You should read this manual if you are installing Linux on a new
Alpha system that can only boot from the SRM console, or if you are
installing Linux on an older Alpha system that can use the SRM console
and wish to use SRM to boot your Linux installation.
Because SRM is the only way to boot Linux on modern Alpha systems,
and because it provides the proper operating environment for Unix and
Unix-like operating systems (such as Linux), it is the recommended way
of booting Linux on Alpha when available.
Sometimes, it is preferable to use the ARC, ARCSBIOS, or AlphaBIOS
console, such as if you have a machine for which SRM is not available,
if you wish to dual-boot with Windows NT without switching consoles,
or if you have hardware that is not supported by SRM. On these
machines, you will typically use MILO to boot Linux. For more
information, refer to the MILO Howto, available from
http://www.alphalinux.org/faq/milo.html.
Throughout this manual, we will use the following conventions for
commands to be entered by the user:
SRM console commands will be shown with the characteristic SRM
'>>>' prompt, like this:
[1]
>>> boot dva0 -fi linux.gz -fl "root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1" |
Unix commands will be shown with the '#' command prompt if they are
to be run as root, or '$' if they are to be run by a normal user,
like this:
# swriteboot -f3 /dev/sda /boot/bootlx |
Aboot commands will be shown with the 'aboot>' command prompt, like
this:
aboot> b 6/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda6 |