>    We are in the process or distributing our network services on various
> machines.  Since NetBSD is well connected with Sendmail, DNS and so on
> we are considering using some Alphas running NetBSD for these services.
> With last falls sale of varioius Multia's we were thinking of using
> some of these inexpensive Alphas for doing various things and having a
> spare around to plug in as a replacement.  
>    Last Fall it seemed that the 166MHZ multia was going for $800 and in
> smaller supply the 233MHZ for $1100.
>    Any suggestions for what might be a good Alpha which NetBSD is
> supported which would be good for such a pupose?
>    If not we will probably get some Pent-Pros and put the i386 port
> up.

So, Multias, etc., are (in my experience, at least) sturdy little
boxes, but ... rather slow.

If you're thinking machines comparable to Pentium Pro systems, i'd say
you're looking for systems with either a high-end 21064A cpu (e.g. the
faster versions of the AlphaStation 255), or with a low-end 21164[A]
(e.g. the AlphaStation 500 and 600, or the eb164/pc164
motherboard-based systems).


AlphaStation 200/400/255 systems are my primary development machines,
and they work great.

AlphaStation 500 and 600 systems work, but their built-in SCSI
controllers aren't supported, and so you need to add an NCR 53c810
SCSI board (an '815 board, or a board based on any other member of the
53c8xx family _will not_ due, since the firmware won't recognize it).

The eb164/pc164 systems are being mass-marketed these days.  They
_almost_ work with NetBSD.  (NetBSD boots on them, but for some
reason, just about all binaries croak ... rather quickly.)  I'm in the
process of trying to debug that, now.




chris