Gentoo Archives: gentoo-alpha

From: Gary Lee Phillips <tivo.overo@×××××.com>
To: gentoo-alpha@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-alpha] Gentoo/Alpha is without a build machine
Date: Mon, 02 Sep 2019 02:18:15
Message-Id: CABmsntTyTZq9GL8_skwAxc2_yh4OeaLDOyYuiL9qadgcazTdZA@mail.gmail.com
In Reply to: [gentoo-alpha] Gentoo/Alpha is without a build machine by Matt Turner
1 I would be a user but Gentoo alpha seems to lack many things needed to make
2 it suitable for daily use. I use my PWS with the last Debian release and
3 with OpenVMS.
4
5 That said, I have a rack mount Alphaserver DS10 that is operational but not
6 in use. I could donate that, but perhaps it isn't large enough?
7
8
9
10 On Sun, Sep 1, 2019, 16:47 Matt Turner <mattst88@g.o> wrote:
11
12 > Hello,
13 >
14 > Our build and testing machine which was graciously hosted for free for
15 > many years has been decommissioned. I had planned to host an
16 > AlphaServer ES47 and a DS20L at a local university, but the DS20L blew
17 > a capacitor and the ES47 has never been stable enough to warrant using
18 > it for much more than a personal testing machine. I personally have
19 > other machines (UP1500, PC164{,LX,BX,SX}, DP264) but they're not ideal
20 > for building installation media and offering remote build testing
21 > access to multiple developers. I also have 2x 600MHz DS10Ls which
22 > could presumably be hosted at OSUOSL, but again, single CPU 600MHz
23 > systems are pretty useless as a replacement for our quad-CPU ES40.
24 >
25 > Ideally we'd have the DS20L fixed and the ES47 stabilized and then
26 > continue using them. That would require:
27 >
28 > (1) I would be able to replace the capacitors on the DS20L and have it
29 > working again, but I tried and the new ones blew up too, so that's
30 > evidently just a symptom of the problem and not the problem itself.
31 > Electrical engineering advice required if this is to be fixed.
32 >
33 > (2) I would be able to figure out what's causing the ES47 to be
34 > unstable. It seems to lock up under load but I haven't really made
35 > much progress beyond that.
36 >
37 > So we're considering various options. Should we stop alpha support all
38 > together? Should we replace stable alpha keywords with ~alpha? Should
39 > we make the alpha profiles unstable and allow dependency breakage?
40 > Should we try to find another suitable build machine and host it?
41 >
42 > I guess the answer to some of these will depend on how many
43 > Gentoo/alpha users there are. I personally would like to keep alpha
44 > support alive, while reducing the amount of work to keep it going.
45 >
46 > So, do we have users? Do they have opinions? Can they offer help?
47 >
48 > Thanks,
49 > Matt
50 >
51 >