“Originally developed by Digital, the 64-bit processor is still
said to be the fastest chip in the world. Although some Pentium III
speeds are listed as higher than the fastest Alpha (750 MHz), the
Alpha’s 64-bit architecture can do twice the work of its most
high-powered 32-bit Intel rival. Thanks to the open source nature
of Linux and its ability to be ported to different platforms, Linux
users around the world can take advantage of the Alpha’s high-end
computing power.”
“Currently, only a few Alpha Linux distributions are available
and well supported. They include Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE and Rock
Linux.”
“Linux on the Alpha is not for Linux users looking to set up a
reliable server for a minimal cost, given that Alpha hardware is
usually more expensive than Intel-based hardware. … However,
for users looking to take advantage of Linux’s reliability and
open source nature for a powerful, highly available system, Alpha
is a good platform to choose.”