Alpha/Linux Wiki

This page covers the companies that designed, built, sold, and supported Alpha hardware and software, and their part in Linux on Alpha. See also History of the Linux port for the port itself, and News Coverage for contemporary news articles.

Digital designed the Alpha architecture and its processors, and built AlphaServer and AlphaStation systems. Its Digital Semiconductor business, in Hudson, Massachusetts, sold processors, chipsets, evaluation boards, and OEM motherboards: "Digital Semiconductor is a Digital Equipment Corporation business." ^{1) 2)} Digital Semiconductor's designs were "sold by Digital, resold by resellers, cloned and improved upon". ³⁾

Digital also ran the main Alpha/Linux FTP archive, and its engineers, among them David Rusling, Jay Estabrook, and Jim Paradis, did much of the early porting work, which they sent upstream for inclusion in the main kernel tree. ⁴⁾ The team came from Digital Semiconductor's Alpha Migration Tools group, whose other projects were DECmigrate, FreePort Express, and JavaOS. ⁵⁾

The team's distribution, BLADE, first released on 1 July 1995, was the first Alpha/Linux distribution that could be installed without a second machine, and was meant to serve until the established distributions were ported; ⁶⁾ version 0.2, in August 1995, added networking and the first supported release of MILO. ⁷⁾ In April 1997 the team released EM86, which ran Linux/x86 programs using components of Digital's FX!32 translator for Windows NT. ⁸⁾

Digital did not formally support Linux, partly so as not to favor one distribution over another, but supported it with engineering work on new systems, boot code, and drivers, from a staff of four full-time engineers in 1997. ⁹⁾

Digital sued Intel for patent infringement in May 1997, and the two settled in October 1997. Under the settlement, Digital sold its Alpha fabrication plant in Hudson to Intel, which agreed to manufacture Alpha chips for Digital. ¹⁰⁾ The Federal Trade Commission approved the deal in April 1998, on the condition that Digital also talk to Samsung, AMD, and IBM about manufacturing Alphas. ^{11) 12)}

Compaq's purchase of Digital was announced in January 1998, ¹³⁾ and by June 1998 Digital was "now officially part of Compaq". ¹⁴⁾ Compaq closed Digital Semiconductor's OEM business, and resellers came to depend on Alpha Processor, Inc. instead. ¹⁵⁾ Compaq also released development tools for Alpha/Linux: a beta of Visual Threads, its rule-based analysis tool for debugging and profiling pthreads applications, was offered as a free download for Linux on Alpha and IA32 in April 2002. ¹⁶⁾

Compaq's support for Linux on Alpha included:

• It donated an Alpha to Debian in October 1998, ¹⁷⁾ and gave Linus Torvalds an AlphaServer DS20 at LinuxWorld in March 1999. ¹⁸⁾
• It released the Compaq Portable Math Library (CPML) for Linux in 1999, ¹⁹⁾ and in December 1999 Compaq C V6.2, free under a license agreement, and Compaq Fortran V1.0, free for non-commercial use and otherwise $399. ^{20) 21)} Both had been in public beta since September 1999. ²²⁾ See Toolchains.
• It made the Tru64 UNIX build of Netscape Communicator available for Linux, ²³⁾ and worked out a license with Red Hat so that the libraries it needed could be redistributed. ²⁴⁾
• It marketed AlphaServer systems such as the DS10 with Linux as one of their operating systems. ²⁵⁾
• In August 2000, it released the Alpha Linux JumpStart! installation CD as an open source project. ²⁶⁾

In August 1999, Compaq stopped its work on 32-bit Windows NT for Alpha (see Microsoft). In June 2001, Compaq announced that it would sell its Alpha technology to Intel and move Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, and NonStop Kernel to Intel's Itanium. ^{27) 28)} Compaq's Tru64 UNIX group said that an engineering study had concluded that "by 2004, Alpha's performance would not be dramatically different from the Itanium chip from Intel". ²⁹⁾ The EV7, due in late 2002, was unaffected by the agreement, but development of the EV8 stopped. ³⁰⁾

HP acquired Compaq in May 2002. Alpha documentation from then on notes that "Compaq Computer Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hewlett-Packard Company." ³¹⁾ HP released the EV7-based AlphaServer ES47, ES80, and GS1280, ³²⁾ and the last Alpha firmware update, V7.3, in April 2007. ³³⁾ It also sold the Red Hat Linux 7.2 CD for Alpha (see Red Hat).

