A full tour of the digital AlphaStation 255 - Printable Version
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A full tour of the digital AlphaStation 255 - Irinikus - 09-22-2018
I have just released this video giving you a brief background to the Alpha CPU and the AlphaStation, as well as a full tour of my machine, including a system boot into Tru64.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4VoDkfuO7w
This will probably be the the last video for a while, as I want to make the next video with Final Cut Pro X and will have to get a license for this software.
RE: A full tour of the digital AlphaStation 255 - TruHobbyist - 09-22-2018
Many thanks for the video. It`s a pleasure to see these little machines in action. Nice
Tru
RE: A full tour of the digital AlphaStation 255 - Irinikus - 09-23-2018
(09-22-2018, 09:20 PM)TruHobbyist Wrote: Many thanks for the video. It`s a pleasure to see these little machines in action. Nice
Tru
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
RE: A full tour of the digital AlphaStation 255 - TruHobbyist - 09-23-2018
(09-23-2018, 08:37 PM)niwe Wrote: Which kind of applications does make AlphaStation interesting and unique?
Oh man, where to start? For me it's the possibility of using a platform that allows installation of multiple totally different OSs: Tru64 (UNIX), OpenVMS (VMS), Windows NT 4.0/Windows 2000 (WIN NT), Red Hat and SuSE (LINUX) and the BSD gang (BSD). The 64 bit-only design of Alpha means you get a much simpler interface to use for operating systems *and* for compilers and development in general (no backwards compatibility issues, no multiple incompatible ABI pain, simpler and straightforward application design). Add to this the features of this processor when it was released back in the early 90s. It was way ahead of all other CPUs, no matter if RISC or CISC.
A special mention goes to Open
MS: It's probably one of the most (if not THE most) beautifully integrated OSs I have used so far. No UNIX/WINTEL has such a well integrated environment, no matter what task: system administration, security, development, ... Think of it as an OS as alien as the IBM mainframe and minicomputer OSs (reliability and scalability second to none) but with the flexibility of a desktop OS. That is: you can put the OS on an Alpha desktop machine with GUI and browse the web or use it on clusters of thousands of big iron machines (ES-, GS- series).Regards,
Tru
RE: A full tour of the digital AlphaStation 255 - Irinikus - 09-23-2018
The Alpha processor was the first microprocessor from another company to be used in a Cray super computer:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray_T3D
As I explained in my video, Alpha’s contribution to the World, was a very fast, manually designed chip, which clocked at much higher frequency’s than the competition at the time.
It wasn’t superior due to it’s architecture, but due to it’s implementation.
People collect them for the reasons stated above.
The Alpha is simply one of the many building blocks that got us to where we are today.
RE: A full tour of the digital AlphaStation 255 - TruHobbyist - 09-24-2018
(09-23-2018, 11:04 PM)niwe Wrote:(09-23-2018, 10:23 PM)TruHobbyist Wrote: The 64 bit-only design of Alpha means you get a much simpler interface to use for operating systems *and* for compilers and development in general
Yes, but about compilers and development in general, I don't see any ICE's for Alpha. If the ever existed they were very niche.
Hi niwe,
could you please #define ICE ? Did you mean IDE ?
RE: A full tour of the digital AlphaStation 255 - TruHobbyist - 09-24-2018
(09-24-2018, 09:32 AM)niwe Wrote: ICE != IDE
When you develop the hardware around the CPU and when you develop an Operating System you need to debug it. ICE is one of the tool that is for that. It stands for In-circuit emulation. It's a hardware debugger. I can't imagine the development of a complex hardware like the AlphaStation with a complex OS for a complex CPU like Alpha without an ICE, but I can't find any ICE for Alpha, whereas I own and have used several ICEs for MIPS.
Hi,
I think the availability of an ice for a CPU or a MCU implementing that CPU depends on a series of factors that are totally unrelated to the fact that the CPU and OSes that run on it were highly integrated from a user perspective.
Furthermore, I strongly believe it's far easier to find this kind of hardware debugging devices for all kind of MCUs (read: zilog, intel, arm and MIPS cpus) and that's not precisely a market ALPHAS are/were used for. Just compare the history of MIPS and ALPHA CPUs.
Nonetheless, for developing an OS you don't need this kind of debugging. I can say for sure not even for the first/lowest layer of an OS (interrupt routines). All you need are the architectural specs of the hardware components you're are going to use.
Kind regards,
Tru
EDITED: typos
RE: A full tour of the digital AlphaStation 255 - TruHobbyist - 09-26-2018
(09-26-2018, 04:40 AM)niwe Wrote: I would say, for Hobbyists, FreeVMS supports the x86-64 architecture using a microkernel. But what is really interesting in this case is the source.
Hi niwe, I`m following VSI (new owner of VMS) quite regularly and it´s being ported to x86_64 at the moment. Take a look here:
https://www.vmssoftware.com/updates_port.html
Kind regards,
Tru
RE: A full tour of the digital AlphaStation 255 - decrow - 07-11-2023
Hi!
I'm working on these mobos, I mean, I'm traying to repair Alpha 255 motherboards. Do you have some information or know sth about this mother?
When I turn it on, there's a green led that doesnt turn off. So, the problem could be linked with components that make the start of the mother.
Do you know sb to contact and talk about this?
I'll appreciate your help! Thanks a lot!
RE: A full tour of the digital AlphaStation 255 - Irinikus - 07-12-2023
(07-11-2023, 04:21 PM)decrow Wrote: Hi!
I'm working on these mobos, I mean, I'm traying to repair Alpha 255 motherboards. Do you have some information or know sth about this mother?
When I turn it on, there's a green led that doesnt turn off. So, the problem could be linked with components that make the start of the mother.
Do you know sb to contact and talk about this?
I'll appreciate your help! Thanks a lot!
Hi,
Post some pictures showing the issue that you have and maybe someone here will be able to point you in the right direction.
A common fault that these boards do have is the failure of a tantalum capacitor in the PS/2 keyboard circuit. In the case of my board, the cap was factory placed with the wrong polarity. (Later revisions of the board had the cap placed the other way around, so when I replaced it I orientated it in that way.