Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!ames!lll-winken!ctrsol!ginosko!husc6!encore!chansw!chan
From: chan@chansw.UUCP (Jerry H. Chan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: 80386 components/ BIOS summary
Summary: AMI Bios
Keywords: 80386 Motherboards BIOS Phoenix Award AMI
Message-ID: <1192@chansw.UUCP>
Date: 27 Jul 89 02:14:19 GMT
References: <15617@ut-emx.UUCP> <15771@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <7449@athertn.Atherton.COM>
Organization: Chan SmartWare Computers, Worcester, MA
Lines: 36

In article <7449@athertn.Atherton.COM>, jimb@athertn.Atherton.COM (Jim Burke) writes:
> In article <15771@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> slin@cory.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Steven Philip Lin) writes:
> 
> >Micronics does not and has never used the AMI bios.  Micronics sells
> >sells Award version C3.04 and Pheonix Bios Plus 1.10 Revision 10 for their
> >boards.  Hope this clarification helps.
> 
> For that matter, does any major brand name board maker use the AMI bios?
> I don't think you will find it an any major brand name clones that I
> know of, at least not Compaq or Everex.  Who uses AMI besides the 
> inexpensive import clone builders? 

I use Monolithic Systems Corp. 386 motherboards w/the AMI bios in my
products (UNIX-based office clusters, workstations, desktop-publishing).
Monolithic Systems is an AMERICAN company who got into the PC 386 motherboard
business a couple of years ago;  they're better known for their DEC memory
cards / IBM-compatible J-RAM memory expansion cards.  They got PC Magazine's
Editor's Choice last year for their 386 motherboard.  I've been satisfied
w/the AMI bios.

Their motherboards are a bit more pricey than the available Tawainese clones,
but they provide great product support, i.e., their to-be-released cache-
based boards use the C&T cache controller which does *not* have the cache
coherency problems associated w/the Intel cache controller when running
intelligent cards on the bus (i.e., smart I/O cards).  BTW, if you're in
the market for 386 motherboards w/cache, if you intend to use any smart
cards on the bus, be sure that the hardware supports it (special PAL
to disable the cache for I/O regions, or some modifications to the
original Intel cache controller).  I believe someone else alluded to
this in his posting a few days ago.

-- 
Jerry Chan (Voice) 508-853-0747              |"My views necessarily reflect the
Chan Smart!Ware Computer Services & Products | views of the Company because
Worcester, MA 01606                          | I *am* the Company." :-)
{bu-cs,husc8,cloud9}!encore!chansw!chan      \---------------------------------