Hello Keith,
Indeed, there is a way to make the white Alphaservers run VMS.The difference is minimal
between the servers themselves, but sometimes the adapters and peripherals could be
different in the white Alphas and don't work with VMS. Therefore you should check
which adapters there are in the box. Examples of not working ones are Adaptec
SCSI-adapters and various Graphics adapters.?You need to enable the SRM firmware instead
of the AlphaBIOS and then create a short script which is run at boot time.If you want to
do it I can send you the detailed instructions.Kari
-------- Original message --------
From: Keith Halewood <Keith.Halewood at pitbulluk.org>
Date: 10/8/20 14:00 (GMT+02:00)
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: [HECnet] VMS on AlphaServer 5000
Hi,
?
I?ve trawled through HECnet emails for enlightenment around alpha systems running VMS and
I believe I?m not repeating the question. So here goes.
?
There?s an DEC Alphaserver 5000 (white case) (EV56) floating a few miles away from where I
live. It?s running NT, so there?s an AlphaBIOS. Is there a ?hidden? SRM in that machine
and therefore is it able to run current (HPE at least) versions
of VMS? I don?t want to end up with a machine running NT ? my life has enough horror in
it already. I had a look on HP?s FTP site at firmware updates and the Alphaserver 5000
isn?t even mentioned, or at least not in plain text.
?
I nearly bought a reasonably loaded Itanic RX2600 a few days ago but chickened out at the
last minute. What I really should do is abandon all of this and buy a new motorbike.
?
Keith