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This website is about the port of Linux to the Alpha architecture. Linux is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License.  
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This website is about the port of GNU/Linux to the Alpha architecture. GNU/Linux is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
  
 
== News ==
 
== News ==
<strong>[10 Dec 2014New alphalinux.net website launched</strong>
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<strong>[24 May 2020Coming soon: A trove of alphalinux.org wiki content dated from 7 May 2012 has been discovered on the Archive.org website.</strong>
  
The AlphaLinux.net website is intended to provide resources for Alpha processor operating systems; in particular Linux on Alpha. The content is under development, but there are plans to include content formerly hosted at www.alphalinux.org.
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The content will be gradually added to this wiki to restore it to its former glory.
 +
Archive.org is a great free resource for internet users and is a very worthy cause for charitable donations for those who can afford to do so.
  
There are many good reasons for keeping Alpha content available, whether or not the Alpha architecture is a primary platform for running Linux nowadays:
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The server hosting this website has also been migrated to an x86_64 after the cloud provider discontinued the ARM aarch64 service,
 +
but is still using electricity from low carbon footprint sources.
  
<ul>
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[[News | Show all previous news stories]]
<li>Alpha hardware is still run by real organisations doing real work. It is still supported hardware for users running OpenVMS.</li>
+
 
<li>We wouldn't throw away data about our favourite 8-bit home microcomputers, even though they are now used only by hobbyists, so why should we throw away information about Alpha?</li>
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== What happened to the files previously on www.alphalinux.org? ==
<li>Retro computing - it's a bit like owning a classic car but is cheaper (normally) and takes up less space!</li>
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</ul>
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You're (mostly) in luck! See [[Former alphalinux.org content]] for how you can download your own copy of the non-wiki contents of the previous website, or whatever files you were looking for. Some or maybe all of the contents of the original wiki have been found on archive.org and are in the process of being restored to this site. The www.alphalinux.org website was relaunched on a new platform (as of May 2015) and most web links from before then will now be broken. However, work is being done to reconstruct the content on this website.
 +
 
 +
== Linux distributions and other operating systems for Alpha ==
 +
There are many Linux distributions and other operating systems for the Alpha architecture, some of which are actively maintained and some no longer supported.
  
You can still view the old alphalinux.org site using archive.org. The last copy of the site was on [https://web.archive.org/web/20140910110843/http://www.alphalinux.org/ 10 Sep 2014]. I hope to make copies of the downloadable content. If you contributed content for alphalinux.org in the past then you are very welcome to resubmit it to this site!
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See the [[List of operating systems for Alpha]].
  
== The Future of Alpha ==
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== Using Alpha today ==
  
 
=== SCSI hard disk emulator for retro computing ===
 
=== SCSI hard disk emulator for retro computing ===
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As Alpha is effectively retro computing, it joins many other older computers that require increasingly rare SCSI hard disks. The [[SCSI2SD]] card connects to a 50-pin SCSI bus and emulates a hard disk using storage on an SD memory card.
 
As Alpha is effectively retro computing, it joins many other older computers that require increasingly rare SCSI hard disks. The [[SCSI2SD]] card connects to a 50-pin SCSI bus and emulates a hard disk using storage on an SD memory card.
  
This has been tested by the author on a Compaq XP-1000 Professional Workstation. The [[SCSI2SD]] card is seen as a bootable device in the SRM, which enables it to be used to load the Debian Linux kernel. The kernel can then load the rest of the OS from any other device in the machine that it has a driver for, in this case an IDE disk attached to a Promise IDE controller in a PCI slot. By only using it to load the kernel this avoid questions on whether the SD card has sufficient performance for a regular filesystem.
+
This has been tested by the author on a Compaq XP-1000 Professional Workstation. The [[SCSI2SD]] card is seen as a bootable device in the SRM, which enables it to be used to load the Debian Linux kernel. The kernel can then load the rest of the OS from any other device in the machine that it has a driver for, in this case an IDE disk attached to a Promise IDE controller in a PCI slot. By only using it to load the kernel this avoids questions on whether the SD card has sufficient performance for a regular filesystem.
  
