Alpha 2100

[Roberto de Iriarte]

Demon wrote:

>Hello,
>
>The company I work for have just very kindly given me one of they're old
>alpha 2100s that they no longer require.  Its currently running Digital
>Unix, but realistically, I would like to remove this and install FreeBSD (Or
>for that matter any other "Free" BSD version of UNIX). What options do I
>have with this machine.  I have checked out a few web sites that say that
>this model should be supported, but problems could occur, especially where
>RAID controllers are concerned.  The hardware spec is as follows:-
>
>Alpha 2100 4/200 E4
>Dual processors (190Mz)
>500MB Ram
>Mylex DAC960P Raid Controller (EISA)
>NCR SCSI Controller
>
>  
>
Not bad.... I know for sure that 2100's run FreeBSD well. The EISA Mylex 
would be of little use,
you can just connect the array to the integrated SCSI. Note that the 
array backplane has a "bridge"
between possitions 2 and 3, you can disconnect it and just connect the 
upper two drives to the
internal SCSI for booting, and keep the rest on an external card. An 
early PCI Mylex would also work (and boot if firmare_rev = 2.73), even 
if it comes out of a PC, look around your company's dustbin...

Good luck
Roberto.

P.S. Do not expect very great performance out of a 4/200, however, they 
can (sometimes) be upgraded to 5/XXX spec, i have a 5/375 and it works 
wonders.