens.

I'd appreciate anyone dropping by with either questions or answers. It won't get anywhere without people. Thanks!

1.0 Release - Svetlana

mike@grouse.net.au (Mike Barnes) — Tue, 10 May 2005 21:34:20 +1000

ISO images for Alpha Core version 1.0 are now available. See the download page for links.

MD5SUM list:
073e9c4f1173bfefb9b2c21a34dbde96 svetlana-disk1.iso
5e7082d364f850706c281ec9ee17077b svetlana-disk2.iso
50161c70f12fff7ca084f1d043242dd4 svetlana-disk3.iso
d8b755a1330dfd77bb8e962595076bbe svetlana-disk4.iso