Alpha NT: Windows on DEC Alpha Notes
Windows NT supported DECs Alpha CPU Architecture from the first release,
Windows NT 3.1, until Windows 2000 Release Candidate 2. Microsoft
continued to build 64bit Windows for Alpha for a while longer until
Itanium hardware was available.
Useful Links
Free Software (freeware or open source)
A fair bit can be found in the
AlphaNT Source FTP site mirror.
Some of the more interesting programs (not all of which were included in
the AlphaNT source) are listed below.
Archivers
- InfoZip
-
Unzip 5.52,
zip 2.31,
WiZ 4.01
Compilers
- GCC 2.7.2
- GCC, MinGW and various GNU utilities built against an early beta
version of Cygwin likely ported to Alpha and built by Bob Meader of
guiduck.com
Terminal Emulators
- Kermit 95
-
Actively maintained for Windows NT 3.50, 4.0 and 2000 on Alpha, plus
AXP64 as a bonus. Wide variety of terminal emulations. Serial,
Telnet, Dial-up, and Pathworks LAT and CTERM. FTP and basic HTTP
client. In-band Kermit and X/Y/Z-MODEM file transfer. Open Source.
Utilities
- WinVNC 3.3.3r7
-
VNC client and server. It's not much fun to use, but if you need to
control Windows NT Workstation or Server over the network it works.
Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition provides a much better
remote desktop experience though.
- Various GNU Utilities
- Bash and an assortment of other GNU utilities built against an early
beta version of Cygwin likely by Bob Meader of guiduck.com
- Iomega Tools
- Presumably covers both Zip and Jaz drives
Web Browsers
-
Internet Explorer 5.0 (5.00.2014.0216)
- This is the final release for the Alpha platform (or at least nearly,
there is apparently a slightly newer build out there too -
5.00.2314.1000).
- Internet Explorer 4.0
- On the
Service Pack 4 CD-ROM, and required as part of SP4? Includes
the optional Desktop Update so if that's desired its worth
installing first. The SP4 CD also includes other things like Windows
Media Player.
- Netscape Communicator Standard Edition 4.04
- Netscape Navigator 3.01
-
Not sure how these were released by Netscape (I can't find any
references to them on archived versions of the Netscape website), but
they can be found in The AlphaNT Source archives.
The license suggests they aren't really freeware unless you're a
member of an educational institution, otherwise it's a 90-day trial.
Netscape didn't become freeware until a while after these were
released.
- Mozilla 0.9.1
-
Perhaps the newest browser available for AlphaNT at the moment.
Possibly contributed by Bob Meader of guiduck.com (some previous
builds were).
- Mozilla Milestone 15
- Probably built by Bob Meader of guiduck.com and archived by The
AlphaNT Source.
It's technically newer than IE5 (April 2000), but probably buggier.
Not Free Software
A very incomplete list. The Alpha NT Source
has a list of software vendors which mentions some products.
- Microsoft Visual C++ RISC Edition 2.0, 4.0, Alpha Platform Edition 5.0, 6.0
- Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0, 6.0 Enterprise for Alpha
- Microsoft Word 97, Excel 97
- Microsoft Microsoft Excel 5.0
- Microsoft SQL Server 4.21
Supported Models
Windows NT 3.1
Basically just the DECpc AXP 150 and a few other models based on it: the
DEC 2000 AXP Model 300, and DEC 2000 AXP model 500.
The Alpha version shipped slightly later than x86 and MIPS, so it wasn't
present on the standard Windows NT 3.10 CDs.
Windows NT 3.5
Based on the NT 3.50 HCL. These all have an EV4 or EV45 CPU. Models with
faster (or slower) variants of these CPUs than those listed will
probably work too. If any other models supported NT 3.50, finding the
required HAL will probably be difficult today.
Windows NT 3.51
Based on the NT 3.51 HCL.
