[Info-vax] rx2600 ATI Radeon 7500 initialization

[FredK]

The rx2600 firmware will never be updated to allow the VGA console to be on 
an add-in card, nor will VMS support the built-in card as a VGA console.

If you get a RX2620 on the other hand, any VGA card can be selected as the 
"primary" console - and this is the key - you need firmware that has the 
concept of a "primary" vs "secondary" console.

On the rx2600 the first time you will see a video signal on the add-in card 
is when DECwindows is started.  You will see a video signal on the built-in 
graphics when the firmware runs the BIOS init.

On later systems with the new firmware, the last graphics card that was 
selected as the primary will be initialized by the BIOS and the other cards 
will be initialized when DECwindows starts.

On V8.3-1 and systems with firmware that has the "primary" vs "secondary" 
console - VMS will support using the whichever VGA graphics selected as 
primary as a console.

Unfortunately the rx2600 firmware got "frozen" as it originally came from 
the workstation group which designed the rx2600, and the new systems were 
designed by the server group.  When the workstation group stopped making 
Integrity workstations...  the firmware essentially was frozen in 
functionality.



"Alan Frisbie" <Usenet02_REMOVE at Flying-Disk.com> wrote in message 
news:k7SdnbHqz7h0C9DUnZ2dnUVZ_qzinZ2d at supernews.com...
> At what point in the rx2600 power-up and initialization
> sequence should I expect to see any kind of a video signal
> on a PCI video card?
>
> I just got an ATI Radeon 7500 video card for my rx2600.
> I installed it in a PCI slot and attached a monitor.
> After power-up, it gets all the way to the Shell> prompt
> without a hint of a video signal.   Is this normal?
>
> VMS is not yet installed, but booting the VMS installation
> DVD doesn't get me any kind of a video signal either.
>
> I'm just wondering if I have a bad (or incompatible) card,
> or if I need to have a full VMS installation before I see
> any kind of a signal.
>
> Thanks,
> Alan