I can help on the 166 end. It runs decently on an alpha 166 here (specs:
DEC MULTIA w/external 650mb scsi drive, 64mb ram, RedHat 5.2 alpha
build). as far as I know dec doesnt use any prporietary drives for their
systems. as for the cpu it depends on the motherboard. Prices are
another thing you can find multia 166's with VGA and scsi and pci for
100 bucks at http://www.cpumicromart.com so I guess memory and hdd
would play into the picture, saying no more than 200 bucks would be a
good price for the system in question.
Clay Mellender
Jeroen wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> I've got a few questions 'bout alpha computers. I'm able to get one
> Alpha 166 with a vt520 screen and a keyboard.
> I know there is a Linux version for Alpha but does that work on a A166?
> 'cause this piece is a few years old.
> It would be a chance to learn a bit about other architectures and ,
> well,
> it's the first one I see 'live'...
>
> Now about the hardware, I know there's a SCSI HDD in it (1G) but is it
> an ordinairy SCSI HDD or is the hardware Alpha-specific? Same for RAM
> and stuff...
> Can I upgrade the CPU ?(Guess this is the same for all computers, I'll
> have
> to look at the chipset on the motherboard, right?)
> Is there a Linux-Alpha mailing list?
>
> For my final question 'bout this subject, I do not know of prices on
> Alpha comp. and the person
> who is selling doesn't know anything 'bout computers.... how much should
> I pay the man for this computer? Has it still got a value or is it
> comparable with a
> let's say, a 286pc?
> Or do you think it's a waste of time ?
>
> Ow, that reminds me, can I install Linux on a 286? I got enough pieces
> to put one together...
> And finally, I want to back up my entire HDD on CD-Rom, does there exist
>
> a program for that?
>
> Thanx for your time,
> Jeroen
