There is now an end-user installable distribution that doesn't require a kernel hacker to get a system up and running. This distribution is called BLADE and is available either via anonymous ftp from ftp.digital.com (see below) or on disk 5 of Yggdrasil's 5-CD "Linux Internet Archives" set.
The following information is from the announcement of BLADE on CD:
The version of BLADE that is on the CD does not support installation directly from CD; that version requires that you copy the components onto floppy disk and install them from floppy. Fortunately, however, a CD-installation upgrade has been released. The upgrade consists of a two-disk subset which is installed instead of the "b" subset as the initial root file system. The system is then rebooted, and all of the BLADE subsets (including the "b" subset) may be installed from CD-ROM.
The CD-installation upgrade is available via anonymous FTP from:
ftp://gatekeeper.dec.com:/pub/DEC/Linux-Alpha/BLADE_0.2
Obtain the files:
The Internet Archives CD-ROM set is available for $19.95+shipping from:
Red Hat is now distributing Linux packages for the Alpha! Red Hat uses the RPM system (Red Hat Package Manager) which allows easy installation of both sources and binaries. Besides installing packages it also allows to keep track of what's installed and it can even uninstall packages that you don't like anymore. Some of the packages are known to be buggy so don't expect a completely smooth ride just yet.
Note that Red Hat does not yet have an installable distribution ready for the Alpha. However, they expect to have evaluation version ready in December.
Red Hat can be reached at this URL: http://www.redhat.com/ . Their ftp address is ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/axp but their network link is limited to a 28.8kbps link, so you may want to ftp packages from one of the many mirror sites:
The Linux/Alpha homepage contains a list of ftp sites and mirrors that are used by the developers to make the latest and greatest version of various programs available. The Linux/Alpha home page is located here .
Of course, the regular Linux ftp sites such as ftp://sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux or ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux ) are good for Linux/Alpha, too.
Next Chapter, Previous Chapter
Table of contents of this chapter, General table of contents
Top of the document, Beginning of this Chapter