NetBSD runs quite well on the 200 4/233 -- we have had four of those running
as production servers for about the past three years or so.  They run a mix
of 1.4, 1.4.1 and 1.5.  

The built-in NCR SCSI has worked perfectly for me, but I will admit to never
having even tried to install X.  And I yanked out the silly PCMCIA-to-ISA
adapters.  :-)

If you have SRM on it (I think most do), you can do a netboot from the
firmware, install 1.5(.1) over the network/FTP, and be up and running in no
time -- it's quite lovely, and you don't have to go rummaging in the
basement for one of those floppy disk things you once had!

-----
Tom Haapanen
tomh@motorsport.com


-----Original Message-----
From: B. James Phillippe [mailto:bryan@terran.org]
Sent: 05 September 2001 20:22 
To: NetBSD/Alpha
Subject: Newbie seeks advice: AlphaStation 200

Greetings,

I am very new to NetBSD; I ordered a Wasabi 1.5 4-CD set today, but have
yet to install or even use NetBSD. :-)  I am an experienced Linux/Alpha
user, and have both a diskless multia and an AlphaStation 200 4/233.

I have been reading the FAQ's and docs on the netbsd.org site regarding the
Alpha port, but I suspect that some of the information may be out of date.
Particularly, the docs state that the ZLXp-E2 is not supported and that the
NCR SCSI driver is buggy.  Is this accurate?  If so, is there any hope of
running X on this system, and does the text-mode console have any trouble?
Also, if the SCSI driver is buggy, in what way?

Also, this system usually comes with an ISA PCMCIA bridge card (as does
mine), but I did not see any mention of support for that.

Otherwise, I am hoping my system is a good candidate for a light-duty
server running NetBSD, and a good learning platform for the OS.

Some other newbie questions I have:

	o Is it easy enough to move from 1.5 to 1.5.1?
	o Is there a resource or FAQ some place that contains information
	  I might find helpful in configuration of this system (such as
	  sound card settings)?
	o Are there any known "gotchas" for NetBSD on this model?  Things
	  that don't work, known bugs, etc?

Thank you,
-bp
--
# bryan at terran dot org
# http://www.terran.org/~bryan