Subject: Re: Helping a newbie with a Digital Server 5305
To: mowestusa <mowestusa@yahoo.com>
From: David Hopper <dhop@nwlink.com>
List: port-alpha
Date: 07/15/2006 18:24:54
On Jul 12, 2006, at 7:32 AM, mowestusa wrote:

> [...]
> 4. Does anyone know if X11 works on this model alpha?

I can tell you that I've never gotten XFree86 4.x working on my  
AS1200, but I encourage you to try.  It's either a general problem  
with that model's architecture, or a problem with my specific box.   
See my e-mail to port-alpha on 5/14 and give XFree 4.6.0 a shot.

If you have an 8-bit TGA (Powerstorm 3D30 or somesuch) card in it,  
then XFree86 3.x as shipped with NetBSD-Alpha likely works fine--  
this is how I last ran X11 years ago.  Since then I've learned to be  
happy with the console, especially now that SMP is nice and stable.

> Please give me any advice you have in getting this up
> and running. If it just is not worth the effort, let
> me know, and I won't waste my time. I am relatively
> new to Linux, but have enjoyed working with that OS,
> so I hope to expand my OS education/hobby with NetBSD
> using the alpha port.

*Very* worth the effort.  These Alphas were ahead of their time,  
clearly, and NetBSD represents the most complete OS solution for  
these beasts.  Want to plug in a USB card?  Upgrade to ATA-133?   
Machine-independent drivers are a great thing.

> Steve
> mowestusa@yahoo.com

Dave