Instruction manual

Eagle 450 Installation and Technical Manual, Rev. 00
Chapter 1 - Introduction
This manual is for Alpha Microsystems dealers and technical personnel: people who will sell, install, and
maintain Eagle 450 computers. It does not contain material which the average end-user needs to know,
and, in general, does not need to be given to the end-user.
This book makes some assumptions about you, the reader:
•
You are familiar with today’s computer terminology: you know what terms such as serial I/O,
Ethernet, and disk cache mean.
•
You have used AMOS before, and have at least some knowledge of the operating system and of
previous Alpha Micro products. For example, you do not need to be told what the system
initialization command file is.
In addition to this introduction, which describes this book and the other Eagle 450 documentation, this
manual includes:
• Chapter 2 - Specifications
: information which was contained in a separate specifications
document for previous systems: size and weight, electrical requirements, processor capabilities,
and so on.
• Chapter 3 - Configuration
: guidelines for designing an Eagle 450: what I/O boards you can
use, how many SCSI devices you can hook up, etc.
• Chapter 4 - Installatio
n: site requirements, CMOS and initialization file configuration, and
other installation procedures.
• Chapter 5 - Troubleshooting
: status display codes and troubleshooting information.
• Appendix A - Read-ahead and Write Buffering
: what they are and how to use them to
optimize system performance.
• Appendix B - Super I/O
: how to turn off this performance-enhancing feature if necessary.
THE EAGLE 450 DOCUMENTATION SET
The complete documentation package for the Eagle 450 computer consists of three manuals, each
containing a different type of information and aimed at a different audience:
• The Eagle 450 Owner’s Manual
: for the end-user, it contains non-technical information about
getting started with AMOS, how to care for the computer, and what to do if something goes
wrong. We recommend that you give this manual to the end user; it will answer many of their
questions, and it does not include technical information.
• The Eagle 450 Installation and Technical Manual
(this book): for the dealer, with technical
specifications and configuration information and installation instructions. We do not suggest you
forward this book to the customer.
• The Eagle 450 Service Manual
: for qualified service personnel only: opening the chassis,
installing new devices and changing board jumper settings.