Re: Dec Alpha 500 (panda boxes or PC164) Possibly OT

[Stefan Schroepfer <whoknows@onlinehome.de>]

Greg wrote:
> I have a couple Dec Alpha PC164 500s and a few more Panda Boxes (also 500s).

Nice. PC164 boards together with 500 MHz (ev56) CPUs were sold rather
chaep back in 1997. I don't know, what panda boxes are, though.

> I'm wondering how much trouble it would be to throw in a current CPU ??  or
> MOBO ??

Which parts exactly do you want to preserve? The next generation of
Alpha CPUs was *incompatible* to the "Socket 499" of Alpha ev56 and
had very new requirements regarding the memory interface. The next
generation of Alpha CPUs (ev6 and ev67) were introduced back in 1999
(IIRC), so what do you mean by "throwing in a current CPU"?

Even if you plan to preserve only the cases and Power-Supplies: Be
aware of the fact, that the original PC164 boards had "special"
requirements regarding the power supply (i.e.: were not really ATX-
compatible). Use Google or ask again.

> Or am I just F'n Crazy ?

Maybe.


Regards,
Stefan Schroepfer