Re: I did a test on a DEC AlphaStation 600 and the SCSI driver seems borked

> On Feb 17, 2026, at 3:20=E2=80=AFPM, Dennis Clarke =
<[email protected]> wrote:
>=20
> On 2/17/26 7:34 AM, Jason Thorpe wrote:
>>> On Feb 17, 2026, at 7:27=E2=80=AFAM, Jason Thorpe <[email protected]> =
wrote:
>>>=20
>>> Tsunami / Typhoon / Titan have 4 DMA windows in addition to the =
Monster Window, and this is how they=E2=80=99re used on NetBSD today:
>> Oh, I forgot to mention, this configuration gets the snot beat out of =
it on jklos=E2=80=99s DS25:
>>     https://dmesgd.nycbug.org/dmesgd?do=3Dview&id=3D7447
>> ..which is used to do NetBSD/alpha pkgsrc bulk builds.  But his =
machine has Adaptec SCSI controllers, not QLogic.
>=20
> At great risk of showing how little I know about the Alpha hardware I =
must ask a few questions :
>=20
>    1) can I take a circa 1998 - 2002 era Adaptec controller and just
>         slap it into a slot on my DEC AlphaStation 600 ?

Yes, but your SRM (firmware) might not have a driver for it, and if not, =
it won=E2=80=99t be able to boot from it.  I would put the chances of an =
AlphaStation 600 SRM having an Adaptec driver at approximately 0.0002%.

>    2) I also have multiple Symbios logic type HBA controllers, would
>         those be accepted ?

If they=E2=80=99re the 53c810 (NCR / Symbios SIOP) family, then yes, =
that should pretty much work out of the box on ~every PCI Alpha, =
including booting from it, since that=E2=80=99s the SCSI controller that =
was installed on them in the early days.

    https://dmesgd.nycbug.org/dmesgd?do=3Dview&id=3D6150

>    3) Just about any decent network card from that era such as 3COM
>         or similar ?

NetBSD will be able to use it (well, should, anyway; I=E2=80=99ve tested =
many on Alpha, but not all).  But you won=E2=80=99t be able to network =
boot from it unless it=E2=80=99s real Tulip-based interface (or some =
other one that SRM supports natively; I=E2=80=99ve booted my AXPpci33 =
from the DEC Etherworks ISA network board because, well, it=E2=80=99s a =
DEC Etherworks ISA board :-)

> I am looking to sidestep this problem entirely with an Adaptec for a =
while. At the very least I would have an alternative way to boot and
> run and build a new "NetBSD-current" while *also* having the original
> controller still in there. The best of both worlds would be multiple
> SCSI disks from multiple controllers across multiple PCI slots. That
> would be ideal.

You will probably not be able to boot from the Adaptec SCSI on an =
AlphaStation 600.  A 53c810 / 53c825 or similar board would almost =
certainly work, though.

-- thorpej