Attachment #89810 for bug #137583

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<!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5 -->
<license/>

<version>1.2</version>
<date>2006-06-21</date>

<chapter>
<title>About this Document</title>

</ul>

<p>
<b>Hardware</b>
</p>

<ul>
  <li>
    <uri link="#ascase">I opened up the case on an AlphaServer and now 
      it won't power on, what do I do?</uri>
  </li>
</ul>

<p>
<b>Alpha Specific Compiler Flags</b>
</p>


  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#MTUNE">
      How do I specify the scheduling model without changing the instruction
      set?
    </uri>
  </li>
  <li>

    </uri>
  </li>
  <li><uri link="#whichbootloader">Which bootloader do I use?</uri></li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#abootfs">
      Can aboot boot kernels from xfs, reiserfs, or jfs partitions?
    </uri>
  </li>   
</ul>

<p>
<b>Software</b>
</p>

<ul>
  <li><uri link="#javasupport">How is Java support in Gentoo/Alpha?</uri></li>
  <li><uri link="#compaqjava">What's wrong with compaq-jdk?</uri></li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#currentjava">Will there ever be working Java support?</uri>
  </li>
  <li><uri link="#dotnetsupport">How is .NET support in Gentoo/Alpha?</uri></li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#dotnetneeded">What is needed for .NET support?</uri>
  </li>
</ul>

<p>


<p>
The Gentoo/Alpha project is responsible for keeping the Gentoo distribution
updated and current for the Alpha platform. This primarily includes 
keywording packages, porting software, and making new releases. The 
Gentoo/Alpha project aims to provide a usable environment for both 
desktops and servers.
</p>

</body>

<body>

<p>
You can find out about the current status of the Gentoo/Alpha project 
via status reports. These reports inform the public about what we've 
been up to. New status reports will be posted about once every 6 
months. Current and past status report can be found on the
<uri link="/proj/en/base/alpha/status/index.xml">Status Reports 
Project page</uri>.
</p>

</body>

</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Hardware</title>
<section id="ascase">
<title>I opened up the case on an AlphaServer and now it won't power 
on, what do I do?</title>
<body>

<p>
Make sure the top panel of the case is on and properly in place.
The middle of the top panel of the case has a small piece of metal 
oriented downwards. When the top panel is put back in place properly, 
the small piece of metal will press down on a switch. When the switch 
isn't pressed down, the system will refuse to power on.
</p>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Alpha Specific Compiler Flags</title>
<section id="CFLAGS">
<title>Is the use of Alpha specific compiler flags recommended?</title>


</body>
</section>
<section id="abootfs">
<title>Can aboot boot kernels from xfs, reiserfs, or jfs partitions?</title>
<body>

<p>
No, <c>aboot</c> only supports booting kernels from <c>ext2</c> and 
<c>ext3</c> partitions. You may still use other files systems for your 
root partition, you just need to create a /boot partition with either
<c>ext2</c> or <c>ext3</c> on it.
</p>

<p>
Support for reiserfs and xfs is planned. In fact, there are patches 
floating around that add support for those two file systems. However, 
the use of those patches is unsupported.
</p>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>
<chapter>
<title>Software</title>

<section id="javasupport">
<title>How is Java support in Gentoo/Alpha?</title>


</body>
</section>
<section id="dotnetsupport">
<title>How is .NET support in Gentoo/Alpha?</title>
<body>

<p>
Neither of the two main open source efforts, <uri 
link="http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page">mono</uri> nor <uri 
link="http://www.dotgnu.org/">DotGNU</uri>, support the alpha 
architecture.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="dotnetneeded">
<title>What is needed for .NET support?</title>
<body>

<p>
Bringing .NET to alpha isn't a simple task. It requires coding all of 
the assembly language code generation macros for the JIT (just in time) 
compiler and coding architecture specific functions (register 
allocators, etc).
</p>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>


<p>
<c>hardened-sources</c> and SELinux support is being worked on by Stephen
Bennett (<mail link="spb@gentoo.org">spb</mail>). <c>hardened-sources</c>
is currently keyworded for alpha. We hope to see an SELinux
profile for Alpha in the tree as soon as we feel confident about it.
</p>


