1OpenBSD/MACHINE requires the SRM console. Some alphas come with 2the ARC firmware instead (this is what Windows NT uses). It is 3fairly simple to replace the ARC firmware with the SRM version. 4You can get replacement firmware either from a firmware update 5CD or via ftp from ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/. 6Please refer to http://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/readme.html 7for more information. 8 9AXPpci33 Motherboard specific notes: 10 The 1994 version of the OEM guide has an incorrect pinout 11 for the serial ports. The newer version from 12 ftp://gatekeeper.dec.com/pub/DEC/axppci/design_guide.ps.Z 13 has a corrected pinout (as well as more information than 14 the 1994 edition). Note that there are two flavors 15 of PC serial connectors. If you have the wrong kind, 16 you won't get any output from the serial console. 17 18Using the SRM console: 19 This is not intended to be an exhaustive guide on using the 20 SRM firmware console. It should, however, give you enough 21 information to boot OpenBSD/MACHINE. 22 23 To see a list of devices connected to your alpha, you can 24 use the "show device" command. For booting the devices you 25 are interested in are "dva0" (the floppy drive) and 26 "dka*" (the disk drives). 27 28 You can set ROM variables by saying "set VARIABLE VALUE". 29 Some variables you will want to set: 30 auto_action Determines what happens when you turn power 31 on, halt, or crash your machine. Valid 32 values {:-include-:} "halt", "boot", and "restart". 33 Most users will want to set this to "boot". 34 bootdef_dev Default boot device (or list of devices). 35 boot_file Name of the kernel to boot. If you don't set 36 this "bsd" will be loaded. 37 boot_osflags Flags to pass in to the kernel. For multiuser 38 boot this needs to be set to "-a". 39 booted_osflags Don't try to set this one directly. It will 40 contain whatever flags the OS was last booted 41 with. To set indirectly, boot with the -flags 42 option, eg: "b dka0 -flags a" will boot into 43 multi-user and set booted_osflags to "a". 44 To see a list of all variables on your machine use the "show" 45 command with no arguments. 46 47 48On systems with no framebuffer supported, including all 49TurboChannel-based machines, OpenBSD/MACHINE must be used with a 50serial console. Setting an Alpha system to use a serial console 51is system-specific. The procedure for most common hardware is: 52 53 DEC 3000/[4-9]00's: 54 Flip the appropriate switch on the back of the machine. 55 56 DEC 3000/300 family machines: 57 Boot the machine with the keyboard/mouse connector 58 unplugged. 59 60 Other machines running the SRM console on local display: 61 Get to the SRM console prompt. Enter "set console serial", 62 then enter "init" or cycle power. 63 64See your owner's manual for more details on how to set your machine 65to use a serial console. 66 67Note that some MACHINE computers currently *require* a serial console 68and can't be used from a regular keyboard/display console, even though 69the motherboard has appropriate connectors. 70Currently, only the TurboChannel MACHINE computers (DEC 3000) require use 71of a serial console. 72 73If booting using the regular console aborts with ``not configured to use 74display && keyboard console'', then you need to use a serial console. 75If your machine was not listed in the list above, please report this on 76<alpha@openbsd.org>. 77 78