Chris Bamber writes (on "Wed, 07 Jun 95 12:20:02 BST."):
> I have a ALpha 3000 and wish to run Windows NT on it. I dont have a
> Digital CD-ROM drive but do have various SCSI CD-ROM drives. Will
> that do. Also how would I briefly go about booting off the NT disc to
> start the installation.
In a nutshell, the answer is "you can't". It has nothing to do with the
CDROM drive and everything to do with the system design, including the IO
subsystem implementation (TURBOchannel).
Windows NT requires a different console firmware than OpenVMS or Digital
UNIX. Both Digital UNIX and OpenVMS use the "SRM console" firmware which
was designed by Digital to be very similar to the traditional VAX console
firmware (similar operator interface, similar binary interface for OSes).
Windows NT uses the "ARC console" which was designed as part of the ill-
fated "ACE initiative". Digital hasn't released (and as far as I know has
not even implemented) an "ARC console" for the TURBOchannel workstations.
The first Alpha system on which an "ARC console" was implemented and also
delivered was the DECpc AXP 150 (aka DEC 2000 Model 300), which has EISA as
the peripheral interface bus.
Even if you could get an "ARC console" for a DEC 3000 system, I'm not sure
that Microsoft has device drivers for the TURBOchannel devices (much less
bus support for TURBOchannel) in Windows NT.
If you want a system that will run Digital UNIX, OpenVMS, and Windows NT
(one at a time), you should get one of the newest AlphaStation products,
which are capable of doing so. I would not recommend you get one of the
DECpc AXP 150 systems unless you get a great price on it.
Tom
Dr. Thomas P. Blinn, UNIX Software Group, Digital Equipment Corporation
110 Spit Brook Road, MS ZKO3-2/U20 Nashua, New Hampshire 03062-2698
Technology Partnership Engineering Phone: (603) 881-0646
Internet: tpb_at_zk3.dec.com Digital's Easynet: alpha::tpb
Worry kills more people than work because more people worry than work.
My favorite palindrome is: Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
-- Phil Agre, pagre_at_ucsd.edu
Opinions expressed herein are my own, and do not necessarily represent
those of my employer or anyone else, living or dead, real or imagined.
Received on Wed Jun 07 1995 - 19:20:02 NZST