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1997 Post Project
Building a Dec Alpha

It is the goal of the unit to have each youth member build a 166MHz Dec Alpha that can run DecUNIX4, BSD, or the icky NT. Moreover, we wish to build the unit for under $850.00 monitor not included so that every youth can make and keep their unit.

Current Suggested Configureation

We should use an ISA video card because the PCI card may not work (probably required 3V). In any case, the result was a nice upgradable Alpha machine with built-in CD-ROM, external SCSI, etc., for around 0. Plus monitor, of-course. You can also re-use some of these old components in your closet, of-course.

On the test system both BSD & Windows NT loaded on a first try. Not a bad deal at all..

Motherboard
Discription Price
DEC Alpha Motherboard $130

Floppy Drive:
Discription Price
Cheap Sony $35

Memory
Discription Price
16MB of Parity RAM (2 pieces of 2MB*36) $90
32MB of Parity RAM (2 pieces of 4MB*36) $180

Other:
Discription Price
Cheap Case w/power supply $35
Various cables (serial, parallel, floppy, HD, etc.) $10

Video/Keyboard/Mouse:
Discription Price
Cheap PCI Video card $40
Good PCI Video card $90
Cheap Keyboard and Mouse $35

Hard Drives:
Discription Price
1GB IDE Hard Drive $100
3.8GB IDE Hard Drive $370
1GB SCSI Hard Drive $200
2GB SCSI Hard Drive $380

Motherboard:

Memory:

Video/Keyboard/Mouse:

Floppy Drive:

Hard Drive:

Supported Hardware
Supported Hardware DEC UNIX Open BSD/NetBSD Linux
Motherboard Yes Yes Yes
Floppy Drive Yes No Yes
SCSI Hard Drive Yes No Yes
IDE Hard Drive No No Yes
Boot off IDE No No Yes
Keyboard Yes Yes Yes
Mouse Only w/PS/2 MB Yes Yes
ISA Graphics No No Yes
PCI Graphics Some Yes Yes
Serial Console Yes Yes Partially

I found out some bad news about the state of the operating systems on the Alphas... no floppy driver on either NetBSD or OpenBSD (What about Linux?) no ethernet (except DEC) on NetBSD, OpenBSD, (Linux?)... DJ is trying to hack an NE2000 ethernet driver to be 64bit clean and run on the thing, though... I don't have a working one to work on, because I need RAM, Cache, and a SCSI drive, so I don't know whether Linux supports them or not. I don't know what this means about the "Project?"

The offficial list of video cards supported by Digital UNIX is ATI Mach 64 (any), DEC TGA, and S3 Trio64 (any). Not a long list, but there are a million Trio64 boards... I got these from a guy who works for DEC and from the Digital UNIX SPD on the Digital site. So... Just thought I'd let you know. BTW: They plan no further support at this time. I think you could technically run XFree on Digital UNIX, though, which would give you Digital UNIX, and serial mouse support, as well as many video cards(This would also mean that you don't need the PS/2 version of the board, I think). I don't know whether CDE would run on that or not... Just an idea.

WARNING, WARNING, WARNING!!!
This is not a PC/Intel base system. This is not going to run "DOS"... This is not going to run "Windows" or "Windows 95"... This is a UNIX System that might run NT... Moreover, though several prototypes have been built, this project is only in the planning stages... It is subject to change at any time and without notice!!! We also do not know how much longer DEC will let us get the "cheap" CPUs...

To build the next lot, we will have to find 10 Explorers that want to put up $1,000.00US to order the parts. Extra monies will be returned to the Scouter.



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