Subject: netbooting 3000/400S?
To: None <port-alpha@netbsd.org>
From: der Mouse <mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
List: port-alpha
Date: 01/04/2004 21:37:09
I just got a 3000/400S (from someone who rescued it from being trashed,
but was under the impression it was a VAX - perhaps because it has VMS
installed on it).

I want to netboot this, preparatory to putting it to more productive
uses than sitting around at a Username: prompt (I know no logins for
its VMS install).  The Alpha netbooting page
http://www.netbsd.org/Documentation/network/netboot/intro.alpha.html
says that any SRM machine can netboot, and goes on to describe
netbooting via bootp.  When I tell this machine "show device", the
network is called ESA0,and when I "boot esa0", tcpdump on the boot
server (using "ether host 8:0:2b:....") shows a bunch of stuff I don't
recognize, and apparently bootpd doesn't either (sent to MAC addresses
ab:0:0:1:0:0 and ab:0:0:2:0:0).

Is it possible that what I have here isn't SRM but some VMS-specific
console code, and I have to find SRM and update the firmware before I
can do anything NetBSDoid with this machine?  Or is the netboot
documentation incomplete, or what?

I coukld just pull the disk and move it to one of my existing alphas to
do the install.  But if there is a console firmware issue involved,
that may not be sufficient.

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