Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 12:52:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Andrew Gallatin <gallatin@CS.Duke.EDU> To: Brandon Gillespie <brandon@cold.org> Cc: freebsd-alpha@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Alpha questions.. Message-ID: <199705161652.MAA02679@hurricane.cs.duke.edu> In-Reply-To: <Pine.NEB.3.95.970516091637.12610B-100000@cold.org> References: <Pine.NEB.3.93.970515162858.408q-100000@gnostic.cynic.net> <Pine.NEB.3.95.970516091637.12610B-100000@cold.org>
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Brandon Gillespie writes:
> On Thu, 15 May 1997, Curt Sampson wrote:
> > On Thu, 15 May 1997, Andrew Gallatin wrote:
> >
> > > > Basically, what I'm saying is please try to keep the low-cost alternatives
> > > > in mind. If FreeBSD was only available off the SRM console that means to
> > > > use FreeBSD you would have to pay an extra wad of cash...
> > >
> > > Right. $75 isn're really a wad....
> >
> > Also, would there be any licencing problems if a vendor with the
> > disk used that to load SRM console on a machine before shipping it
> > out? If not, there's really no extra cost.
>
> Yes and no. DEC doesn't care who has what media, they just care that the
> license is paid in the end. So if a vendor pre-loaded SRM, they would
> still have to pay it somewhere (i.e. they would just wrap it into the cost
> anyway). Furthermore, its not that cheap! Some lucky sod may be able to
> get it for $75, or there abouts, assuming that the company they are buying
Anybody could be that lucky sod. Some of us sods w/educational
discounts could get it for less.
> from swung a sweet deal with DEC (which Aspen has :) However, usually you
> are looking in the four digits for the SRM Console. DEC may have made the
> Alpha which we all love and adore, but they LOVE to do one thing: charge
> phonomenal prices for trivial things.
According to Digital's E-store:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digital's Electronic Connection For assistance call: 1-800-DIGITAL
Item Information DES_2_1505
QR-21B02-03 Alpha EB S/W Dev Kit,Frmwr V2 Adj. %
Service: 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years
Gross Net Gross Net Gross Net
List: 75.00 75.00
Standard:
Description:
Type a command letter, then press <RETURN> B
Commands are: Order Back Next Main Quit Exit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(For non old-school DEC customers -- the 'E-store' is a price-list
accessible via telneting to orders.sales.digital.com. You can apply
for an account at the login screen if you don't already have one.
You can order merchandise priced online via a call to 1-800-DIGITAL
or via your local DEC rep, if you've got one. I've been using it for
years to check quotes on alpha workstations & to order small things.).
According to page 2 of
http://ftp.digital.com/pub/Digital/info/semiconductor/literature/mbsdkpb.pdf
(Alpha Motherboards Software Developers's Kit and Firmware Update
V2.1 (Ergo, QR-21B02-03 Alpha EB S/W Dev Kit,Frmwr V2)
<snip>
Firmware:
The firmware updates contain the latest version of firmware for Alpha
motherboards and include the following utility and images:
- Firmware update utility
- Alpha SRM console images
- Windows NT firmware images
- Windows NT HAL images
- Debug Monitor firmware images
Firmware images are supplied for the following Alpha motherboards
- AlphaPC164
- AlphaPC64
- EB64 (excluding Alpha SRM Console & Windows NT images)
- EB64+
- EB66 (excluding Alpha SRM Console images)
- EB66+
- EB164
< snip >
The kicker is in the fine print, around the middle of the page:
Except for Alpha SRM Console software, you can
redistribute all of the kit's software at no additional cost. The
Alpha SRM Console software is provided for evaluation purposes only.
Now, I'd guess that would mean that a company could not ship the SRM
console. However, I'm not sure what 'evaluation purposes only' means.
I read it as 'personal, per-machine use' Any lawyers out there who
know what this really means?
> Also, there are some companies that have unknown/secret ;) deals with DEC
> in that they CANNOT PUT THE SRM CONSOLE on their systems. Call Enorex
I'll take your word for it, maybe they can't. But I'd bet any
end-user could.
> (www.enorex.com) and ask them if you can get a machine with the SRM
> console. They will tell you no, period, nada, not happening. This is
> because of a special deal they have with DEC which also has the side
> effect of getting them VERY LOW prices (and thus passing them on to
> you)--but they have to ``sell NT'' on every box (the guy said the Boot ROM
> actually couldn't change the firmware somehow, and thats how it came from
> DEC... dunno, coulda just been a sales rep's low knowledge :)
Probably just had the f/ww update jumper in the 'no update'
position. ;-)
Drew
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