Booting on Alpha

The DFS images for Alpha support the SRM console only at this time. If your system uses AlphaBIOS or some other BIOS, you may need to convert to SRM. If you need the SRM firmware, you may be able to find it on the Alpha firmware updates page.

Details about SRM can be found at the SRM HOWTO. If you are reading this manual directly from the DFS CD-ROM, you can find the HOWTO at file:///usr/share/doc/aboot-base/SRM-HOWTO/index.html. If you are reading this on the Web, the SRM HOWTO can be found at http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/SRM-HOWTO/ or http://www.alphalinux.org/faq/srm.html.

Booting the DFS CD generally involves these steps:

1. Boot to an SRM prompt. If your system is set to automatically boot an operating system, Ctrl-C at the appropriate time may accomplish this.

2. Set the operating system type with: set os_type Unix.

3. Find the device that represents your CD-ROM drive. Typing show dev will help you out. IDE users may often find dqa2 as their CD-ROM device. Please consult show dev to discover the proper value for your system.

4. Boot the aboot bootloader. Run: boot device -fl i. Replace device with your particular CD-ROM device.

5. You should now see an aboot prompt. You can press "l" (lower-case "L") to see a list of available kernels. Press zero through 9 to boot one of them; the default should be set to 0. If you don't know what to do, just press 0.

6. Linux should now start.