Conference mvblab::alphaserver_4100

537.0. "Tip: AlphaBIOS & serial console, magic key map" by PERFOM::HENNING () Tue Mar 18 1997 15:48

    If you have a Rawhide with a serial console and need to run ECU, you're
    probably going to be out of luck unless you have the  table on page 7-4
    of the System Drawer User's Guide.  
    
    But of course the most likely reason for not having a graphics console
    is that you have a proto - which doesn't have any documentation!  So 
    therefore you don't have the table.
    
    So if you (like me) find yourself led down the garden path of:
    
    	>>> runecu
           ...system politely suggests saying "Alphabios"
        >>> Alphabios
           ...system asks you to press F2, and nothing you can think of
              to do in terminal setup actually makes F2 respond
    
    then instead of crying miserably (as I did for much of the last 4
    hours) you should have a copy of the following table handy:
    
           From System Drawer User's Guide page 7-4
    
           AlphaBIOS Option Key Mapping
    
           F1           Control-A
           F2           Control-B
           F3           Control-C
           F4           Control-D
           F5           Control-E
           F6           Control-F
           F7           Control-P
           F8           Control-R
           F9           Control-T
           F10          Control-U
           Insert       Control-V
           Delete       Control-W
           Backspace    Control-H
           Escape       Control-[
    
    One other possibly handy tip: just because a Rawhide has its EISA setup
    in a satisfactory state for VMS does NOT mean that Unix will be
    satisfied with it.  
    
    Finally, I should like to kindly suggest that the writer of the
    following sentence in the User's Guide should be tarred and feathered. 
    I'll bring the tar:
    
         -------------------------------------------------------------
         AlphaBIOS uses universally accepted keys and key combinations
         for navigating the interface and selecting items
         -------------------------------------------------------------
         from page 6-6.
    
    It may be "universal" if your universe is a graphics console.  Not so
    with a serial console.