PDP-11/44 boot prompt

From: Doug Yowza <yowza_at_yowza.com>
Date: Sun Nov 1 19:50:45 1998

On Sun, 1 Nov 1998, Allison J Parent wrote:

> < Well, not to put too fine a line on it, all modern PC's have a built-in
> < debugger. The Pentium has a built-in debug mode and brings the debug po
> < out on the pins. I don't know of any PC maker that includes a debug por
>
> has everyone forgotten POST codes already? All you need is a fairly
> cheap card to display them.

Or a working speaker, in most cases. POST will only tell you what the
BIOS maker wants to tell you, though. Using debug mode (aka ICE mode)
from a debug port would allow you to diagnose at a much deeper level. If
you couple that with a logic analyzer, you can diagnose just about any
problem, of course, but the built-in debug capablity that the Pentium
gives you was the best I had seen from any microprocessor last I checked.
You could do a *very* cool front-panel on a modern PC.

-- Doug
Received on Sun Nov 01 1998 - 19:50:45 GMT