I think that firmware prompt is not really useful. Anyway, according to https://virtuallyfun.superglobalmegacorp.com/2014/02/19/alpha-linux-on- qemu/ you currently have to specify the (uncompressed) vmlinux kernel with the "-kernel" option of QEMU. Then you should be able to start Linux with qemu-system-alpha, too.
-- You received this bug notification because you are a member of qemu- devel-ml, which is subscribed to QEMU. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1241569 Title: qemu-system-alpha console unresponsive Status in QEMU: New Bug description: I have created a virtual machine using the QEMU Alpha emulator (very basic, 1 scsi disc, 1 scsi CDROM, 1gb memory). The machine starts, but entering any system commands at the prompt just echs back the command typed. For example >>> show device got: show device >>> Obviously booting any OS from this is not possible. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/qemu/+bug/1241569/+subscriptions