In December 2002 HP publicly committed to making and selling Alpha systems running Tru64 UNIX until about 2006, and to supporting Tru64 UNIX on Alpha until about 2011, "provided there is continued customer demand". It also promised "a product refresh with the EV79 processors during the life of these systems". ³⁴⁾

Mitsubishi was a licensed second source for Alpha processors, and announced a 200 MHz version of the 21066. ³⁵⁾ It designed the 21164PC together with Digital Semiconductor and had the rights to build and sell it; Digital announced the chip on 17 March 1997, to be sold by Digital Semiconductor, Mitsubishi, and Samsung. ^{36) 37) 38)} Mitsubishi also made AlphaPC 164SX boards under license. ³⁹⁾ In July 1998 it stopped making and marketing its low-cost Alpha processor, blaming in part the Asian financial crisis. ⁴⁰⁾

Samsung was licensed to market Alpha processors in 1996. Digital and Samsung announced the agreement on 18 June 1996, describing it as an alliance "to develop and support a high volume market for products based on Digital's industry-leading 64-bit Alpha RISC architecture"; no financial terms were given. ^{41) 42)} It made its own 21164 processors, from the 466 MHz KP21164-466CN to the 667 MHz KP21164-667CN, and sold the AlphaPC 164LX and AlphaPC 164UX and 164BX motherboards. ⁴³⁾ Samsung's literature listed Windows NT and Linux as the software options. ⁴⁴⁾ It also made 21264 processors, ⁴⁵⁾ and a Digital product brief from 1998 names Intel and Samsung as the 21264's sources. ⁴⁶⁾

Samsung fabricated Alphas in Korea, ⁴⁷⁾ using a 0.25 micron process, "significantly better than the Hudson fab's 0.35 micron process." ⁴⁸⁾ In 1998, it set up Alpha Processor, Inc. (see below). ⁴⁹⁾ Samsung developed the UP1000 and UP1100 with API, which sold them, and later the UP1500 with AMD's 761 chipset. ^{50) 51) 52)} In 2002, Samsung disbanded its motherboard design group, ⁵³⁾ and by 2003 it had stopped making Alpha boards. ⁵⁴⁾

Intel bought Digital's Hudson fabrication plant in the 1997 settlement, and was obliged to make Alpha processors for Digital, and only for Digital. ⁵⁵⁾ In 2001, Intel took over Compaq's Alpha technology (see Compaq).

IBM negotiated an Alpha license in 1998, ⁵⁶⁾ and fabricated Alpha processors for Compaq from 1999. ^{57) 58)}

AMD licensed the 21264's EV6 bus from Digital. ⁵⁹⁾ Its AMD-751 and AMD-761 north bridges, designed for the Athlon, also support Alpha processors, ⁶⁰⁾ and were used in the UP1000, UP1100, and UP1500. ⁶¹⁾ Alpha Processor's Slot B modules were meant to share a motherboard design with AMD's Athlon. ^{62) 63)} AMD dropped the EV6 bus for its Hammer processors in 2001. ⁶⁴⁾

Alpha Processor, Inc. (API), a Samsung subsidiary, was based in Concord, Massachusetts. ⁶⁵⁾ It announced a commitment to the Linux market in January 1999, ⁶⁶⁾ and several of its employees, among them Stig Telfer, Tom Morris, and Mike Foley, took part in the mailing lists.

