UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I have an Alpha 200 4/166 running Unix/OSF, whose display died. Any idea how I can find a display that has a driver that will work with this system?

I tried bringing it up with the display, an HP Pavilion MX703, I use with some Windows systems, and I could see the boot dialog, but then it said:

"PC Video resolution setting is out of range. Change setting to recommended resolution 1024x768 @85 Hz"

and the screen is black except for that message.

There is no Unix driver for this display on the HP website.

Thanks.

I suppose a sony multiscan type (like some HP or IBM aix have in 19'' and 20'' or 17'') may do the job...But the message is quite clear: it will work only in that resolution and frequency 85Hz is required...
Get a screen that does just that and test again

All the best

Thanks. But I'm not sure who's saying they want 1024x768 @85 Hz. That message is coming up in the colored border box that the display uses to say its going into power aver mode, so I think it's the display that's saying it's 1024x768 @85 Hz only.

Is there a way I can set parameters in the pc display driver from the boot dialog with Unix/OSF? It may be that if I could do that they could be harmonious.

It is probably the X server configuration that is the issue rather than the graphics card. Can you boot into single user and work from the command prompt?

As far as I recall the graphics card on that box was a PowerStorm 3D10 which was I believe a modified S3 Trio64 2Mb.

I have forgotten pretty much everything I ever knew about this system (including the password, alas, any clues about what to do about that?), since it's been in a closet since the last time it was booted 6-7 years ago.

How do I boot into single user mode, and what do I do once I get there? Right now with the MX703 it chugs through the boot dialog, gets to the login prompt, and then the screen goes black except for the "PC Video resolution setting is out of range. Change setting to recommended resolution 1024x768 @85 Hz" message.

I tried pausing the boot dialog with the pause key to see if I could see the graphics info going by, but the key seemed to have no effect, so although I know it sees the keyboard (it complained before it was plugged in) I don't know if it's actually responding to keys. This may not be the keyboard it came with (I used one monitor and one keyboard for the Alpha and a bunch of old Pavilions (now recycled) that ran Windows 95, 98, and I may have swapped keyboards for some reason while the Alpha was in the closet), but if so I probably have that keyboard in one of the parts boxes.

(All this chaos is because I'm getting rid of/organizing a lot of computer stuff, but I do want to keep the Alpha.)

I did see on the web that the Alpha came with the PowerStorm, but in my heap of stuff there is a manual for the PBXGB-AA/CA PCI Graphics Option. Whether it is for this system or one of the old Pavilions, I dunno, but I am suspecting it is for this system. I found the bill of sale for the system, but it says zip about the video. Of course, I could always open the Alpha up, sigh.

My original goal was to get rid of the giant MX703 display and replace it with a flat one, but I wanted to test first to be sure the Alpha was still working. So getting a new flat display that would work with the Alpha is the most desirable solution. Also being able to log in :-)

---------- Post updated at 08:17 PM ---------- Previous update was at 06:26 AM ----------

I did some more looking on the web, and apparently the PBXGB-AA/CA manual is for the PowerStorm 3D30/PowerStorm 4D20. So what I have in the Alpha, I dunno. I also found a benchmark test that was for a different Alpha but with a PowerStorm 3D10 and a display with a resolution of 1280x1024 and 72 Hz.

The resolutions/Hz list in the PBXGB-AA/CA manual and the list for the MX703 display are not disjoint.although the manual does not list the one the display says it wants. I wonder if I take the card out of the Alpha, set the switch as the PBXGB-AA/CA manual says, hoping this works for the PowerStorm 3D10 if that's what it is and if it even has a switch, if the display will be happy with that even though it isn't the "1024x768 @85 Hz" it's asking for.

The chances I will break something if I open up the box are about 90%.

At the SRM console prompt, i.e. ">>>", type

Code:

boot -fl s

to boot into single user mode.

The acronym SRM is derived from the phrase Alpha System Reference Manual, the document which detailed the Alpha AXP architecture and various features of the firmware. The SRM console is similar to a basic Unix shell. It views your NVRAM and devices as a pseudo-filesystem. You can see this if you use the ls command. To get a full listing of available commands, run:

Code:

>>> help | more

To learn more about the various SRM options available to you do a web search on "alphaserver SRM"