NAME

intro — introduction to alpha special files and hardware support

DESCRIPTION

This section describes the special files, related driver functions, and networking support available in the system. In this part of the manual, the SYNOPSIS section of each configurable device gives a sample specification for use in constructing a system description for the config(1) program. The DIAGNOSTICS section lists messages which may appear on the console and/or in the system error log /var/log/messages due to errors in device operation; see syslogd(8) for more information.

This section contains both devices which may be configured into the system and network related information. The networking support is introduced in netintro(4).

DEVICE SUPPORT

This section describes the hardware supported by NetBSD/alpha. Software support for these devices comes in two forms. A hardware device may be supported with a character or block device driver, or it may be used within the networking subsystem and have a network interface driver. Block and character devices are accessed through files in the file system of a special type; see mknod(8). Network interfaces are indirectly accessed through the interprocess communication facilities provided by the system; see socket(2).

A hardware device is identified to the system at configuration time and the appropriate device or network interface driver is then compiled into the system. When the resultant system is booted, the autoconfiguration facilities in the system probe for the device and, if found, enable the software support for it. If a device does not respond at autoconfiguration time it is not accessible at any time afterwards. To enable a device which did not autoconfigure, the system must be rebooted.

The autoconfiguration system is described in autoconf(4). A list of the supported devices is given below.

HARDWARE

DEC and Compaq have produced a series of the Alpha CPU, some of which are listed below, along with some systems which contain them.

The NetBSD Project distributes binary programs for its Alpha port compiled for the lowest common denominator CPU instruction set, to guarantee binary compatibility across all supported Alpha systems. However, it is possible to sacrifice binary compatibility for additional performance on later model CPUs with performance enhancing instructions (e.g. the 21164-A and later with the BWX extensions). This requires recompiling from source code, with appropriate options given to cc(1) to indicate the target CPU.

“EV” stands for “Extended VAX” (or “Electro Vlassic”) and the number following is a reference to the CMOS process used to make the chips. “LCA” stands for Low Cost Alpha, and “PCA” stands for PC-architecture Alpha.

21064

EV4 (100-200 MHz, 0.75 micron)

AlphaPC 64 (EB64)

Jensen family: DECpc AXP 150 (Jensen)

DEC 2000/300 (Jensen)

DEC 2000/500 (Culzen)
Avanti family: Digital's lower-end PCI-based workstations.
AlphaStation 200 4/100-166 (Mustang)

AlphaStation 400 4/166 (Chinet)
Sable family: AlphaServer 2000 4/200 (Demi-Sable)

AlphaServer 2100 4/200 (Sable)
Pelican family: Low-end TURBOchannel based workstations.
DEC 3000/300 (150 MHz) (Pelican)

DEC 3000/300X (175 MHz) (Pelican+)

DEC 3000/300L (100 MHz) (Pelica)

DEC 3000/300LX (125 MHz) (Pelica+)
Sandpiper family: High-end TURBOchannel based workstations.
DEC 3000/400 (133 MHz) (Sandpiper)

DEC 3000/600 (175 MHz) (Sandpiper+)
Flamingo family: High-end TURBOchannel based workstations.
DEC 3000/500 (150 MHz) (Flamingo)

DEC 3000/500X (200 MHz) (Hot Pink)

DEC 3000/800 (200 MHz) (Flamingo II)

21064-A

EV45 (225-333 MHz, 0.50 micron)

DEC 3000/700 (225 MHz) (Sandpiper45)

DEC 3000/900 (275 MHz) (Flamingo45)

Alpha XL 233-266 (XL)

AlphaPC 64 (EB64+)

Avanti family: Digital's lower-end PCI-based workstations.
AlphaStation 200 4/233 (Mustang+)

AlphaStation 205 4/133-333 (LX3)

AlphaStation 250 4/300 (M3+)

AlphaStation 255 4/133-333 (LX3+)

AlphaStation 300 4/266 (Melmac)

AlphaStation 400 4/233-300 (Avanti)
Sable family: AlphaServer 2000 4/233-275 (Demi-Sable)

AlphaServer 2100 4/233-275 (Sable)

AlphaServer 2100A (Lynx)

21066

LCA4 (166-233 MHz, 0.75 micron)

