Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!think!ames!sgi!daisy!david
From: david@daisy.UUCP (David Schachter)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Everex EVGA with SCO Xenix 2.2.3
Keywords: VGA, Everex, EVGA, Xenix 2.2.3
Message-ID: <1151@daisy.UUCP>
Date: 13 May 88 19:48:06 GMT
Organization: Daisy Systems, Mt. View, CA
Lines: 43


Xenix 2.2.2 works fine on an Everex 386/20 with an
Everex EVGA graphics card.  Xenix 2.2.3 fails; the
boot floppy works, displaying correct data up until
the ":" prompt but when control is transferred to
Xenix, the screen fills with accented e's and the
text printed out by Xenix as it boots consists of
the wrong characters but in the correct places.  In
addition, the bottom line of the screen is the top
half of more accented e's.

SCO's conjecture is that the support in 2.2.3 of the
Compaq VGA broke something that made the (unsupported)
Everex EVGA work.  I'm going to try setting the EVGA
to pretend it is a VGA, CGA, or MDA.  If none of
those work, I'll relink the 2.2.3 kernel with the
appropriate 2.2.2 object file (yecch-- can you spell
"support nightmare"?)

Also, SCO is going to send me a small program which
may work around the problem.

Anyone have similar problems, perhaps with some other
brand of hardware?  Any ideas?  Am I missing some-
thing?

SCO has been helpful but their driver apparently has
some device-specific peculiarities that DOS and the
ROM BIOS do not.  A useful program for SCO to offer
cheap or free would be one which would say "Yes this
hardware is compatible" or "No, the following prob-
lems exist:..."  This could prevent time wasting and
stress.

One might also wish hardware manufacturers to be
more careful about claiming "100% IBM compatible".
What they mean is "100% compatible unless you do
something which isn't."  Most helpful, indeed.

			-- David Schachter
			   atari!daisy!david
			     2nd choice:
			   well!davids