Alpha/Linux Wiki

Alpha systems use one of two families of firmware, depending on the operating system they were designed for: the SRM console, and the ARC family (ARC, AlphaBIOS, and ARCSBIOS). Some systems carry both and can switch between them.

The pages on individual systems and motherboards describe the firmware available for each, and SRM Console: Final versions lists the last SRM release for each system.

Linux should be booted from SRM wherever the system has it. SRM provides the PALcode that Linux uses and loads aboot from the disk; ARC and AlphaBIOS provide Windows NT PALcode, so Linux on them must be started through MILO, which brings its own PALcode. ^{1) 2)} OpenVMS, Tru64 UNIX, and the BSDs also require SRM. ^{3) 4)}

On systems that hold ARC or AlphaBIOS alongside SRM, the console is switched as described in ARC Firmware: Switching to SRM. The AlphaPC 164, 164LX, and 164SX hold only one firmware at a time, so moving them to SRM means flashing the SRM image. ⁵⁾

The console settings, and on some systems the choice between SRM and AlphaBIOS, are kept in memory backed by a battery on the motherboard; settings that do not survive a power cycle usually mean the battery has failed. ⁶⁾ See Systems: Common problems for the batteries used, and SRM Console: Environment variables for the settings to restore.

Systems with no SRM firmware, among them the Alpha XL and XLT, ⁷⁾ the AlphaPC 164RX, ⁸⁾ and the Ruffian (AlphaPC 164UX and 164BX), ⁹⁾ can boot Linux only with MILO. A current kernel needs an EV56 (21164A) or later processor ¹⁰⁾ and a MILO built from the alphalinux repository; see MILO.

Under QEMU, the firmware is qemu-palcode, which provides just enough of the SRM interfaces for Linux to boot as if on SRM, ¹¹⁾ but has no console command line; QEMU loads the kernel itself.

HP's firmware site, ftp.hp.com/pub/alphaserver/firmware, no longer exists. Its contents survive in the Wayback Machine, ¹²⁾ and the Internet Archive holds images of the Alpha Systems Firmware Update CDs, among them a collection of the update CDs and individual releases such as V6.0. The last CD, V7.3, was released in April 2007. ¹³⁾ Firmware for API's UP1000, UP1100, UP1500, UP2000, and CS20 and for several Digital Semiconductor boards is kept in the alphalinux/firmware repository on GitHub.

AlphaServers and workstations are updated by booting the firmware CD, which runs the Loadable Firmware Update utility (LFU); update srm at its UPD> prompt updates the console. ¹⁴⁾ The Digital Semiconductor motherboards are updated from a FAT floppy holding fwupdate.exe and the ROM image, run with SRM's fwupdate command or AlphaBIOS's "Upgrade AlphaBIOS", and most have a fail-safe booter, enabled by a jumper, for recovering from a failed update. ¹⁵⁾ The procedures are described in SRM Console: Updating firmware and ARC Firmware: Updating firmware.

These release notes cover firmware releases from V6.0 (2001) to V7.3 (April 2007) and describe the Loadable Firmware Update utility, update procedures, and changes in each release. The last two entries are the release notes for the KZPSA SCSI adapter and the manual for the WWIDMGR console utility.

These guides include chapters on the SRM, ARC, or AlphaBIOS firmware of their systems.