> I have a system based on the EB164 (21164 processor).  Does NetBSD run
> on these systems?
>
> The board is similar to the AlphaStation 600.

The answer is "how similar?"  8-)

If similar enough, they might run.  but i wouldn't bet any money on it.


> The port description
> for the 600 on the web page says the PS/2 mouse and floppy disk
> controller are not supported.  Is this still true?  If not, is it easy
> to fix?  Is the DEC 21140 ethernet chip supported?

The mouse is now supported.  However, unless you have one of the
graphics boards supported by X (only the ZLXp-E1), that won't really
help much.

The floppy could be made to work with some effort.  basically, DMA
mapping code needs to be done at some point.

The 21140 ethernet is supported, and works great.


> What is the overall reliability of the Alpha port?

I use it for almost all of my day-to-day work, and (when i'm in my
office) the machine that i use as my workstation runs NetBSD/Alpha...


> Is the statement
> on the web page that the kernel doesn't work if optimized still true?

That statement needs to be taken with a grain of salt...

the kernel works if optimized -- i run optimized kernels...  however,
i have seen a few machines on which optimized kernels (for whatever
reason) failed to boot...  (Typically, they were AlphaStation 200
systems with older firmware revisions.)

Therefore, until recently, the NetBSD/Alpha kernel Makefiles didn't
turn optimization on for the kernel, by default.  Now they do.



chris