> Thomas J. Merritt writes:
>  > 4)	What Alpha machines and configurations are people planning
>  > 	on running NetBSD/Alpha on?
> 
> I'd be particularly interested in knowing how much memory is
> suggested/required.  I'm running OSF/1 3.0 now, and even without an X
> server running 32M of memory is barely tolerable.  I'm hoping
> NetBSD/Alpha is more efficient than OSF/1.

It definitely eats less statically allocated kernel memory.  The
kernel image is about half the size...  I've only run it on machines
with 64M of RAM, and as far as i know haven't had any problems.  sick
example: about a week before i got the release out the door, i was
running with _no_ swap space and with a full 34M MFS file system, and
doing several compiles at once... (i.e. it _couldn't_ page -- so it
apparently didn't need to, with that load.  8-)

> Also, are there any plans to start supporing the PCI based machines
> from DEC & the clone makers?

definitely the former.  no plans for the latter, at least on my end --
i've got none of the clone hardware, and i've got friends who work for
DEC...  8-)

> One would think that a lot of code for
> PCI hardware could be leveraged from the i386 port.  Plus, it seems
> like frame-buffer support would be much easier.

Quite true...  you'll note that there was a mass migration of the ISA,
EISA, and PCI code from the arch/i386 tree to a machine-independent
area about 2 weeks before the alpha code went into the tree...
You'll note that the migration was performed by me.  You can draw
your own conclusioins.  8-)

As for having easier frame buffer support:

That's not clear, at least with the standard frame buffer on the
AlphaStations -- it's a TGA, which from what i gather is the same as a
21030, which from what i gather isn't too far off from a PMAGB-B, the
Smart Frame Buffer.  So it's not at all clear that it'll be easier, at
least with stock hardware, on the PCI machines.  (Note that it may be
possible to sleaze a solution, and use a PC video board in addition to
the TGA, but there are too many imponderables to even consider that,
for me, at this time.)



chris