DEC Alpha XL266 ("XL" )

 
Okay, the Alpha XL minitower looks bigger from this angle :-)

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General Technical Information

HOSTNAME OBI
SYSTEM CPU DEC ALPHA "EV45" 21064A @266 MHz
CACHE (2nd, 1st D/I) 2 MB, 16 KB / 16 KB
RAM  256 MB, 2 x 64 MB + 4 x 32 MB standard parity FPM 72 pin SIMMs (Max. probably 768 MB using 128 MB SIMMs, but officially only 384 MB according to the manual)
SCSI BUS 1 x SCSI-2 (10 MB/s) NCR53C810 chip
OPTION BUS 3 x PCI
4 x ISA
GRAPHICS ATI 3D Rage Pro 8 MB PCI, 1600x1200 @76Hz max. resolution for 24-plane. 
HARD DISK DRIVES 4.3 GB 5400 RPM Seagate Hawk SCSI disk
2 GB 5400 RPM HP SCSI disk
CD-ROM DRIVE Toshiba 6x SCSI CD-ROM drive
NETWORK 10/100 Mbit RJ45 (DE500 PCI card)
100 Mbit FDDI (DEFPA-DA PCI card)
AUDIO SoundBlaster AWE64 ISA card
OS Windows 2000 RC2 (for Alpha)
Debian Linux / Alpha
YEAR 1994
SPEED About 188 VAX MIPS
POWER CONSUMPTION (MAX. / MEASURED) 300 W / 135 W
COMMENTS This machine does not run TRU64 UNIX or OpenVMS, because there is no SRM console firmware available for it.
ESTIMATED PRICE '94 (basic configuration, 1 GB disk, 32 MB RAM)
 $9,900

Windows system information


History and other comments

I bought this machine on auction in Finland along with a VXT 2000 X-terminal in the beginning of 2008. This XL266 came with 128 MB RAM, and some IDE devices had been added for use with RedHat Linux. Basically, if you want to run any kind of *NIX on the XL, you will have to choose Linux, and a version the will cooperate with Milo.

After installing Windows 2000, I discovered that this computer is capable of running W2K at useful speed. It's quite impressive, considering the XL266's age. I think M$ Windows is very much dependent on amount of RAM, so 256 MB is a suitable amount for this version (W2K). These machines were normally sold with NT 4.0 for Alpha and with less RAM, probably around 32 MB.

This is my second XL266, I used to have another one in 2004.
 
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Last updated:  26-6-2009