Alpha 21264

[andypress]

I have a Siemens computer with an Alpha 21264 that I picked up a while ago for free. It has windows nt 4 on it at the moment. I was wondering what kind of operating system this thing will run that is more today mainstream. Will xp-64 work? Or some variation of linux?

 

[ProviaFan]

Given that it's not an x86-compatible architecture, you'll need something that runs on Alpha, like NT4 for Alpha, or perhaps Linux or BSD.

 

[andypress]

Would any form of linux run on this?

 

[yuchai]

I believe Debian supports the alpha architecture.

 

[Doh!]

Suse 8.1 has full support for the processor.

 

[Doh!]

This place has all the info. you need.

http://www.alphalinux.org/

 

[bersl2]

You could always get ahold of an Alpha version of VMS...

 

[n0cmonkey]

Depending on the model of the machine (the processor is less important than other parts):
OpenBSD
NetBSD
FreeBSD
Linux
OpenVMS

It might be an issue if the machine doesn't have SRM, but instead AlphaBIOS/ARC firmware. But you can supposedly replace the ARM Firmware with SRM, so maybe it won't be an issue. And it's possible Linux doesn't have an issue with ARC, I don't know.