mwooh@rosewall..citib (Michael Wooh) (09/12/90)
Just a quick question: In purchasing an IBM CLONE which BIOS' are the most "compatible" and which BIOS' are the most incompatible (ones to avoid). ie. PHOENIX, AWARD, etc.???
sigma@pawl.rpi.edu (Kevin J Martin) (09/12/90)
mwooh@rosewall..citib (Michael Wooh) writes: >Just a quick question: In purchasing an IBM CLONE which BIOS' are the most "compatible" >and which BIOS' are the most incompatible (ones to avoid). ie. PHOENIX, AWARD, etc.??? Well, I'd say to stick with one of the big three: Phoenix Award American Megatrends Inc (AMI) If you have problems with one in a clone, you can (almost) always just send the BIOS chips back and get one of the others (from most suppliers). Or you can buy a new set of chips for no more than $60. I have AMI-386 BIOS, and although its setup program is slightly weak, I haven't seen the other two BIOSes. I guess it's probably an issues of personal preference; does anyone out there have experience with several different BIOSes? -- Kevin Martin ||| sigma@pawl.rpi.edu ||| usergkj1@RPITSMTS.BITNET
umcarls9@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Charles Carlson) (09/12/90)
In article <&DB%F7|@rpi.edu> sigma@pawl.rpi.edu (Kevin J Martin) writes: >can buy a new set of chips for no more than $60. I have AMI-386 BIOS, and >although its setup program is slightly weak, I haven't seen the other two Which version of AMI-386 are you using? My AMI-386's set up is quite slick, I think. My father's AMI-386's setup is quite poor. The sad thing is, his computer was ordered from the same place as mine only a couple weeks before hand, and the dates on both of them were from 1989! And we ordered them in June and July of this year. Charles
rcollins@altos86.Altos.COM (Robert Collins) (09/12/90)
In article <&DB%F7|@rpi.edu> sigma@pawl.rpi.edu (Kevin J Martin) writes: >>Just a quick question: In purchasing an IBM CLONE which BIOS' are the most "compatible" >BIOSes. I guess it's probably an issues of personal preference; does anyone >out there have experience with several different BIOSes? > Yes, I have experience with all of them, and others, at the source code level. But, as it was pointed out to me here on the net, it is inappropriate for me to say much about them, because my opinions are tainted due to insider (source code) information. So, this I say: Don't go with any of them. Try either Mr. BIOS, or Quadtel (listed in alphabetic order). Mr. BIOS @ (408) 396-4096 Quadtel @ (714) ? ? (don't have the number handy, try information in 714) -- "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only." Mat. 4:10 Robert Collins UUCP: ...!sun!altos86!rcollins HOME: (408) 225-8002 WORK: (408) 432-6200 x4356
JCS120@psuvm.psu.edu (09/12/90)
AMI has been a pretty dependable bios for me.
stevewa@upvax.UUCP (Steve Ward) (09/13/90)
In article <&DB%F7|@rpi.edu> sigma@pawl.rpi.edu (Kevin J Martin) writes: >...I guess it's probably an issues of personal preference; does anyone >out there have experience with several different BIOSes? I've used systems with both Phoenix and Award BIOS, and both are good. The Phoenix BIOS on my 386 system has two user-definable drive types, which came in handy when I upgraded to ESDI...just enter the parameters and you're set. I've never used it, but I've heard stories of compatibility problems with DTK's BIOS. Steve -- | Steve Ward Jr. appears courtesy of | stevewa@upvax.UUCP | | Univ. of Portland, Portland, OR | !tektronix!upvax!stevewa | | (insert disclaimer here) | upvax!stevewa@tektronix.TEK.COM | | --If all else fails, try: tektronix.TEK.COM!upvax!stevewa@uunet.uu.net |
ted@polyof.poly.edu (A1 ted kapela (staff) ) (09/14/90)
In article <&DB%F7|@rpi.edu> sigma@pawl.rpi.edu (Kevin J Martin) writes: > >can buy a new set of chips for no more than $60. I have AMI-386 BIOS, and >although its setup program is slightly weak, I haven't seen the other two I have the AMI-386 BIOS with the Extended Setup (for the Chips and Technologies Chipset). The standard setup is included, but I never use it. The extended setup allows direct register-value modification (The changes are not stored in CMOS RAM until you exit. You may choose to abort the changes if you want.). Command wait states and Data wait states are all adjustable for 8, 16 and 32 bit buses. I find these are what I change the most as I change the boards in the machine. Shadowing of system BIOS, and video BIOS are both selectable. Marking parts of higher RAM read-only (for the shadowed bios, etc...) is also available. I would definitely choose the BIOS with extended setup if I had a choice (over the standard AMI setup) -- ............................................................................... : Theodore S. Kapela : ted@polyof.poly.edu : : (516) 755-4299 [Voice, Days] : "Another brilliant mind : : (516) 473-7746 [FAX] : corrupted by education" : ...............................................................................
