1. About this manual

1.1. Who should read this manual

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.

1.2. Conventions

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