https://virtuallyfun.com/2023/10/02/windows-nt-3-1-on-dec-alpha-axp/ Skip to primary content Virtually Fun Fun with Virtualization Virtually Fun Search [ ] [Search] Main menu * Home * Emulators + jDOSBox + Qemu + SIMH + Virtual PC * Operating Systems + CP/M + MS-DOS + OS/2 + Windows NT * Privacy Policy Post navigation - Previous Next - Windows NT 3.1 on DEC Alpha AXP Posted on October 2, 2023 by tenox (this is a guest post by Antoni Sawicki aka Tenox) As I was preparing the Windows NT RISC exhibit for VCF west, I realized that I'm missing a rather important piece of the history. While I will be showing the potentially last DEC Alpha Windows build ever - AXP64 2210, I don't have anything earlier than NT 3.51. I would be nice to showcase the very first RTM version - NT 3.1. From time perspective, NT did not get popular until the version 3.5 and later. Windows NT 3.1 would be considered rare even on a 386, let alone on a RISC CPU! So what RISC hardware does Windows NT 3.1 run on? [IMG_0179-1-752x1024]NT 3.1 HCL Not many! The HCL published on gunkies has a few systems more, but nothing that I have. The MIPS based systems are all but unobtanium as of today. It's probably a good time to mention a little known port of Windows NT 3.1 to the DECstation 5000. However these builds are not found even on earliest NT betas. Not to mention lack of ARC firmware for this machine. The Alphas were looking a little more reachable. The DEC 2000 Model 300 and DECpc AXP 150 are one and the same machine, packaged in a server and workstation cases. Code-named Jensen, DEC designed and marketed these specifically around Windows NT. Unlike prior Alphas, this model used a lot of "PC" components for increased compatibility and lower cost. Eventually paved way for the more well known DEC Multia. The Jensen has been seen floating here and there and many people have these. I was able to get a loaner from Chris Satterfield aka Compgeke for the VCF. Having a working specimen at hand, I started looking at part numbers of various components. In an amazing streak of luck, in practically zero time I was able to find, buy and assemble a complete DECpc AXP 150 from spare parts on eBay! Without a case, but nevertheless. Also big thanks to Christopher Rivett for help with some fine details! [IMG_0752-1024x726]Franken Jensen built from spare parts off eBay. [IMG_0897-1024x768]Jensen running at VCF West 2023, with fans installed BOM * Motherboard + CPU - DEC 70-29685-01 * GPU - DEC/Compaq Qvision 1024/E (1024x768) - 126654-001 * GPU - (Optional) Number 9 High Res (1280x1024) - 30-41800-01 * HBA - Adaptec AHA-1742A EISA - 467806-00 * NIC - DEC DE422-S EISA - 5021102-01 * RAM - 4x 16MB, FPM, 60ns, 72-Pin, 12-Chip, True Parity SIMM * PSU - DEC/HP 30-37197-02, however a standard AT PSU may be OK If you going to build one yourself, beware of overheating. Jensen runs rather hot and needs good cooling. Not only for the CPU. There is a section of the motherboard just under the EISA cards that runs incredibly hot. See the picture, where I have installed a large Noctua fan. OS Install There are many Windows NT 3.1 CDROMs floating around. I purchased a DEC branded, shrink-wrapped CD on eBay to use as a prop along with the machine. You can download the iso image here. [IMG_0175-768x1024] [IMG_0176-768x1024] Installation of Windows NT 3.1 on DECpc AXP 150 is pretty straightforward and not that much different from the later versions. However as a prerequisite you will need the ECU floppy disk to configure the EISA slot assignments, card and jumper settings. After that you will have to go through various setup screens in ARC BIOS to configure system settings. Then you run arcinst to create a system partition and setupldr to install the OS. The rest of it is pretty uneventful. This is somewhat expected, as this was pretty much the only one and supported hardware combination, so must have been well tested. The only curious part is that the NT OS Kernel does not display any text during normal boot. Later versions of NT will display the build number and MP or UP kernel variant and dots indicating subsystem load progress. This is rather odd because I expected more text mode stuff from older NT version, but who knows. [Screenshot_2023-07-29_at_1]Jensen NT 3.1 Boot Menu [winnt31-1024x819]Windows NT 3.1 on DEC Alpha AXP, DECpc 150 aka Jensen Service Pack Saga If you are even vaguely familiar with installing Windows NT at all, you will know that the very first thing you have to perform after installation, is to apply a service pack. NT 3.1 did have service packs, up to SP3. The problem is that, as you may very well expect, non-x86 editions were nowhere to be found in 2023. The only thing I could come up with was http://www.win31.de/ent31.htm, which had a German AXP and MIPS SP3, but no English! [It since has been updated...] . I had to do some real detective work to track down an US-English AXP SP3 version. I spent a few days going through various random CDs and ftp site mirrors of that era, with little luck. Eventually I stumbled on this README file, stating: Due to space constraints on the Windows NT Service Packs for International Versions CD, the USA Service Pack version 3 is located on the Additional Windows NT Service Packs, Windows 3.11 versions, SDKs, and DDKs CD in the NTSRVPC3\USA directory. Bingo! After a few hits and missed I spotted this particular CDROM here: https://archive.org/details/ microsoft-developer-network-january-1995-disc-4-of-15 - Now the OS is finally "servicepacked" Applications! My general impression of NT 3.1 on DEC Alpha is pretty awesome. If you can overlook the age and some obvious shortcomings, the OS is pretty stable, solid and even snappy for such old hardware. An OS itself without apps is not much. While overall Alpha NT application outlook is pretty scanty I was able to find a several very interesting gems! Most importantly, thanks