 
=== Buy one ===
 
=== Buy one ===
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</ul>
 
</ul>
  
== Active Linux distributions ==
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== Alpha History ==
 
 
These are the distributions that still list Alpha as a supported architecture. This is not a complete list.
 
 
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
|-
 
!Distribution
 
!Support status
 
|-
 
|[http://www.gentoo.org/ Gentoo Linux]
 
|Supported as of 10 Nov 2014.
 
|-
 
|}
 
 
 
=== Debian Linux ===
 
 
 
"The Alpha port is no longer officially supported in the Debian stable release. The last release with official Alpha support was Debian 5.0 "lenny". <ref>Debian -- Alpha Port http://www.debian.org/ports/alpha/</ref>
 
  
However, the online package files for this release are still hosted online. If you try to download the Alpha port from the normal Debian mirrors, you will not find it. To download it go to the
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The Alpha processor was developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). DEC was later bought by Compaq, which then merged with HP. Alpha always had a reputation for excellent performance and could run many different operating systems.
[http://archive.debian.org/ Debian Archive site].
 
 
 
Debian packages can still be downloaded and installed from within <tt>apt-get</tt> by adding the following to <tt>/etc/apt/sources.list</tt>:
 
 
 
<pre>
 
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian lenny main contrib non-free
 
deb-src http://archive.debian.org/debian lenny main contrib non-free
 
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian-security lenny/updates main contrib non-free
 
deb-src http://archive.debian.org/debian-security lenny/updates main contrib non-free
 
</pre>
 
 
 
Also install the signing keys:
 
<pre>
 
apt-get install debian-archive-keyring
 
</pre>
 
 
 
An example of a package directory is:
 
http://archive.debian.org/debian/pool/main/l/lxdoom/
 
 
 
== Discontinued Linux distributions ==
 
 
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
|-
 
!Distribution
 
!Support status
 
|-
 
|Debian
 
|Not supported. Last supported version was 5.0. However, the online package files are still hosted by Debian.
 
|-
 
|Redhat
 
|Not supported.
 
|-
 
|}
 
 
 
== Non-Linux operating systems for Alpha ==
 
 
 
This list is incomplete.
 
 
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
|-
 
!Name
 
!Support status
 
|-
 
|FreeBSD
 
|No longer supported.
 
|-
 
|NetBSD
 
|Supported as of [http://www.netbsd.org/releases/formal-6/NetBSD-6.1.5.html version 6.1.5], 22 Sep 2014.
 
|-
 
|OpenBSD
 
|Supported as of [http://www.openbsd.org/56.html version 5.6], released on 1 Nov 2014.
 
|-
 
|OpenVMS
 
|Supported. You can get hobbyist licenses for it. The OpenVMS operating system has now been relaunched under its own company: [http://www.vmssoftware.com/ VMS Software Inc.]
 
|-
 
|Tru64 (formerly Digital UNIX)
 
|No longer supported. End of standard support was 31 Dec 2012. <ref>"HP Tru64 UNIX Alpha Lifecycle Chart" http://www.hp.com/softwarereleases/releases-media2/notices/HP_Tru64_UNIX_Alpha_Lifecycle_Chart.pdf</ref>
 
|-
 
|UNICOS/mk (Cray supercomputers)
 
|Unknown. (Mentioned for interest because the Alpha architecture was used in the Cray T3E supercomputer.)
 
|-
 
|Windows NT 4.0
 
|No longer supported.
 
|-
 
|Windows 2000 RC?
 
|No longer supported.
 
|-
 
|}
 
 
 
== Alpha History ==
 
  
 
[http://alasir.com/articles/alpha_history/index.html Alpha: The History in Facts and Comments]
 
