From owner-freebsd-hardware Tue Dec 19 21:44:52 2000 From owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Dec 19 21:44:50 2000 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Received: from wolf.ericsproul.to (wolf.ericsproul.to [209.145.65.14]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id F3CAB37B402 for ; Tue, 19 Dec 2000 21:44:45 -0800 (PST) Received: (qmail 29886 invoked from network); 20 Dec 2000 05:44:45 -0000 Received: from falcon.ericsproul.to (HELO ericsproul.to) (216.12.68.18) by wolf.ericsproul.to with SMTP; 20 Dec 2000 05:44:45 -0000 Sender: esproul@FreeBSD.ORG Message-ID: <3A40474E.1619CD69@ericsproul.to> Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 00:44:46 -0500 From: Eric Sproul X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.4.0-test12 i686) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: serial console on old Packard Bell? Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org 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 -------------------------------- Useless Trivia #2,378: A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message