to Chris, a DEC Windows NT Developers CD-ROM ! [disc-1024x1016] The disk has an incredible amount of demo, freeware, public domain and shareware applications as well as DEC marketing material. [Screenshot_2023-07-29_at_1]Windows NT Developers CD for DEC Alpha NT 3.1 You can get a lot of DEC proprietary software like C++, Fortran, PATHWORKS, DECtalk, as well as X servers, etc. [Screenshot_2023-07-29_at_1] However I was particularly interested in some 3rd party commercial apps. For example there is an early version of DMC Calamus Desktop Publishing. [calamus-1024x850]DMC Calamus desktop publishing on Windows NT 3.1 DEC Alpha AXP Also a demo version of a vintage, text-mode SlickEdit, way before it was replaced by the Visual SlickEdit known today. [slickedit]SlickEdit 2.3 on Windows NT 3.1 DEC Alpha AXP There also is WinDev editior, which is quite superior to Notepad and has some code editing goodies and shortcuts to SDK tools, making it something of a simple IDE. [windev]WinDev 1.56 on Windows NT 3.1 DEC Alpha AXP Another big source is Windows NT Application Sampler CDROM, (also from Smithsonian). [img-Microsoft-32-Bit-Applications-Sampler-for-Windows-NT-1024x768] One of the coolest thing found there is a graphical text editor called WinEdit. It has a ton of features and even syntax highlighting! It has since became my default to go editor / IDE on this system! [winedit]WinEdit 3.0E on Windows NT 3.1 DEC Alpha AXP There of course is a Windows NT SDK with the M (MEP) editor. [sdk]Windows NT 3.1 SDK with M / MEP Editor on DEC Alpha AXP There also are quite few public domain apps and games, ports of GNU software, Micro Emacs, Kermit, etc. High Resolution GPU One of things that was troubling me for some time was rather low resolution of the default QVision graphics card. The maximum being only 1024x768 is just not acceptable. Talking to several Jensen's owners, no one even heard about anything better. However looking at the Windows setup options, I curiously noticed that the system does support one 1280x1024 video card - Number 9 GXE. [gfx] I simply assumed that such card would simply be unobtanium in 2023. However, digging through some old catalogs and spare part listings, I managed to find a DEC part number, which is 30-41800-01. Armed with this, I was able to find it via DEC spare part reseller that I often use. They had it in stock listed as "HIGH RES EISA 1280 x 1024 GRAPHICS". The price wasn't too bad either, at least compared to the whole endeavor. A few days later I received this: [IMG_1019-1024x768] [IMG_1018-1024x768] After installation of the S3 driver (must be the Service Pack 3 version!) I was finally able to get 1280x1024 from the poor thing! [IMG_1046-1024x706] With this I should have a more cozy environment to compile and port even more apps In future I want to try the Advanced Server edition as well as some early Betas with Alpha support. This entry was posted in DEC Alpha, guest post, Windows NT 3.1 by tenox. Bookmark the permalink. 6 thoughts on "Windows NT 3.1 on DEC Alpha AXP" 1. [0c77983e]Zir Blazer on October 2, 2023 at 12:29 pm said: Not directly related, but your comment about DEC increasingly using PC components to lower the price made me remember than for the original K7 Athlon AMD licensed the Alpha EV6 Bus, and at some point I hear about stories than there were plans for cross compatible Motherboards that could take either an Athlon or an Alpha (So I suppose than there would be Motherboards with a Slot A/Socket A plus another Slot/Socket for whatever the Alphas used, like with 486 boards with the Overdrive Socket, or even Alphas using the same thing themselves). Did anything ever came out from that? A prototype, whatever? Reply | + [05e2]raijinkai on October 2, 2023 at 6:24 pm said: At some time there were rumors both AMD K7s and future Alphas would use the same Socket A at least the "desktop versions" which DEC envisioned for their future "diy" ATX kits. They were truly trying to simplify and consolidate the way Alphas communicate with the bus, and trying to get rid all the extra bus components and daughter cards. Unfortunately that was never gonna be, and here we are now. Compaq stopped very early the projects with the Alphas using AMD chipsets, but Samsung, one of the partners, actually produced a few board batches, commercially available (but limited in availability ofc) using the AMD chipset. You will the most luckiest guy if you can get one of those Samsung UP1500 or even the mythic UP2000 which uses dual Alphas in a specific "Slot B" daughterboard. Both boards aren't compatible with normal Athlon CPUs (UP1500 has the CPU soldered in board, and the UP2000 uses the aforementioned custom "Slot B" daughterboard. These boards are SRM firmware driven, so no NT compatibility at all. Reply | + [71c5]tenox on October 2, 2023 at 7:17 pm said: Yeah I heard these rumors a long time ago. Not sure if anything ever happened with this. We may need to do some research. Also somewhat related, for many years I used AXPpci33 motherboard with Alpha CPU as an el-cheapo RISC workstation at home. These were OEM, PC/AT styled motherboards that you could install in any standard PC case, but with Alpha. They were rather slow tho. Reply | 2. [16ba3616]. on October 3, 2023 at 10:15 am said: "early betas with Alpha support" ...are any of those even dumped? I was under the impression that 528 was the earliest dumped NT 3.1 build for Alpha AXP. MIPS, on the other hand, has dumped builds as early as 239 (December 1991), which needs the "correct" ARC firmware to run (due to an ABI break) Reply | 3. [1778ca1d]cb88 on October 3, 2023 at 7:34 pm said: What would be crazy is if the supposedly existing Intergraph Sparc port would materialize... Reply | 4. [bbe9381e]Anon on October 3, 2023 at 8:30 pm said: I only used x86 Windows 3.1 at that time, but I loved it. 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