geoffrey asks HoffmanLabs (AskHL) i recently aquired an alphaserver 1000A 4/266 which is currently installed with HP Unix true 64. since this machine didn't run for a while, i don't have any password related to any account on that machine.

I'd like to install a gentoo linux onto it, but it doesn't boot on the CD.

i went through the net, and found out about the SRM console, but i can't bring it up. it appears that the conbsole is configured to be reached via a com port, but there again i can't reach it (hyperterminal). the alphaserver is equiped with a terminal acces card (i think) and that cable looks like a phone cable (exept that the pin is not centred) and at the other end connected into a com port on a PC (through an adapter)

so, after all this novel, i'd like to know whether you could give me a hand with this. (reaching the SRM console and installing linux)

Thanks for the question.

A usual path here is to first install Linux onto the box running HyperTerminal, as that is typically Microsoft Windows on an x86-class platform (prior to Windows Vista, where HyperTerminal was removed), and thus Gentoo and other distributions are available for x86, and tend to have wider hardware support on x86 than on Alpha processors.

If the Alpha hardware platform is the target, then look to supplement HyperTerminal with PuTTY or VTstar; HyperTerminal as included in Windows (prior to Vista) does not have the best compatibility with VT terminals and VT-compatible emulators, as various vendors that have designed to it have later discovered. The PuTTY terminal emulator and the Freeware package VTstar do rather better here, as do the current versions of the Hilgreave HyperTerminal package.

Of these two PuTTY is far more capable, and more modern as compared with VTstar.

With Unix, Linux and Mac OS X clients, the GNU screen utility, tmux, as well as the bash shell itself can provide functional terminal emulation with a target VAX, Alpha or Integrity Itanium serial console and OpenVMS, presuming you have a serial connection from your box to the target box. Various terminal emulator packages are available with most (all?) of these distributions, as well.

Also see the classic VAXcluster console (VCS) manager and other commercial console-management packages listed in the OpenVMS FAQ.

With a serial console connection from an OpenVMS server, the DCL command SET HOST /DTE can connect out using the specified serial line. This is a common and functional choice for small environments using OpenVMS.

Here are discussions of terminal emulations on Mac OS X, some of which are applicable to emulation and ssh and related on other Unix-compatible platforms.

SRM was the console used for OpenVMS Alpha and for the software variously known as DEC OSF/1, then Digital Unix and later as Tru64 Unix. The SRM boot flags do differ between OpenVMS and most (all?) Unix implementations. Information on entering single-user via SRM is available in the Tru64 Unix documentation set.

HoffmanLabs would likely boot and use single-user mode on the box to gain access to the Tru64 Unix environment. That is very likely to have support for all of the pieces you are working with here.

As for the console cables, that is likely BC16E series DECconnect cable with Modified Modular Jack (MMJ) connectors. The adapter on the AlphaServer 1000A is likely the H8571-J PC DB9 adapter. If this is the H8571-J adapter, then unscrew the adapter from the box to reveal a PC-compatible DB9 serial console connection.

The usual serial connection for AlphaServer is 9600 8N1; 9600 baud, eight bits, no parity, one stop bit.

Manuals for the AlphaServer 1000A are available in the MANX archives, and various other resources.

An archive of Alpha SRM firmware is available for download.

The AlphaServer 1000A is among those systems with a firmware failsafe loader (FSL) available.

An OpenVMS Alpha hobbyist license and CD distribution is available, as an alternative.