Rajnish was once rumoured to have said:
> All,
>
> I've come in possession of an Alphastation 500/400 which has
> OpenVMS. I would like to install Debian on it
> however after hours of googling, I've discovered that I need to
> know much more about this beast (read: *fun*) than I know about my
> AMD-PC.
>
> So this beast (out of respect, I won't call it a 'box') doesn't
> have a monitor nor a graphic card. Thus, I use the serial port hooked
> to an old hp-laptop.
>
> I can see the bootup process starting, followed immediatly by
> OpenVMS and then the login: prompt. No telltale sign of an
> SRM console (">>>").
>
> My question(s) are:
> how to I get to the SRM console ? Is there a special key I have to
> press ? (I am connected via serial port using Terminal.exe on win95!!)
Pull the cover off whilst the AS500 is turned off. There should be a
little chart showing the jumpers on the board. rejumper the reset
switch (on the front) to be a HALT switch instead of a RESET switch by
following the diagram[1].
Now, turn your machine on, and give the HALT switch (the little button
on the front that was once a reset switch) a good tapping whilst the
machine is booting up. You should eventually get a SRM prompt.
Once that is all done, you can try to install Debian and join in with
those of us screaming because the stupid netboot installer doesn't
work on the AS500. (But, for some perverse reason, does on miata).
If you find yourself in this situation, use the woody netboot
installer instead.
C.
[1] Following said diagram is beyond scope of this post
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