- Aspen Alpine 275XS
- Aspen Summit 300
- Aspen Telluride 275
- Aspen Timberline® 300
- Carrera Cobra 300
- Carrera Cobra 300 with Gamaray 4500
- DCG Computers PC164-266, PC164-300, PC164-333, and PC164-366
- DCG Computers PC64-275, and PC64-300
- DeskStation Technology Raptor 3 45/275, 5/266, and 5/366
- DeskStation Technology UniFlex 45/275, 5/266, and 5/366
- Digital Equipment Corp. Alpha XL 233, 266, 300† and 366†
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaServer 1000 4/200, 4/233, and 4/266
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaServer 1000 5/xxx†
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaServer 1000A† 4/266
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaServer 400 4/166
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaStation 200 4/166, 4/233, and 4/266
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaStation 250 4/266
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaStation 255† 4/233, and 4/300
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaStation 400 4/233
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaStation 500/266, /333, and /400
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaStation 600 5/266, 4/300, and 5/333
- Digital Equipment Corp. DECpc AXP 150, DEC 2000 models 300 and 500
- Digital Equipment Corp. Multia
- Digital Equipment Corp. 2100 Server model A500MP
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaServer 2000 4/200, and 4/275
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaServer 2100 4/200, 4/233, and 4/275
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaServer 2100 5/250, and 5/300
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaServer 2100A† 4/275, 5/250
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaServer 2100A† 5/250 LP, and 5/300 LP
- Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaServer 4100† 5/300E (4p)
- EDV Quant X Series 2/275, and 2/300
- EDV Quant X Series 3/266, 3/300, 3/333, and 3/366
- MaxVision Symbion AXP164 (300Mhz)
- Polywell Alpha 333
† Needs special HAL which you may find in
here.
Windows NT 4.0
This would be a long list. Basically a few models from the first
half of 1999, plus everything older which has an ISA, EISA or PCI bus
should also work. The
Alpha HALs for Windows NT page
is ultimately the definitive list as many systems either don't have a
suitable HAL on the Windows NT 4.0, or the HAL on the NT 4.0 CD is out
of date and not compatible with newer Alpha firmware.
For non-DEC systems supported by Windows NT 4.0, check the NT 4.0 HCL
(Hardware Compatibility List).
Windows 2000 RC2
As Compaq killed Alpha NT before Windows 2000s final release, Compaq
never released any Win2k HALs for Alpha systems so only those machines
with HALs on the Win2k CD-ROM are compatible. So the following machines
may be compatible:
- Digital AlphaServer 1000 Family Uniprocessor
- Digital AlphaServer 1000 5/xxx Family
- Digital AlphaServer 1000a 5/xxx Family
- Digital AlphaServer 2x00 4/xxx Family
- Digital AlphaServer 2x00 5/xxx Family
- Digital AlphaServer 4x00 5/xxx Family
- Digital AlphaServer 800 5/xxx (Corelle)
- Digital AlphaServer/AlphaStation 1200 5/xxx Family
- Digital AlphaServer 8200/8400
- Compaq AlphaServer GS60/GS140
- Digital AlphaStation 600A 5/500 (Alcor Primo)
- Digital AlphaStation 200/400 Family
- Digital AlphaStation 255
- Digital AXPpci 33
- Digital AlphaStation 500/600 Family
- Digital AlphaPC64
- Digital Alpha EB164
- Digital Alpha PC164SX
- Digital Alpha XL 233/266 Family
- Digital Alpha XL 300/366 Family
- Digital AlphaPC 164LX
- DeskStation Technology UniFlex and Raptor 3 Systems
- Aspen Alpine/Telluride
- Aspen Timberline/Summit
- Digital Alpha 21064A PICMG SBC
- Digital Personal Workstation A-Series
- Digital Alpha 21164A PICMG SBC
- Digital Alpha 21264/Tsunami Uniprocessor (DS10, XP1000)
- Digital Alpha 21264/Tsunami Multiprocessor (DS20, ES40)
Windows XP build 2210 64-bit
This was never officially released, but it eventually leaked and
installation media reconstructed. The following HALs were
present, though not all are listed in TXTSETUP.SIF so without modifying
this file Windows will only install on the first set of machines below:
- Supported
- AlphaServer 4000
- AlphaServer 4100
- AlphaServer 1200
- AlphaServer DS10
- AlphaServer DS20
- AlphaServer ES40
- Professional Workstation XP1000
- Probably supported (HALs are present, but not included in
txtsetup.sif)
- AlphaServer 1000
- AlphaServer 1000A1
- AlphaServer 800 (tested, works)
- AlphaStation 600
- AlphaPC 164LX
- Alpha PC164SX
- Alpha EB 164
Regardless of machine, graphics card support is very limited.
No driver for the onboard S3 Trio64 card in the AlphaServer 800 for
example. The ELSA GLoria Synergy is one of the
few cards that is fully supported. Without something compatible, you'll
just get 16 colour VGA mode.