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.
SEE ALSO
config(1),
autoconf(4)
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
MHz,
0.75 micron
(100-200)
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
MHz,
0.50 micron
(225-333)
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
MHz,
0.75 micron
(166-233)
- 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
MHz,
0.50 micron
(233)
21066-A evaluation motherboard
(EB66+)
- 21068
-
LCA4s
MHz,
0.75 micron
(66-233)
Alpha Book
(Burns)
Universal Desktop Box AXPpci233MT
(UDB/Multia)
- 21164
-
EV5
MHz,
0.50 micron
(250-366)
- 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
MHz,
0.35 micron, BWX
(400-766)
- 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
MHz,
0.35 micron, MVI, no L2 cache
(400-600)
AlphaPC 164SX motherboard
(EB164)
PWS 466au
(Miata)
PWS 550au
(Miata)
- 21264
-
EV6
MHz,
0.35 micron
(450-600)
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
MHz,
0.28 micron
(600-833)
AlphaServer GS60E
AlphaServer GS140
- 21264-B
-
EV68AL
MHz,
0.18 micron
(833-1250)
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.
- apecs
-
DECchip 21072/21071 Core Logic chipset
- asc
-
TURBOchannel single-channel SCSI adapter
- cia
-
DECchip 2117x Core Logic chipset
- dwlpx
-
DEC DWLPA and DWLPB PCI adapter
- gbus
-
internal bus on AlphaServer CPU modules
- irongate
-
APi UP1000 AMD751 Core Logic + AGP chipset
- jensenio
-
DEC 2000/300 (Jensen) I/O module
- kft
-
KFTIA and KFTHA Bus Adapter Node for I/O hoses
- lca
-
DECchip 21066 Core Logic chipset
- mcbus
-
MCBUS system bus found on AlphaServer 4100 systems
- mcpcia
-
MCPCIA MCBUS-to-PCI bus adapter
- sableio
-
AlphaServer 2100 (Sable) STD I/O module
- tcasic
-
TURBOchannel host bus support
- tlsb
-
AlphaServer 8x00 TurboLaser System bus
- tsc
-
DECchip 21272 Core Logic chipset
- tsp
-
DECchip 21272 Core Logic chipset PCI controller
- ttwoga
-
DEC T2 Gate Array
- ttwopci
-
DEC T2 Gate Array PCI controller
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
NetBSD1.6.