Those Rotten VGA BIOS Setup Screens

[Linux for blind general discussion]

After reading your message, I found my RealWeasel2000 card tucked
neatly away in a box and installed it in the only ISA slot in the
computer and connected it's RS-232 port to another Linux box
running kermit and powered up the target system.

	The RealWeasel immediately echoed it's startup screen and
then absolutely nothing else happened.

	I read some documentation and found that the Weasel
doesn't work nicely if there is another video module so I pulled
the VGA display board and started up again.

	Again , the RealWeasel booted, displayed it's startup
message and then it was crickets once more.  In case those for
whom English is a second language or who are not familiar with
American English which is English V2.0, crickets is a slang meaning
no response whatsoever.

	I said "Gosh Darn," or actually slightly stronger
language and realized I was hosed again.  That's English V2.0's
way of saying "out of further options."

	The RealWeasle card probably does exactly what the
papenmeier braillex 80's interface was doing but on this
particular Dell, the video-related address and data lines may not
make it to the ISA slot as not many modules would need them.

	The VGA card, itself, has it's own peculiar slot which
looks kind of like a PCI slot with a key way in the middle so one
doesn't try to put anything but the correct card in it.  The
VGA card, itself, doesn't fit anywhere but the slot it normally sits
in.

	That RealWeasel2000 card totally saved my skin a couple
of times when I bought it sometime in 2000 and it is a beautiful
solution which appears to no longer have a problem to solve which
is a real shame.

	It was an open sources project in which the purchaser of
the card is given licenses to learn how it works and modify it's
operation under the same general idea as Linux, itself.  If the
signals aren't there, however, there is not much one can do.

	Thanks for at least making me think about that Weasel
card as it might have saved the day.  The other 3 old Dells are
working but need their boot order changed and all of them have a
built-in VGA generator on the Mboard so it's just as well.

	I am a firm beleaver in using stuff until it is used up
and planned obsolessence is just wasteful as long as the systems
are still able to do useful work.

	All but one of the four old systems are now using SSD
drives which instantly makes them faster and more responsive than
the old mechanical disk drives.

Martin

Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com> writes:
> Hi!
> When i had a pc with Isa slots i borrowed a papenmeier braillex 80 and 
> put their Isa card in and then bios works flawlessly.
> /A