BIOS output on Video monitor

[prasun kapoor]

Hello All,

Right now I am involved in developement of a PC BIOS
which works fine when all output is sent to the serial
port. I am even able to tftp load binaries, including
OS binaries and execute them.

My next concern now is to get BIOS messages out to the
Video instead of the serial port. I just want the
regular text mode 25X80 output and nothing fancy.

I want to know what I need to do to get text frame
buffer working at b800:0000 working. Do I absolutely
need to call VGA BIOS init to get this working?

Right now with my BIOS, the monitor does not stop
blinking its orange light and writes to b800:0 do not
produce anything, but when I insert an Award BIOS
chip, I get this blinking of monitor for some time and
then it suddenly comes alive with a beep and a green
light.

I am wondering what does Award BIOS do to achieve this
or is it just calling VGA BIOS init?

If someone has a code snippet or a pointer to one or
just a broad outline to what needs to be done, I will
appreciate it very much.

Best Regards,
Prasun Kapoor

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[David Woodhouse]

[e-mail] said:
> I want to know what I need to do to get text frame buffer working at
> b800:0000 working. Do I absolutely need to call VGA BIOS init to get
> this working?

Yes, on any video card less than about a decade old you'll need to use the 
VGA BIOS to initialise it.

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[Ronald G Minnich]

On Thu, 7 Mar 2002, prasun kapoor wrote:
> I want to know what I need to do to get text frame
> buffer working at b800:0000 working. Do I absolutely
> need to call VGA BIOS init to get this working?

this is totally dependent on hardware. On some hardware you don't need to
do much. On some hardware (invidia) you will never be able to know -- they
won't tell you.

ron

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