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6.
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Console firmware is stored in a flash ROM and started when an Alpha system is powered up or reset. There are two different console specifications used on Alpha systems, and hence two classes of console firmware available:
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Tag: para
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(no translation yet)
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Located in
boot-installer.xml:39
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7.
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<emphasis>SRM console</emphasis>, based on the Alpha Console Subsystem specification, which provides an operating environment for OpenVMS, Tru64 UNIX, and Linux operating systems.
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Tag: para
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(no translation yet)
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Located in
boot-installer.xml:49
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8.
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<emphasis>ARC, AlphaBIOS, or ARCSBIOS console</emphasis>, based on the Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) specification, which provides an operating environment for Windows NT.
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Tag: para
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(no translation yet)
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Located in
boot-installer.xml:56
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9.
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From the user's perspective, the most important difference between SRM and ARC is that the choice of console constrains the possible disk-partitioning scheme for the hard disk which you wish to boot off of.
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Tag: para
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(no translation yet)
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Located in
boot-installer.xml:65
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10.
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ARC requires that you use an MS-DOS partition table (as created by <command>cfdisk</command>) for the boot disk. Therefore MS-DOS partition tables are the <quote>native</quote> partition format when booting from ARC. In fact, since AlphaBIOS contains a disk partitioning utility, you may prefer to partition your disks from the firmware menus before installing Linux.
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Tag: para
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(no translation yet)
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Located in
boot-installer.xml:72
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11.
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Conversely, SRM is <emphasis>incompatible</emphasis><footnote> <para> Specifically, the bootsector format required by the Console Subsystem Specification conflicts with the placement of the DOS partition table. </para> </footnote> with MS-DOS partition tables. Since Tru64 Unix uses the BSD disklabel format, this is the <quote>native</quote> partition format for SRM installations.
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Tag: para
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(no translation yet)
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Located in
boot-installer.xml:81
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12.
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GNU/Linux is the only operating system on Alpha that can be booted from both console types, but &debian; &release; only supports booting on SRM-based systems. If you have an Alpha for which no version of SRM is available, if you will be dual-booting the system with Windows NT, or if your boot device requires ARC console support for BIOS initialization, you will not be able to use the &debian; &release; installer. You can still run &debian; &release; on such systems by using other install media; for instance, you can install Debian woody with MILO and upgrade.
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Tag: para
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(no translation yet)
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Located in
boot-installer.xml:94
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13.
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Because <command>MILO</command> is not available for any of the Alpha systems currently in production (as of February 2000), and because it is no longer necessary to buy an OpenVMS or Tru64 Unix license to have SRM firmware on your older Alpha, it is recommended that you use SRM when possible.
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Tag: para
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(no translation yet)
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Located in
boot-installer.xml:105
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14.
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The following table summarizes available and supported system type/console combinations (see <xref linkend="alpha-cpus"/> for the system type names). The word <quote>ARC</quote> below denotes any of the ARC-compliant consoles.
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Tag: para
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(no translation yet)
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Located in
boot-installer.xml:113
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15.
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System Type
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Tag: entry
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(no translation yet)
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Located in
boot-installer.xml:125
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