Since the previously mentioned etch install on the alpha PC164 was more hardware intensive than some software types are comfortable with, it is perhaps appropriate to describe the hardware aspects in more detail.
Tools required: 1. lightweight forceps with all-important curved tips for removing ribbon connectors without damaging them. Purchased at Radio Shack. Your arm should be braced on the computer cabinet so each end of the ribbon connector can be removed a little at a time. If one end is pulled all the way off in a single movement, motherboard header pins might be bent. The curved tips are necessary so the body of the connector can be gripped without gripping the top of the connector. If the top of the connector is gripped, it will come off. The top must stay on because you will push down on the top to put the connectors back on the headers. 2. Clock battery for motherboard since the alpha PC164 had been in storage a while. Clock battery should be replaced before the software install. The clock will be set during the install, but will loose setting after install during power down for cable reverse. Subsequent software additions will be plagued by security and timestamp warnings if the clock is not correct. Some PCI cards will have to be temporarily removed to replace the clock battery on the motherboard. On the PC164 the battery is CR2032, available at a drug store. 3. Pliers to remove PCI cards. 4. 1/4 inch nut driver to remove cabinet screws. 5. 25 foot Ethernet cable, since the alpha was on a desk across the room from the Ethernet hookup for my regular computer. 6. female to female Ethernet coupler since the Ethernet cable was male on both ends. 7. An anti-static wrist strap clipped to the computer case unless you are disciplined enough to grab the case with the other hand at all times. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
