Re: current status of alpha in squeeze

[Robert Garron <Robert.Garron@access3000.net>]

Hi Phil- 

Well happy to connect with you.  I agree we will have to move swiftly to get 
Alpha back in with Debian...  

All I need is direction as to what to do, when to do (now), and who to contact 
(our growing list - but who in Debian land to contact).  I do appreciate  
your provided list of contacts - I hope they all respond to our call to have 
Alpha Squeeze...

As to the firmware issue you mentioned below, I happen to have in my group a 
few DEC employees (cc'ed also) and a contact who works with Alpha hardware.  
From your note below I will shoot out a question about how hard it is to 
update the firmware if needed?  

The company that can do almost anything with Alpha's is Pyramid Technology 
Services.  They have Alpha experts with storage knowledge and they have the 
ability to change 36 gig drives to 300 gig and possibly to the new 4 meg 
cache tera byte drive...   I was (and will) going to use them for a project 
that has been in stasis for a year now... Anyway, this same company may have 
the ability to update firmware? Without asking Joel we will never know... So, 
I will cc Joel on this e-mail and call him to fill him in to see what he has 
to say -- With firmware upgrade, you may have to pay him/his company for the 
time, but without asking the status we would never know if they could even 
perform the task...  I know if any Alpha users need hardware support, 
replacement parts, and repairs - Joel's company is the place to call.  Joel 
has the ability to frankly build almost anything... {Joel you are getting 
free marketing here :) }

Anyway, What should our next steps be?

What my group has to offer a Debian Alpha group is:
Three (3) almost fully loaded working 4100's with HSC's and fully loaded bays.
Five (5) 2100's and one (1) DS20 (older model, unfortunately the motherboard 
has an issue that has not been fixed yet - Joel's company can fix this -- we 
just have not done it yet)
and another ~10 Alpha's of various sorts.  The above are the real working 
units.

Plan - I guess we need to finalize the list of people who can help, exchange 
contacts, setup systems to perform the work, and ask Debian if they can 
provided all of the past tools they have used to create a release... Maybe 
Debian can provide a CD with a HowTo to setup a distro creation environment?
We can mount that so our new group can have full access.  I guess we should 
also setup git or subversion for source code control etc... I am probably 
getting ahead of myself here as the group should decide how to proceed upon 
its formation...

Please advise all and you can send contact info to:
ops@Access3000.net or directly to me - 
Robert.Garron@Access3000.net

I look forward to working with all of you to achieve this goal.
Regards,
Robert



On Mon March 28 2011 07:56:05 Phil Carmody wrote:
> [bcc'd to a few]
>
> --- On Mon, 3/28/11, Michael Cree <mcree@orcon.net.nz> wrote:
> > > I just found out that alpha was dropped from squeeze
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > > ; and it seems that a few other alpha enthusiasts are
> >
> > willing also
> >
> > I'm prepared to pitch in and help.  I am not a Debian
> > Developer, but I have over the last two or three years
> > stepped up to provide Alpha architecture support to the
> > kernel (which is in better shape now than when Squeeze was
> > frozen) and helped to get the Xserver running again on BWX
> > capable Alphas.
> >
> > I would be keen to see another Debian Alpha release so
> > count me in.  I see also that Witold Baryluk in another
> > very recent message has also offered substantial support.
> >
> > > Is it too late to organize a group and to have them
> >
> > work together to put
> >
> > > alpha back on to the release list?
> >
> > Maybe not, but it may need quick action.  The FTP
> > maintainers have just reported that the Alpha port is to now
> > to be completely removed from Debian.
>
> I stopped using an Alpha as my primary machine because of combinded power
> supply and hard disk failure, and having spare pee-cees that I could
> replace it with immediately. That, and Ruffian (with Alphabios or Arcbios,
> I forget) stopped being supported, so it was practically impossible for me
> to actually reinstall debian on it were I to power it up again.
>
> Since then, I've spent 2 years as a linux kernel developer, and feel much
> more confident about actually being able to contribute towards diagnosing
> and fixing problems rather than just detecting them.
>
> As Nokia will be kicking my unwanted linux-coloured arse out on the street
> some time soon, it's entirely possible I will have more time to actively
> contribute to getting debian back on Alpha. I may need 'bootstrapping' on
> the Ruffian still, or perhaps picking up a 2nd hand 21264.
>
> Phil