<body>

<p>
There were some times in the past when it was broken. However,
<c>2.6.15.1</c> and <c>2.6.16.19</c> are both known to work well.
If you find that SMP is broken and want SMP support you will need revert 
to the one of the versions mentioned above or use a 2.4 kernel.
If you really need to run the latest 2.6 kernel on an SMP box and you 
don't care that only one of your processors is getting used, then you 
could configure the 2.6 kernel without SMP support.
<p>
The 2.6 Linux kernel runs fine on uniprocessor Alpha systems.
</p>

</body>


<p>
If you find a bug or you want to send us patches, then you need to file a bug
report. It only takes you a little bit of your time, and your help is 
really appreciated. Please follow the <uri 
link="/doc/en/bugzilla-howto.xml">Gentoo Bug Reporting Guide</uri>.
</p>

</body>

    forum</uri> and IRC channel.
  </li>
  <li>Sending patches</li>
  <li>Becoming an <uri 
      link="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/alpha/AT/index.xml">AT</uri>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>

<body>

<p>
Yes, see the <uri link="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/alpha/AT/index.xml">
Gentoo Linux Alpha Arch Testers Project</uri> page for details.
link="ferdy@gentoo.org">ferdy</mail>) has been working on getting the project
off the ground.
</p>

</body>

Return to bug 137583

Lines 18-25 Link Here

(-)/home/tcort/cvs/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/gentoo-alpha-faq.xml (-31 / +120 lines)
18	<!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5 -->	18	<!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5 -->
19	<license/>	19	<license/>
20		20
21	<version>1.1</version>	21	<version>1.2</version>
22	<date>2006-04-03</date>	22	<date>2006-06-21</date>
23		23
24	<chapter>	24	<chapter>
25	<title>About this Document</title>	25	<title>About this Document</title>
Lines 69-74 Link Here
69	</ul>	69	</ul>
70		70
71	<p>	71	<p>
		72	<b>Hardware</b>
		73	</p>
		74
		75	<ul>
		76	<li>
		77	<uri link="#ascase">I opened up the case on an AlphaServer and now
		78	it won't power on, what do I do?</uri>
		79	</li>
		80	</ul>
		81
		82	<p>
72	<b>Alpha Specific Compiler Flags</b>	83	<b>Alpha Specific Compiler Flags</b>
73	</p>	84	</p>
74		85
Lines 85-91 Link Here
85	</li>	96	</li>
86	<li>	97	<li>
87	<uri link="#MTUNE">	98	<uri link="#MTUNE">
88	How do I specify the scheduling model without changing the instruction set?	99	How do I specify the scheduling model without changing the instruction
		100	set?
89	</uri>	101	</uri>
90	</li>	102	</li>
91	<li>	103	<li>
Lines 127-142 Link Here
127	</uri>	139	</uri>
128	</li>	140	</li>
129	<li><uri link="#whichbootloader">Which bootloader do I use?</uri></li>	141	<li><uri link="#whichbootloader">Which bootloader do I use?</uri></li>
		142	<li>
		143	<uri link="#abootfs">
		144	Can aboot boot kernels from xfs, reiserfs, or jfs partitions?
		145	</uri>
		146	</li>
130	</ul>	147	</ul>
131		148
132	<p>	149	<p>
133	<b>Java on Gentoo/Alpha</b>	150	<b>Software</b>
134	</p>	151	</p>
135		152
136	<ul>	153	<ul>
137	<li><uri link="#javasupport">How is Java support in Gentoo/Alpha?</uri></li>	154	<li><uri link="#javasupport">How is Java support in Gentoo/Alpha?</uri></li>
138	<li><uri link="#compaqjava">What's wrong with compaq-jdk?</uri></li>	155	<li><uri link="#compaqjava">What's wrong with compaq-jdk?</uri></li>
139	<li><uri link="#currentjava">Will there ever be working Java support?</uri></li>	156	<li>
		157	<uri link="#currentjava">Will there ever be working Java support?</uri>
		158	</li>
		159	<li><uri link="#dotnetsupport">How is .NET support in Gentoo/Alpha?</uri></li>
		160	<li>
		161	<uri link="#dotnetneeded">What is needed for .NET support?</uri>
		162	</li>
140	</ul>	163	</ul>
141		164
142	<p>	165	<p>
Lines 189-197 Link Here
189		212
190	<p>	213	<p>
