6 Aug
2002
6 Aug
'02
5:43 a.m.
Having just acquired a DECstation 5000 (MIPS) as well
as a DEC 3000
(Alpha), I'd love to know more about the AlphaBook. Can't find much
on the web apart from companies who are selling memory upgrades for
it.
The Alphabook1 was an Alpha (LCA45, I think) built into a laptop
by Tadpole Technologies.
It *can* run at up to 233MHz, but has heat disipation problems. It
runs on internal batteries, but not for long. It has an external
battery pack, but that makes it REALLY heavy. It has a mini-dock which
allows external SCSI disks to attach. It also has a huge dock
which, mechanically, opens up to accept the laptop, then closes
on it... !!! I haven't tried that yet, it's scary... :-) Oh yeah,
it has PCMCIA slots, but does not have an internal CD or floppy disk.
The floppy is external and attaches via cable.
The one I have doesn't display too well, I'm not sure if it is due
to dead batteries (they no longer hold a charge) or something relating
to the backlight for what seems to be an EL screen.
It can run at varying speeds, under software control, in order to
reduce heat (from 11Mhz up to 233MHz), but Linux doesn't seem to
get it running beyond 117MHz.
Maybe related to the screen display/battery problems, the one I have
doesn't seem to want to spend much time above 29MHz...
but I'm trying to get a clean install of Tru64 on it so I can try
the commands which force it to run at a higher speed (I have a fan
blowing on it :-)
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | email: gentry at zk3.dec.com (work) |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | mbg at world.std.com (home) |
| Hewlett Packard | (s/ at /@/) |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 (DEC '77-'98) | required." - mbg KB1FCA |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+