Alpha Core 3 is available

[Sergey Tikhonov]

Hello All,

                Alpha Core 3 Release Notes
              ==============================

    Welcome to Alpha Core 3 (Nastia) final version !

    This release is based on the Fedora Core 5 release + some packages
from updates. Everything's just been a straight rebuild of the SRPMs
where possible. Where changes have been necessary, the release number
has had "axp" and a further revision number appended.

    Where a package has failed to build properly, or something not
worked we followed the following steps:

1) Check for obvious problems caused by the build system having older
versions of supporting utilities. Rebuild those first.

2) See if the cause is something obvious that can be fixed with a simple
change to the .spec file. A couple of the uglier hacks come from this
step (see the Beecrypt SRPM).

3) Grab the latest version of the package from the Rawhide tree and try
building that, try match a compromise version but not necessarily latest
(see kernel).

4) Hounted alpha specific bugs and write patches wich are submited to
Fedora folks upstream, and merged with our alphacore.


Things in AC3 (in addition to FC5 release notes)
================================================

1. gcc 4.1.1-1 - one of the latest version of gcc tree with working
java. Most of the java packages are built and included into the
distribution.

Special features
----------------

1. mono 1.2.2.1.fc5axp - preview of C# on Alpha. Jist-In-Time (JIT)
produces native code.

Alpha Kernel Notes
------------------
1. Recent kernel 2.6.17. The distribution kernel supports some new 
   sysctl calls (they are not exported in vanilla kernel).

2. Support for TITAN-based machines (DS15/DS25/ES45) and
   TSUNAMI-based machines (DS10/DS20/ES40/XP1000) can now handle
   graphics controllers not on the primary PCI "hose" (aka domain).
   This is important especially for DS15 and ES45, since the PCI bus
   with slots on DS15 is hose #2, and the AGP slot on ES45 is also
   hose #2.

3. Support for MARVEL (ES47 et al) is now working (default: 16 CPUs max)

4. The problem with AS800/Digital Server 3305 and DE500-BA tulip NIC
   crashing is now fixed

Huge thanks to Jay Estabrook.

Alpha XORG 7.1.1 Notes
----------------------

1. DRI/DRM for Radeon-based graphics cards seems quite stable.

2. DRI/DRM will now work on graphics cards not in "hose" #0, so
   3D apps will run on DS15 and ES45/AGP.

3. Modular Xorg server is expected to work.

Known Issues
============
1. Java packages could produce "unaligned access exception" (UAE)
messages in /var/log/message. They are very rare.

2. gcc could produce a code that can generate UAEs. In most cases that
is the problem in source code that should be fixed.

3. No support for MILO machines. Sorry.

4. The installer offer less functionality than before. Don't try to
customize packages during install - it likely won't work. Just let the
installer to install packages for one of predefined configurations.
Additional packages could be installed later manually or via "yum" from
local repository.

5. The SMP kernel is not installed by default - it should be installed
manually.

6. The installer doesn't install the correct xorg driver (as far as I
understand it installs vesa driver). The proper driver should be
installed manually.

7. The NFS image install expects to have just iso images in exported
directory (not the full install tree). Just copy distribution iso images
to exported NFS directory and select "NFS image" install method (the
installer should be ran with "askmethod" parameter).

8. The "prelink" package doesn't work.

The iso images are available at:
ftp://ftp.rdsor.ro/pub/Linux/Distributions/AlphaLinux/core/3.0b/iso

The SRPMS iso image is available too.

Hall of Fame
============
Thanks very much to Jay Estabrook (HP) for his kernel/xorg patches and
testing efforts and support. He helped to resolve a showstopper issue
with xorg packages that really delayied the AC3 release.
Thanks very much to Cristian Balint for being with the project.
Thanks to RedHat who accept patches for Alpha.

Also a very special thanks for people who participated on the mailing
list with posting suggestions and bug reports.

If want to participate or just simply feel that something not work
please mail or check these out:
AXP-List: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/axp-list

"Do svidania", hope for meeting on an AC 4 release.

Regards,
Sergey.

tsv at solvo.ru