191	The Gentoo/Alpha project is responsible for keeping the Gentoo distribution	214	The Gentoo/Alpha project is responsible for keeping the Gentoo distribution
192	updated and current for the Alpha platform. This primarily includes keywording	215	updated and current for the Alpha platform. This primarily includes
193	and new releases. The Gentoo/Alpha project aims to provide a usable environment	216	keywording packages, porting software, and making new releases. The
194	for both desktop and server usage.	217	Gentoo/Alpha project aims to provide a usable environment for both
		218	desktops and servers.
195	</p>	219	</p>
196		220
197	</body>	221	</body>
Lines 201-211 Link Here
201	<body>	225	<body>
202		226
203	<p>	227	<p>
204	You can find out about the current status of the Gentoo/Alpha project in our	228	You can find out about the current status of the Gentoo/Alpha project
205	status reports. Jose Luis Rivero (<mail	229	via status reports. These reports inform the public about what we've
206	link="yoswink@gentoo.org">yoswink</mail>) plans on releasing a Gentoo/Alpha	230	been up to. New status reports will be posted about once every 6
207	status report about once every 6 months. The current status report can be found	231	months. Current and past status report can be found on the
208	<uri link="/proj/en/base/alpha/status/status-20051207.xml"> here</uri>.	232	<uri link="/proj/en/base/alpha/status/index.xml">Status Reports
		233	Project page</uri>.
209	</p>	234	</p>
210		235
211	</body>	236	</body>
Lines 307-312 Link Here
307	</chapter>	332	</chapter>
308		333
309	<chapter>	334	<chapter>
		335	<title>Hardware</title>
		336	<section id="ascase">
		337	<title>I opened up the case on an AlphaServer and now it won't power
		338	on, what do I do?</title>
		339	<body>
		340
		341	<p>
		342	Make sure the top panel of the case is on and properly in place.
		343	The middle of the top panel of the case has a small piece of metal
		344	oriented downwards. When the top panel is put back in place properly,
		345	the small piece of metal will press down on a switch. When the switch
		346	isn't pressed down, the system will refuse to power on.
		347	</p>
		348
		349	</body>
		350	</section>
		351	</chapter>
		352
		353	<chapter>
310	<title>Alpha Specific Compiler Flags</title>	354	<title>Alpha Specific Compiler Flags</title>
311	<section id="CFLAGS">	355	<section id="CFLAGS">
312	<title>Is the use of Alpha specific compiler flags recommended?</title>	356	<title>Is the use of Alpha specific compiler flags recommended?</title>
Lines 513-521 Link Here
513		557
514	</body>	558	</body>
515	</section>	559	</section>
		560	<section id="abootfs">
		561	<title>Can aboot boot kernels from xfs, reiserfs, or jfs partitions?</title>
		562	<body>
		563
		564	<p>
		565	No, <c>aboot</c> only supports booting kernels from <c>ext2</c> and
		566	<c>ext3</c> partitions. You may still use other files systems for your
		567	root partition, you just need to create a /boot partition with either
		568	<c>ext2</c> or <c>ext3</c> on it.
		569	</p>
		570
		571	<p>
		572	Support for reiserfs and xfs is planned. In fact, there are patches
		573	floating around that add support for those two file systems. However,
		574	the use of those patches is unsupported.
		575	</p>
		576
		577	</body>
		578	</section>
516	</chapter>	579	</chapter>
517	<chapter>	580	<chapter>
518	<title>Java on Gentoo/Alpha</title>	581	<title>Software</title>
519		582
520	<section id="javasupport">	583	<section id="javasupport">
521	<title>How is Java support in Gentoo/Alpha?</title>	584	<title>How is Java support in Gentoo/Alpha?</title>
Lines 555-560 Link Here
555		618
556	</body>	619	</body>
557	</section>	620	</section>
		621	<section id="dotnetsupport">
		622	<title>How is .NET support in Gentoo/Alpha?</title>
		623	<body>
		624
		625	<p>
		626	Neither of the two main open source efforts, <uri
