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Date:      Wed, 20 Dec 2000 00:44:46 -0500
From:      Eric Sproul <eric@ericsproul.to>
To:        freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org
Subject:   serial console on old Packard Bell?
Message-ID:  <3A40474E.1619CD69@ericsproul.to>

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Hi,
I inherited an old Packard Bell P-75 and am putting it to use with
FreeBSD.  Yes, I know PB is a POS, so save your flames and hear me out.

I would really like to use nothing more than a serial console on this
mama, but it has a pesky built-in CirrusLogic video chip that has no
disabling jumper and no setting in the BIOS.  From what I've been able
to find out, the chip simply "knows" when another video card is
installed and deactivates itself.  But that leaves us old-school types
(who only work in text) out in the cold.

I can't seem to get the console to work.  I've specified the default
console in /etc/ttys as a plain getty on ttyS0, 9600, vt100 emulation,
the standard thing.  But even if there is no keyboard attached, it still
chooses "internal video/keyboard" as the console at boot time.  The only
thing I can figure is that it is detecting this onboard video which I
can't disable.

Has anyone found a way around this or am I truly in Packard Hell?
;)

Thanks,
Eric

-- 
Eric Sproul <eric@ericsproul.to>
--------------------------------
Useless Trivia #2,378: A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th
of a second.


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