API sold Samsung's processors and boards, and boards and systems that it developed alone or with Samsung:

• UP1000 (manual dated December 1999) and UP1100 (May 2000), developed with Samsung, ^{67) 68)}
• UP2000 (April 2000) and UP2000+ (June 2000), ^{69) 70)}
• the CS20, a 1U dual-processor server, which Cray used as the building block of its SuperCluster systems. ⁷¹⁾

API also wrote the APB boot loader for the UP1000, ⁷²⁾ and partnered with MandrakeSoft (see MandrakeSoft). The company was renamed API NetWorks, Inc. at the end of 2000. ^{73) 74)}

API NetWorks closed around the end of 2001. Microway bought its product assets and took over its warranties. ^{75) 76)}

• DeskStation Technology was "historically a MIPS house" that built Alpha systems with its own system logic and its own Windows NT firmware and HAL. ⁷⁷⁾ Its Alpha line, all of its own design down to the chipset, ran from the Raptor 3 through the Raptor Reflex to the dual-processor EV56 Renegade. ^{78) 79)} It designed the Ruffian, later sold as the AlphaPC 164UX, and hired Dean Hall in 1997 to port Linux to it. ⁸⁰⁾ The rights to the Ruffian and its ARCSBIOS firmware passed to Samsung or API (sources disagree; see Conflicting information), ⁸¹⁾ and DeskStation had gone out of business by 2000. ⁸²⁾
• Aspen Systems, of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, built boards and systems based on Digital Semiconductor designs, such as the Alpine, Timberline, and Durango (see EB64+ and PC164). ⁸³⁾ It announced its own dual-processor EV56 board, the Twin-Peaks, ⁸⁴⁾ and later resold the API NetWorks CS20. ⁸⁵⁾
• Microway, of Kingston, Massachusetts, sold Screamer systems based on the EB164 and later boards, ⁸⁶⁾ and a dual 21264 system for $20,000 in 1998. ⁸⁷⁾ It also sold a Fortran 77 compiler for Alpha/Linux as early as 1996, when the free alternatives were f2c and an unfinished g77. ⁸⁸⁾
• Carrera Computers, of Newport Beach, California, supplied the Alpha systems in Digital Domain's render farm for the film Titanic, 105 of which ran Linux. ⁸⁹⁾
• DCG Computers, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, was a Digital authorized reseller of Alpha systems, led by Stephen J. Gaudet. ⁹⁰⁾ Atipa Linux Solutions bought it in April 2000. ⁹¹⁾
• Kenetics Technology built the Platform 2000, which Linux supported from kernel 1.3.65. ⁹²⁾
• Tadpole Technology, of Cambridge, England, built the AlphaBook notebook, which ran Red Hat Linux 3.0.3 in 1996. ⁹³⁾
• Cray used the 21064 in the T3D and the 21164 in the T3E, ⁹⁴⁾ and the CS20 in its SuperCluster, announced in January 2001; Cray also planned to bring production features from its UNICOS/mk software to Alpha/Linux. ⁹⁵⁾
• VLSI Technology, of San Jose, California, agreed with Digital on 16 September 1996 to design and manufacture core logic chips "for use with future models of Digital's Alpha microprocessor", as part of a wider arrangement to produce and market Alpha components and subsystems to OEM system builders. ⁹⁶⁾

Most Linux users bought Alpha hardware from resellers rather than from Digital. ⁹⁷⁾ Resellers active on the mailing lists included Hard Data of Edmonton, run by Maurice Hilarius, ⁹⁸⁾ Quant-X in Austria, ⁹⁹⁾ VA Research, which sold Alphas until 1998, ¹⁰⁰⁾ Atipa Linux Solutions, which bought DCG Computers in April 2000, ¹⁰¹⁾ and Island Computers of Savannah, Georgia. ¹⁰²⁾

Red Hat released Red Hat Linux/AXP in December 1995, ¹⁰³⁾ announced as release 2.1 BETA. ¹⁰⁴⁾ The first official release followed on 27 January 1996. ¹⁰⁵⁾ Red Hat released 3.0.3 in June 1996, which could be installed from CD without a floppy on most Alpha hardware. ¹⁰⁶⁾ Red Hat Linux 4.0, in October 1996, was released for Intel, Alpha, and SPARC at the same time, ¹⁰⁷⁾ and the 4.x updates kept Alpha in step with the other two. ^{108) 109)} Red Hat also hosted axp-list, "Linux and Red Hat on Alpha processors". ¹¹⁰⁾