tim@NCoast.ORG (Tim Stradtman) (09/15/90)
In article <1117@upvax.UUCP> stevewa@upvax.UUCP (Steve Ward) writes: >>...I guess it's probably an issues of personal preference; does anyone >>out there have experience with several different BIOSes? >I've never used it, but I've heard stories of compatibility problems with >DTK's BIOS. We haven't had compatibility problems with the DTK, however, occasionally, we get an error message: "PARITY ERROR BUT SEGMENT DOESN'T FOUND" This seems to happen only when running in Turbo (10Mhz) mode, and only on rare (thankfully) occasions. Both of our DTK's have done it, although they pass every memory test program we have been able to get our hands on. Could it possibly be cosmic radiation??? :-) -- Tim Stradtman tim@ncoast.org or ak215@cleveland.freeent.edu
james@bigtex.cactus.org (James Van Artsdalen) (09/15/90)
In <1990Sep11.190942.14712@rosewall.citib>, mwooh@citib.com wrote: > Just a quick question: In purchasing an IBM CLONE which BIOS' are the > most "compatible" and which BIOS' are the most incompatible (ones to > avoid). ie. PHOENIX, AWARD, etc.??? The question is not quite so simple. Dell Computer sells a Phoenix derived BIOS. But we have worked on it for a couple of years from its Phoenix base, making significant bug fixes and enhancements. I assume other vendors large enough to have a programming staff do likewise. So saying that "Brand X has bug Y" may not be true for every BIOS that has a Brand X copyright message. -- James R. Van Artsdalen james@bigtex.cactus.org "Live Free or Die" Dell Computer Co 9505 Arboretum Blvd Austin TX 78759 512-338-8789
roy%cybrspc@cs.umn.edu (Roy M. Silvernail) (09/15/90)
tim@NCoast.ORG (Tim Stradtman) writes: > We haven't had compatibility problems with the DTK, however, occasionally, > we get an error message: "PARITY ERROR BUT SEGMENT DOESN'T FOUND" > This seems to happen only when running in Turbo (10Mhz) mode, and only > on rare (thankfully) occasions. Both of our DTK's have done it, although > they pass every memory test program we have been able to get our hands on. > Could it possibly be cosmic radiation??? :-) My ex-business partner had a DTK AT that would do that on occasion. He was running a Galacticomm BBS on the machine, and had a Maxit card in the machine. The best we were able to figure, the Maxit card was throwing an occasional parity error, but the BIOS couldn't find it due to the mapping scheme Maxit uses. If you have some extra memory installed somewhere, that could be your problem. -- Roy M. Silvernail |+| roy%cybrspc@cs.umn.edu |+| #define opinions ALL_MINE; main(){float x=1;x=x/50;printf("It's only $%.2f, but it's my $%.2f!\n",x,x);} "This is cyberspace." -- Peter da Silva :--: "...and I like it here!" -- me