On Tue, 24 Jun 1997 19:18:57 -0400 (EDT) 
 "Justin M. Seger" <jseger@freebsd.scds.com> wrote:

 > Hi, I currently have an AlphaStation 200/166 with 64MB of RAM and a 1GB SCSI HD.
 > I would like to install NetBSD to try it out, but the installation directions
 > seem to require Digital Unix.  All I have is Windows NT Server and Workstation.
 > 
 > Is there anyway that I can install this?

Yah... it's pretty easy to set up a diskless environment, and from there,
you can set up a disk-full environment :-)

Setting up a diskless Alpha is pretty simple.  The SRM console understands
how to bootp/tftp to load a boot program, which in turn performs another
bootp, mounts the root file system, and loads the kernel via NFS.

Here is what my bootptab looks like:

.ognet:\
	:sm=255.255.255.0:\
	:ds=204.188.152.1:\
	:dn=OG.ORG:\
	:gw=204.188.152.1:

# ...other entries...

# The Alpha in the computer room.
methamphetamine:\
	:tc=.ognet:\
	:ht=ethernet:\
	:ha=08002BE2C5AC:\
	:ip=methamphetamine.OG.ORG:\
	:bf=netboot.alpha:\
	:rp=/local/diskless/meth/root:

netboot.alpha is the NetBSD/alpha boot program (you can find it in the
latest snapshot), and needs to be kept in your tftp area.  NOTE: your
tftpd must be configured to chroot into the tftp environment, like so:

# /etc/inetd.conf
tftp     dgram   udp     wait    root    /usr/libexec/tftpd tftpd -s /tftpboot

...replace /tftpboot with whatever directory you'd like to be tftp's "root".

...This handles the boot block... the kernel uses rarp and bootparams to
do its thing (unfortunately... although, we should have bootp support in
the kernel "soon").

>From here on out, I'll direct you to NetBSD's diskless(8) manual page, which
has a lot of information in it, designed to get you up and running with
a diskless system.

If you download the latest Alpha snapshot and untar it, you'll be able to
find the netboot program in ./usr/mdec and the diskless(8) manual page
in ./usr/share/man/cat8.

Good luck!

Jason R. Thorpe                                       thorpej@nas.nasa.gov
NASA Ames Research Center                               Home: 408.866.1912
NAS: M/S 258-6                                          Work: 415.604.0935
Moffett Field, CA 94035                                Pager: 415.428.6939