[http://alasir.com/articles/alpha_history/index.html Alpha: The History in Facts and Comments]
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</ul>
 
</ul>
  
== Credits ==
+
== Thanks go to ==
  
 
<ul>
 
<ul>
<li>Thanks to [http://www.icc4it.co.uk/ ICC] in the UK for selling me a good-as-new Compaq XP1000 Professional Workstation (October 2014). Check them out if you want to buy Alpha hardware.</li>
+
<li>Rich Payne and Peter Petrakis for providing copies of the original alphalinux.org content.</li>
 +
 
 +
<li>[http://www.icc4it.co.uk/ ICC] in the UK for selling the author a good-as-new Compaq XP1000 Professional Workstation (October 2014). Check them out if you want to buy Alpha hardware.</li>
  
 
<li>[https://archive.org/web/ Internet Archive] for keeping copies of the old alphalinux.org website.</li>
 
<li>[https://archive.org/web/ Internet Archive] for keeping copies of the old alphalinux.org website.</li>
 
</ul>
 
</ul>
 
== References ==
 
<references />
 

Latest revision as of 09:10, 25 May 2020

This website is about the port of GNU/Linux to the Alpha architecture. GNU/Linux is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

News

[24 May 2020] Coming soon: A trove of alphalinux.org wiki content dated from 7 May 2012 has been discovered on the Archive.org website.

The content will be gradually added to this wiki to restore it to its former glory. Archive.org is a great free resource for internet users and is a very worthy cause for charitable donations for those who can afford to do so.

The server hosting this website has also been migrated to an x86_64 after the cloud provider discontinued the ARM aarch64 service, but is still using electricity from low carbon footprint sources.

Show all previous news stories

What happened to the files previously on www.alphalinux.org?

You're (mostly) in luck! See Former alphalinux.org content for how you can download your own copy of the non-wiki contents of the previous website, or whatever files you were looking for. Some or maybe all of the contents of the original wiki have been found on archive.org and are in the process of being restored to this site. The www.alphalinux.org website was relaunched on a new platform (as of May 2015) and most web links from before then will now be broken. However, work is being done to reconstruct the content on this website.

Linux distributions and other operating systems for Alpha

There are many Linux distributions and other operating systems for the Alpha architecture, some of which are actively maintained and some no longer supported.

See the List of operating systems for Alpha.

Using Alpha today

SCSI hard disk emulator for retro computing

As Alpha is effectively retro computing, it joins many other older computers that require increasingly rare SCSI hard disks. The SCSI2SD card connects to a 50-pin SCSI bus and emulates a hard disk using storage on an SD memory card.

This has been tested by the author on a Compaq XP-1000 Professional Workstation. The SCSI2SD card is seen as a bootable device in the SRM, which enables it to be used to load the Debian Linux kernel. The kernel can then load the rest of the OS from any other device in the machine that it has a driver for, in this case an IDE disk attached to a Promise IDE controller in a PCI slot. By only using it to load the kernel this avoids questions on whether the SD card has sufficient performance for a regular filesystem.

Buy one

  • ICC in the UK have Alpha hardware available for sale (as of October 2014).

Alpha Emulators

  • EmuVM - available free for non-commercial use. (Not tested by the author.)

Alpha History

The Alpha processor was developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). DEC was later bought by Compaq, which then merged with HP. Alpha always had a reputation for excellent performance and could run many different operating systems.

Alpha: The History in Facts and Comments

Supercomputers

In its day, Alpha-powered supercomputers were some of the most powerful in the world. For example:

Thanks go to

  • Rich Payne and Peter Petrakis for providing copies of the original alphalinux.org content.
  • ICC in the UK for selling the author a good-as-new Compaq XP1000 Professional Workstation (October 2014). Check them out if you want to buy Alpha hardware.
  • Internet Archive for keeping copies of the old alphalinux.org website.