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Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 11:31:34 +1000
From: Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au>
Message-Id: <199609080131.LAA27126@godzilla.zeta.org.au>
To: arver@sn.no, sos@FreeBSD.org
Subject: Re: Support for fixed-scan monitors
Cc: Arve.Ronning@alcatel.no, durham@w2xo.pgh.pa.us,
        freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org, j@uriah.heep.sax.de
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>> If I remember right you can set the PC to boot into whichever you
>> want by setting the BIOS to either monochrome og vga. Syscons could
>> then take over the device that the BIOS used as default. As I see
>> it there is no need to muck with the bootblocks....
>
>With MDA *and* VGA present...Hmm...
>Some BIOSes may be able to do that, but the ones I've tried have failed either
>by silently resetting the primary to VGA or by not initializing the MDA correctly
>on the next power-on boot (I thought my MDA monitor had departed for good, but it

Syscons (and pcvt) should start the same device as the BIOS, anyway.
The new option(s) could reverse the default, or force MDA (fail the probe
if none), or force [CEV]GA.  Then it should be possible to switch to
the other screen, or use both (syscons on one and pcvt on the other :-).

Bruce