AlphaServer 2100

This document serves as a "Read This First" guide for the AlphaServer 2100, covering essential setup and operational information. It explains that the system's hardware is controlled by a console subsystem, offering two main operator interfaces: the command-line SRM interface (for DEC OSF/1 and OpenVMS) and the menu-based ARC interface (for Microsoft Windows NT). Users might need to switch between these interfaces for specific tasks, such as running EISA or RAID configuration utilities (from ARC) or certain diagnostic commands (from SRM). The guide also briefly mentions using set and init commands to configure SRM environment variables.

A significant portion details hard disk preparation for Windows NT 3.5 installation, including a critical warning to back up data. It provides step-by-step instructions for partitioning and formatting the first hard disk using the ARCINST utility to create a small FAT system partition and a larger NTFS partition, before proceeding with the Windows NT installation. Lastly, the document outlines the installation procedure for an OpenVMS AXP V6.1 patch kit (AXPDRIV02), which resolves issues with keyboards, system halts, and SCSI drivers, requiring installation via the VMSINSTAL utility and a system reboot.