Subject: RE: (OT)-Surplus testing machines for sale
From: James Zuelow (jamesz@ideafamilies.org)
Date: Thu Jul 11 2002 - 14:34:52 AKDT
> -----Original Message-----
> 4. IBM PC350 P166 with small hdd (1.6G) and two ethernet cards and mouse.
> Runs headless as Mandrake Single Network Firewall, using 64Mb
> Memory (Yes it
> needs the mouse to boot but no KB.) CDROM drive also on board. Desktop
> case.
> This one comes with a one-year support from me, but only for use as a
> firewall.
>
Completely off topic rant:
The IBM "missing pointing device error 8803" on boot drives me &&$#*@)*^$
crazy. I have five IBM PC-365s and an IBM PC Server 325. If you
specifically set the BIOS to operate without a keyboard, *SOMETIMES* it will
hang with the above error if there is no mouse, until you plug in a keyboard
and tell it that everything is OK. If you tell the BIOS to check for a
keyboard on boot, you don't need a mouse. Grr...
For a glorious period of about two months, I got the PC Server 325 to boot
without either attached, but then started getting the mouse error again for
no apparent reason. Different BIOS versions all act the same - sometimes
they just need a mouse attached to boot. So all of my IBM servers have a
mouse plugged in at all times, even though they don't have X and are managed
via SSH.
Note that my two IBM PowerSeries 400s (PowerPC workstations) boot up
headless just fine.
So it is a conspiracy between the IBM x86 hardware people and the PS/2
Keyboard/Mouse Industrial Complex to boost mouse sales. There's probably
some pattern to it, such as "mouse required in months that end in r on odd
numbered years, or months that don't end in r on even numbered years, unless
it is Tuesday or Thursday when the rules are reversed, or it is Sunday when
a mouse is required regardless of the year unless between the hours of 6
A.M. and noon when the regular rules apply." That's why it takes so long
for an IBM SurePath BIOS to fire up - it has to figure out if it needs a
mouse or not while it pretends to check the memory.
Sigh.
James
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2a23 : Thu Jul 11 2002 - 14:35:27 AKDT