		627	link="http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page">mono</uri> nor <uri
		628	link="http://www.dotgnu.org/">DotGNU</uri>, support the alpha
		629	architecture.
		630	</p>
		631
		632	</body>
		633	</section>
		634	<section id="dotnetneeded">
		635	<title>What is needed for .NET support?</title>
		636	<body>
		637
		638	<p>
		639	Bringing .NET to alpha isn't a simple task. It requires coding all of
		640	the assembly language code generation macros for the JIT (just in time)
		641	compiler and coding architecture specific functions (register
		642	allocators, etc).
		643	</p>
		644
		645	</body>
		646	</section>
558	</chapter>	647	</chapter>
559		648
560	<chapter>	649	<chapter>
Lines 577-583 Link Here
577		666
578	<p>	667	<p>
579	<c>hardened-sources</c> and SELinux support is being worked on by Stephen	668	<c>hardened-sources</c> and SELinux support is being worked on by Stephen
580	Bennett (<mail link="spb@gentoo.org">spb</mail>). We hope to see an SELinux	669	Bennett (<mail link="spb@gentoo.org">spb</mail>). <c>hardened-sources</c>
		670	is currently keyworded for alpha. We hope to see an SELinux
581	profile for Alpha in the tree as soon as we feel confident about it.	671	profile for Alpha in the tree as soon as we feel confident about it.
582	</p>	672	</p>
583		673
Lines 588-602 Link Here
588	<body>	678	<body>
589		679
590	<p>	680	<p>
591	Working SMP for Alpha with the 2.6 Linux kernel varies from version to version.	681	There were some times in the past when it was broken. However,
592	If you find that it is broken and want SMP support you will need to use a 2.4	682	<c>2.6.15.1</c> and <c>2.6.16.19</c> are both known to work well.
593	kernel. If you really need to run a 2.6 kernel on an SMP box and you don't care	683	If you find that SMP is broken and want SMP support you will need revert
594	that only one of your processors is getting used, then you could configure the	684	to the one of the versions mentioned above or use a 2.4 kernel.
595	2.6 kernel without SMP support.	685	If you really need to run the latest 2.6 kernel on an SMP box and you
596	</p>	686	don't care that only one of your processors is getting used, then you
597		687	could configure the 2.6 kernel without SMP support.
598	<p>
599	The 2.6 Linux kernel runs fine on uniprocessor Alpha systems.
600	</p>	688	</p>
601		689
602	</body>	690	</body>
Lines 611-619 Link Here
611		699
612	<p>	700	<p>
613	If you find a bug or you want to send us patches, then you need to file a bug	701	If you find a bug or you want to send us patches, then you need to file a bug
614	report. It only takes you a little while, and your help is really appreciated.	702	report. It only takes you a little bit of your time, and your help is
615	Please follow the <uri link="/doc/en/bugzilla-howto.xml">Gentoo Bug Reporting	703	really appreciated. Please follow the <uri
616	Guide</uri>.	704	link="/doc/en/bugzilla-howto.xml">Gentoo Bug Reporting Guide</uri>.
617	</p>	705	</p>
618		706
619	</body>	707	</body>
Lines 635-640 Link Here
635	forum</uri> and IRC channel.	723	forum</uri> and IRC channel.
636	</li>	724	</li>
637	<li>Sending patches</li>	725	<li>Sending patches</li>
		726	<li>Becoming an <uri
		727	link="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/alpha/AT/index.xml">AT</uri>
		728	</li>
638	</ul>	729	</ul>
639		730
640	</body>	731	</body>
Lines 644-653 Link Here
644	<body>	735	<body>
645		736
646	<p>	737	<p>
647	At the moment there is no arch testers project for Gentoo/Alpha. However, there	738	Yes, see the <uri link="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/alpha/AT/index.xml">
648	will be one in the future. Fernando J. Pereda (<mail	739	Gentoo Linux Alpha Arch Testers Project</uri> page for details.
649	link="ferdy@gentoo.org">ferdy</mail>) has been working on getting the project
650	off the ground.
651	</p>	740	</p>
652		741
653	</body>	742	</body>