[plug] Alpha Linux - HELP!

[Colin Rothnie]

Phil
I was hoping someone else could help, but in the lack of other responses I
offer this.

It has been over two years since I installed Linux on an old Jensen Alpha so
I don't remember the details, but my notes show the following -

---------------- start old & possibly useless notes
Steps to install Linux once bootable prompt (aboot) prompt is obtained:
1) once at aboot> prompt type 
o/a root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1
2) put ramdisk into floppy when prompted
3) RedHat Install (don't use disk druid, use fdisk.  It should recognise the
minlabel.exe partitions.)
---------------- end old & possibly useless notes

The Alpha I had switched between two types of prompts: a) the ARC console (a
series of simple menus) and b) the SRM console (>>> prompt).  If you were in
the SRM prompt, you could return to ARC by typing the following meaningless
string "SET OS NT" (without quotes) and press control-P.  You switched back
to the SRM prompt by finding the menu item "Switch to OSF" hitting ESC and
rebooting.

I got a lot of other detail from various HOWTO documents, but I suspect the
process is somewhat different for the later Alphas.  I successfully
installed and ran RedHat 5.2 on this machine, which served as a useful
testing platform for several months.

I hope at least some of this helps.
Colin Rothnie