Red Hat Linux 7.2 was the last release for Alpha. In January 2002, Red Hat said it had no plans "to port the full Red Hat Linux OS to Alpha", ¹¹¹⁾ and the 7.2 CD for Alpha was only sold by HP, for $29, without support. ¹¹²⁾

Craftworks sold Craftworks Linux/AXP in 1996, ¹¹³⁾ and was out of business by 1999. ¹¹⁴⁾

SuSE released a beta of SuSE Linux 6.1 for Alpha in April 1999. ¹¹⁵⁾ In May 2003, SuSE discontinued 7.1, "the last distribution that was available for Alpha", ¹¹⁶⁾ and its former Alpha team released an unsupported SuSE Linux 8.1 Alpha Edition. ¹¹⁷⁾ Stefan Reinauer of SuSE maintained MILO, announcing its releases on axp-list, the SuSE Alpha list, and milo-list. ¹¹⁸⁾

Linux-Mandrake 7.0 was ported to Alpha in February 2000, with Alpha Processor, Inc. as a partner. ^{119) 120)} API NetWorks hosted the build machine for the cooker-axp development branch in 2001. ¹²¹⁾ The last release for Alpha was 7.1. ¹²²⁾

TurboLinux demonstrated an Alpha port in 1999 and 2000, ¹²³⁾ and released it in July 2000. ¹²⁴⁾ It also added initrd support to its version of aboot. ¹²⁵⁾

• Linuxcare employed David Huggins-Daines, maintainer of aboot and Debian's Alpha boot floppies, who announced aboot releases from a Linuxcare address, ^{126) 127)} and Martin K. Petersen, its Principal Linux Consultant, who did the Alpha work on SGI's XFS installer. ¹²⁸⁾
• SGI published an unsupported XFS installer for Red Hat 7.1 on Alpha in July 2001. ¹²⁹⁾

Windows NT ran on Alpha systems with the ARC or AlphaBIOS firmware. In August 1999, InfoWorld reported that Compaq had laid off more than 100 people in Redmond who ported Windows NT to Alpha, and "effectively discontinued support of Microsoft's operating system on Alpha." ¹³⁰⁾ According to Phillip Ezolt of Compaq, Compaq dropped only the 32-bit version, and Microsoft then dropped the 64-bit version. ¹³¹⁾

• Applix ported Applixware to Alpha/Linux, and shipped it in December 1998. ^{132) 133)}
• NAG sold its Fortran 90 compiler for Alpha/Linux. ¹³⁴⁾
• Computer Associates prepared a beta of Ingres II 2.5 for Alpha/Linux in 2001. ¹³⁵⁾
• Metro Link, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, had a simple X server running on Alpha by December 1995, ¹³⁶⁾ and sold Motif for Linux/AXP, though its 1996 build was ECOFF and so unusable on the ELF-based Red Hat Linux 4.0. ¹³⁷⁾ Its Metro-X server for Alpha was still unreleased in August 1998, when the company was taking names for a notification list. ¹³⁸⁾
• Xi Graphics (earlier X Inside) was planning an Alpha port in December 1995, ¹³⁹⁾ and by December 1998 was selling Accelerated-X for Alpha/Linux at $150, with a demo RPM on its FTP site. ¹⁴⁰⁾ Version 4.1.2, in 1999, supported Alpha/Linux. ¹⁴¹⁾
• Cygnus Solutions employed Richard Henderson, who maintained the Alpha back end in egcs and gcc and answered toolchain questions on axp-list from a Cygnus address through the late 1990s. ¹⁴²⁾ Red Hat acquired Cygnus in 2000.
• Oracle was asked about repeatedly on axp-list between 1998 and 2002, but no Alpha/Linux release of its database appeared, and users asked instead whether the Tru64 build could be run. ^{143) 144)}

• VMS Software Inc. (VSI) became the exclusive developer of future versions of OpenVMS in July 2014, when HP licensed it the source code. ¹⁴⁵⁾ It sells OpenVMS V8.4-2L1 and V8.4-2L2 for Alpha, ¹⁴⁶⁾ and offers standard support for both through 2035. ¹⁴⁷⁾ See Operating Systems.
• Stromasys, formerly Software Resources International, sells Charon-AXP, a commercial Alpha emulator that runs unmodified OpenVMS and Tru64 UNIX, ¹⁴⁸⁾ and AVTware sells another, vtAlpha. ¹⁴⁹⁾ See Emulators.