NoName family: Digital's lowest-end family of PCI-based systems.
DEC AXPpci33 (NoName)

Universal Desktop Box AXPpci166MT (UDB/Multia)

21066 evaluation motherboard (EB66)

21066-A

LCA45 (233 MHz, 0.50 micron)

21066-A evaluation motherboard (EB66+)

21068

LCA4s (66-233 MHz, 0.75 micron)

Alpha Book (Burns)

Universal Desktop Box AXPpci233MT (UDB/Multia)

21164

EV5 (250-366 MHz, 0.50 micron)

Alcor family: AlphaStation 500/266-333 (Maverick)

AlphaStation 600/266-300 (Alcor)

Alpha XL 300-433 (XLT)
Sable family: AlphaServer 2000 5/250-300 (Demi-Gamma)

AlphaServer 2100 5/250-300 (Gamma Sable)
Mikasa family: AlphaServer 1000 5/300 (Pinnacle)
Noritake family: AlphaServer 1000A 5/300 (Pinnacle)
Rawhide family: (KN300)

AlphaServer 4000 5/266-300 (Wrangler)

AlphaServer 4000 5/266-300 (Durango)

AlphaServer 4100 5/266-300 (Dodge)

AlphaServer 8200 and 8400 (KN8AE)

21164 evaluation motherboard (EB164)

21164-A

EV56 (400-766 MHz, 0.35 micron, BWX)

Alcor family: AlphaStation 500/333-500 (Bret)
Personal Workstation (PWS): PWS 433a/433au (Miata)

PWS 500a/500au (Miata)

PWS 600a/600au (Miata)
Sable family: AlphaServer 2100 5/375-400 (Gamma Sable)

AlphaServer 2000 5/375-400 (Demi-Gamma)
Mikasa family: AlphaServer 1000 5/333-500 (Primo)
Noritake family: AlphaServer 1000A 5/333-500 (Primo)

AlphaServer 600A 5/500 (Alcor-Primo)

AlphaServer 800 5/333-500 (Corelle)
Rawhide family: (KN300)

AlphaServer 4000 5/400-666 (Wrangler)

AlphaServer 4000 5/400-666 (Durango)

AlphaServer 4100 5/400-666 (Dodge)
AlphaServer 1200 5/400-666 (Tincup)

AlphaServer 1200 5/400-666 (DaVinci)
EB164 family: AlphaPC 164 motherboard (EB164)

AlphaPC 164LX motherboard (EB164)

DigitalServer 3300 (rebadged AlphaServer 800 for NT)

DigitalServer 5300 (rebadged AlphaServer 1200 for NT)

DigitalServer 7300 (rebadged AlphaServer 4100 for NT)

AlphaServer 8200 and 8400 (KN8AE)

APi AlphaPC 164UX motherboard (Ruffian)

21164-PC

PCA56 (400-600 MHz, 0.35 micron, MVI, no L2 cache)

AlphaPC 164SX motherboard (EB164)

PWS 466au (Miata)

PWS 550au (Miata)

21264

EV6 (450-600 MHz, 0.35 micron)

AlphaServer 8400 (KN8AE)

APi UP1000 and UP1100; AMD 751-based EV6 systems.

264DP, XP1000, DS10, DS20, APi UP2000, UP2000+ Tsunami-based systems.

21264-A

EV67 (600-833 MHz, 0.28 micron)

AlphaServer GS60E

AlphaServer GS140

21264-B

EV68AL (833-1250 MHz, 0.18 micron)

LIST OF DEVICES

The devices listed below are supported in this incarnation of the system. Devices are indicated by their functional interface. Not all supported devices are listed.

TURBOchannel devices are supported through the tc(4) bus and associated device drivers.

PCI devices are supported through the pci(4) bus and associated device drivers.

ISA devices are supported through the isa(4) bus and associated device drivers.

EISA devices are supported through the eisa(4) bus and associated device drivers.

PCMCIA devices are supported through the pcmcia(4) bus and associated device drivers.

Console devices using ISA, EISA, or PCI video adaptors and standard AT or PS/2 keyboards are supported by the machine independent wscons(4) console driver.

HISTORY

This alpha intro appeared in NetBSD 1.6.