Re: Debian Installation upon an Alpha Server 4000 5/400
Dear Robert
Steve Langasek wrote:
On Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 11:44:16PM -0400, Robert Garron wrote:
It's possible that this is a question of firmware versions, either on the
alpha or on the SCSI card.
I don't think it is, I never could use Adaptec cards to boot off an AS4100.
I previously booted the machine using the QLogic ISP1020 that came stock,
but unfortunately the driver support for that card seems to have atrophied
in Linux 2.6 and it can no longer access the disks.
Strange: With a ISP1020 in my AS4100 I can boot etch without problems.
*** the preferred controllers (used for VMS clusters and/or Tru64 Unix on
any 4000 or 4100 Alphas) KZPSA, KZPSA-BB, KZPSA-BB_N, or KZPSA-PS used for
Raid support with Ultra Wide Differential SCSI support for SCSI disks and
Storageworks is supported withing the BIOS of any 4000/4100 AlphaServer but
there is NO DRIVER within the Debian Linux Distribution that I could find
(or any Linux that I can find) and thus auto booting is impossible.
How does these cards show up under lspci? The only useful reference to
KZPSA that I find on Debian lists seems to imply that this is the same as
the Mylex DAC960 so commonly seen. The DAC960 module is included in the
Not really - there is a firmware issue with it, which makes it
impossible to use the original DEC raid card (a rebranded Mylex DAC960),
unless you dare to overwrite it with the newer Mylex firmware. See
http://lists.debian.org/debian-alpha/2003/10/msg00087.html
To avoid such problems you can use a boot only disk connected to the
built-in Symbios/NCR 53c810 SCSI card. You just need the boot partition
on that disk and use the Adaptec card for the rest. I use successfully
such a setup with an Adaptec 3944A, which is not supported by SRM.
A good choice too, are Symbios 53c875 based cards: They seem to be
supported in SRM and work in Debian.
Regards, Adrian.
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