There are currently approximately four end-user installable Linux distributions for the Alpha available.
Commercial products for Linux/Alpha also start to appear slowly. Some noteworthy products are listed in the next section.
If you know of any other Linux/Alpha distributions or products, please mail us.
Red Hat is distributing the Alpha version of its well-known Linux
distribution. Red Hat for Alpha is ELF-based and available both
on CD-ROM and via ftp. The distribution uses the RPM system (Red Hat
Package Manager) which allows easy installation of both sources and
binaries. Besides installing packages, it also allows to keep track
of what's installed and it can even uninstall packages that you don't
like anymore. But Red Hat is a lot more than just RPM. Be sure
to check their
web site for
all the details.
The Red Hat distribution is available via ftp from the Red Hat site. Version 6.2 has been available for some time now and 7.0 should soon be released, be sure to download the errata as well. Mirror sites all over the world are available as well.
Debian has now made two releases for Alpha. The first being Debian 2.1 (Slink) and now 2.2 (Potato) has been released. More information on Debian can be found at the Debian home page and the Debian Alpha Port page.
It seems that a distribution for Alpha is also being prepared by Stampede.
SuSE has also started releasing their Linux distribution for Alpha (starting with 6.1). The Alpha version is usually released a couple of weeks after the i386 port. SuSE can be found on the web at www.suse.com.
TurboLinux (formerly Pacific HiTech) has recently started porting their distribution over to Alpha. The first version being 6.0, they can be found on the web at www.turbolinux.com.
The Linux/Alpha homepage contains a list of ftp sites and mirrors that are used by the developers to make the latest and greatest version of various programs available. The Linux/Alpha home page is located at www.alphalinux.org.
Of course, the regular Linux ftp sites such as ftp://sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux or ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux are good for Linux/Alpha, too.
If you want to build your own kernel you may want to follow
this
recipe, by Harvey J. Stein. It's for 2.0.30: clean patches for 2.0.32
are available as well, and these can be used for 2.0.33 too.
Patches for more recent 2.0 kernels (up to 2.0.35) are available from gatekeeper. A set for 2.0.36 will appear as soon as Jay Estabrook finds the time to create them. Some people report some success by using the 2.0.35 patches on a 2.0.36 kernel.
Recent 2.1.xxx kernels will compile on Alpha without patches. For kernels up to 2.1.131, do not forget to comment out "SMP = 1" in the Makefile (unless you are compiling for an SMP-system..) In 2.1.132 SMP has been changed into a normal config option. With the system-type selections they also include a 'generic' option, to create a kernel that will run on any supported Alpha platform.
Likewise for 2.2.0 and 2.2.1 (2.2.* is just the continuation of 2.1.*, now declared stable.) Beware of 2.2.2. though: it needs additional patches to compile on non-Intel platforms.