The following sources conflict with each other or with the account given above.

• Who owned Alpha Processor, Inc.
  • "RE: Bye-bye our API...Drove my Alpha to the...", Maurice Hilarius, axp-list, 15 Jan 2002, quotes Mike Foley: "Remember, API was a Samsung company, not the other way around."
  • The same message: "Actually API was a Samsung and Compaq company."
• When API closed
  • "Re: Burning Alpha!", Maurice Hilarius, axp-list, 10 May 2002: "they went out of business as of the end of 2001."
  • Promoter of storied Alpha to shut doors, CNET, 28 Feb 2002, listed on News Coverage.
• Who bought the Ruffian design
  • "Re: prices on cabriolet", Maurice Hilarius, axp-list, 21 Sep 1998: "Actually Deskstation basically sold out the Ruffian/UX to Samsung"
  • "Re: clarification of board", Maurice Hilarius, axp-list, 4 Nov 1998: "Samsung/API bought it out about a year ago"
  • "[Axp-hardware] Re: What happened to Deskstation?", Jay Estabrook, axp-hardware, 20 Jul 2000: "purchased by either Alpha-Processor, Inc, or by Samsung"
• Who took over Samsung's and API's Alpha business
  • "RE: Samsung EV7", David Mihail, axp-list, 31 Jul 2002: "I can confirm that Samsung disbanded the motherboard design group. Their business was handed over to Microway."
  • "RE: Samsung EV7", Rich Payne, axp-list, 31 Jul 2002: "I think you're talking about API. They have sinced closed the doors and handed the support over to Microway."
• How long Intel was to make Alphas
  • "Re: overreaction wrt. DEC/intel deal?", Stephen J. Gaudet, axp-list, 28 Oct 1997: "Digital inked the deal so Intel would build the Alpha for 10 years"
  • "IBM & Alpha, looks good!", Stephen J. Gaudet, axp-list, 23 Jun 1998, quoting InfoWorld: Intel is to produce the chips "for the next seven years."
• Whether the 21164PC was a Mitsubishi or a Samsung processor
  • "Re: Intel (was Re: New Boards)", Richard Gorton, axp-list, 5 Jan 1998: "Mitsubishi and Digital Semiconductor jointly developed the 21164PC, and Mitsubishi has the rights to build and sell the 21164PC. Samsung might also, but I'm not sure of that."
  • "which new alpha chips are which", Robert Allen Barker, axp-list, 19 Mar 1997: "The Misubishi/Samsung chip (21164PC)"
• Size of the Titanic render farm
  • "Re: Digital's Titanic site...", Jay Estabrook, axp-list, 25 Mar 1998, quotes three sources: "purchase 160 433MHz DEC Alpha systems from Carrera Computers", "Digital Domain has 230 Carrera Alpha workstations installed at the studio, 160 of which were dedicated for rendering", and "Digital Domain used over 200 Carrera Computers".
• Who ended Windows NT on Alpha
  • "Re: Done: Experience with large IDE drive and Promise Ultra/66 card", Jeff Bolle, axp-list, 22 Aug 1999, quoting InfoWorld: "Compaq dumps Windows NT on Alpha"
  • "Column in eWeek very positive on Alpha", Donald Vanco, axp-list, 11 Sep 2000, quoting eWeek: "that August, Redmond pulled the plug on Windows for non-Intel chips"
  • "Re: Off topic: NT on Alpha (was: Alpha Users in the Toronto area.)", Phillip Ezolt, axp-list, 30 Sep 1999: "Compaq said that they would no longer support 32-bit Alpha/NT, but they would support the 64-bit version"
• Whether Red Hat dropped Alpha
  • "Forw: FW: Red Hat has NOT dropped Alpha", Peter Bech, axp-list, 26 Oct 2001, quoting Compaq on The Inquirer's report: "This is totally untrue"
  • "Is this really a good news ??", MILLET Mathieu, axp-list, 11 Jan 2002, quoting Red Hat: "No, not at this time."