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>>>>> "Matthias" == Matthias Drochner <drochner@zelux6.zel.kfa-juelich.de> writes:
    Matthias> I have a couple of PCs and PC-compatible single board
    Matthias> computers in embedded-like applications. Most of them
    Matthias> are running without keyboard. I found it useful to

  Okay, so this patch isn't appropriate for you. It was enabled with
PCCONS_ALLOW_FAIL.

    Matthias> connect a monitor and see the last console printouts in
    Matthias> case of trouble.  (If a serial console is not connected
    Matthias> all the time, the output is lost.)  So I think the

  True.

    Matthias> I've never tried to run a PC without a VGA-like graphics
    Matthias> adapter. (There was always something on-board.)  Does it

  Works fine. You have to make sure that the BIOS is happy. I like to
leave the VGA in for the same reason you do. I'd like the pc0 to exist
as an output device independant of the keyboard. I guess vga0 should
probe, but not pc0, or something. Good for an optional status display.

    Matthias> work?  If yes, is there a save way to detect its
    Matthias> presence?

  I don't know. I assume so, but since I can't get pc0 to probe, but
have com0 be the console without *FORCING* com0 to be the console (by
removing pc0/vt0), I find this difficult to confirm.

    Matthias> before mainbus is attached.  -It is desirable that the
    Matthias> console selection is passed from boot to the
    Matthias> kernel. This information should be dealt with at a
    Matthias> central place.

  Agreed. If there was an input bit that could be connected
to... say... the mostly useless TURBO button, that would be cool.
  Can the TURBO switch setting be detected somehow?

    Matthias> The i386/stand code contains stubs to pass console
    Matthias> device information to the kernel. It's waiting for a
    Matthias> decision what and how how to pass the data.

  Yes, I noticed that code, and the #ifdef MATTHIAS. (Not sure exactly
what that does though. It seems to just defer printing a boot message
until later...)

   :!mcr!:            |  Network security consulting and 
   Michael Richardson |      contract programming
 WWW: mcr@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca. PGP key available.








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