Booting Linux/Alpha on an AlphaBIOS-based system

With the introduction of the XLT series, Digital changed the system
console interface for its NT systems from ARC to AlphaBIOS.  AlphaBIOS
is a screen-oriented interface which should be more familiar to PC
users.  This change in console interface necessitates a change in
setup procedure for those who wish to run Linux/Alpha on AlphaBIOS-based
systems.

The first thing you must do is to install the latest version of AlphaBIOS
on your system.  This can be obtained from Digital's "System Software and
Driver Updates" Web page, http://www.windows.digital.com/support/sysoft.htp
Download the ZIP file, unzip it, and install it as follows:

	- Copy the files to a FAT-formatted floppy
	- Turn on the system and insert the floppy.  At the opening
	  screen, press <F2> to go into setup mode
	- Select "Upgrade AlphaBIOS"
	- Follow the directions on the screen

Once your AlphaBIOS is at the latest revision level, you can start
bootstrapping your system as follows:

	- Create a FAT-formatted floppy with the following files:
		- linload.exe (from this directory)
		- milo (the version appropriate to your system)
	- Turn on the system and insert the floppy.  At the opening
	  screen, press <F2> to go into setup mode
	- Select "Utilities->OS Selection Setup..."
	- Press INSERT to add a new operating system selection
	- For "Boot Name", enter something like "Linux".  Press TAB
	  to get over to the next field.
	- Press down-arrow until the selection for "Boot File" is "A:".
	  TAB over to the next field
	- Enter "\linload.exe".  TAB *twice* (i.e. skip the OS Path
	  load device -- it's irrelevant)
	- Enter "\" for the OS Path load file
	- Press ENTER to add the selection.

At this point, AlphaBIOS will probably put up a big, unfriendly dialog
box labelled "Warning: Operating System Selection not valid!".  Ignore
this error (it's only a problem for NT) and press ENTER to continue.

	- Press F10 to save the changes you just made; press ENTER to
	  confirm the changes.
	- Press ESC twice to get back to the opening screen.
	- Use the up and down arrows to select the boot selection you
	  just added, and press ENTER to boot it.
	- AlphaBIOS will load linload, which will in turn load MILO.
	  When you get to the MILO prompt, proceed as you would for a
	  normal ARC-based system installation.

If you dedicated the first partition of your first disk drive to a small
FAT partition for booting (as the installation procedure advises you to),
then once Linux is installed you should copy linload.exe and milo to
this partition.  Once you shut down, you can then modify the Linux menu
selection to load MILO from this partition as follows:

	- At the opening screen, select <F2> to go into setup mode
	- Select "Utilities->OS Selection setup"
	- Highlight the entry for Linux, then press F6 to edit it.
	- TAB over to the device portion of the "Boot File" line.
	  Use the up and down arrow keys to select the hard-disk
	  partition where linload and milo reside (typically
	  "Disk 0 Partition 1" or "Disk 1 Partition 1").  Press
	  ENTER to confirm the selection
	- If you wish to auto-boot linux after MILO is loaded, then
	  TAB over to the "OS Options" line and enter the MILO command
	  to boot the system, e.g. "boot sda2:vmlinux.gz"
	  Press ENTER to confirm the selection.
	- Press F10 to save the changes.  Press ENTER to confirm.

Once you have done this, booting and running Linux on an AlphaBIOS based
system should be very similar to doing so on an ARC system.