Some of you will find this really interesting. A modern-day answer to
using a Speaqualizer to access the CMOS of a text-based PC before it boots
into DOS, Windows or Linux. If you didn't understand that first sentence,
you should probably delete this message.
>Delivered-To: blinux-list@listman.redhat.com
>To: access-l@icomm.ca, blinux-list@redhat.com
>Subject: About the Realweasel Serial Board Crosspost
>Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 16:28:59 -0500
>From: Martin McCormick <martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu>
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>
> I bought one of the Realweasel serial/video boards
>and have had a chance to play with it a bit.
>
> I would call this a major aid in making it possible for a
>person who is blind to set up their Linux installations by
>themselves as well as CMOS setups on some boards that don't have
>a GUI BIOS setup screen.
>
> The Debian linux distribution is all text, all the way
>and this card lets one do the installation without any specially
>modified disks, in other words, no Catch 22 of trying to get
>access to a system that is just b early up.
>
> I think the system I am presently working on may have a
>GUI BIOS, but all the linux boot messages come through loud and
>clear.
>
> The board looks a lot like your standard serial card
>except it also has a small DIN port near the serial port. This
>accepts a jumper or patch cable which Canada Connect supplies
>that you may run over to the plug where your keyboard plugs in.
>If you plug that cable in to the keyboard port, the Realweasel
>will take input from the system you are using as a talking or
>Braille terminal and convert those data in to scan codes that
>mimic an AT-style keyboard.
>
> If you don't want to do it this way, you can just plug
>the local keyboard inn to the system you are testing and reach
>over and use it. Your output still comes out of the Realweasel
>and you even get a short error message if you forget and try to
>answer a prompt on the keyboard of your talking terminal.
>
> Here is what using the Realweasel is like.
>
> The good news is that you do get all the text printed to
>the screen. The bad news is that you do get all the text printed to
>the screen.
>
> Here's what I mean. As printed text comes in, line by
>line, it is much like any redirected output. Every letter typed
>on the keyboard is echoed except for things like passwords, etc
>that aren't supposed to be echoed.
>
> On a normal video terminal, when the screen fills up and
>there is no more room, the next line comes in at the bottom and
>appears to push all 23 or so other lines up one line to make
>room, loosing the very top line.
>
> What actually happens is that the processor goes on a
>very fast rampage and moves all the addresses of all the text on
>the screen to positions that appear to be one line higher than
>they were so that the new line on the bottom can be wedged in.
>This happens so fast that there is no way on Earth the human eye
>sees anything but what is called a scroll.
>
> The scroll action reprints 23 of the 24 lines plus adding
>the new line as a 24TH line. The next new line causes the top 23
>lines to be moved up to make room for that one and so on.
>
> The realweasel card faithfully reflects this action so
>you get tons of output consisting of 23 lines you've already
>heard plus one new line. It gets old very fast.
>
> What works is to set your screen reader to not listen to
>the BIOS video routine, but instead act as if you were running a
>word processor or some other program that writes directly to the
>screen.
>
> If the screen as the test computer sees it is not full,
>you do not hear the scrolling and output is quite normal, but as
>soon as it fills up, watch out. Reading one screen at a time
>after the data flood stops is much easier on the brain, trust me.
>
> When I plugged the Realweasel in to a system that I was
>trying to get running on Linux, I found that I had messed up the
>kernel during an attempt to use a rescue disk meant for a similar
>computer which wasn't similar enough.
>
> I tried a tomsrtbt-1.7.205 rescue disk and am not totally
>sure what I did wrong there, but it would never allow a root
>login and that's why that one didn't work.
>
> When I used the Realweasel and the Linux System Labs
>CDROM, I got further in a couple of hours than I had gotten in
>over a year of hap-hazard, slow, and frustrating tinkering.
>
> To use it, you need a second working P.C. with DOS, a
>working screen reader plus a telecommunications package like
>Procomm, Como, xtalk, MSKermit, etc.
>
> You also must have either a null-modem cable or one of
>those adapters that converts a straight-through serial cable in
>to a null-modem.
>
> The Realweasel needs an ISA slot so if your board doesn't
>have one, you are out of luck. Remove the video adapter from the
>board under test or disable it if it is integrated in to the
>board.
>
> The realweasel takes the place of the video card and
>spits all the text messages out of the 9-pin serial port.
>
> I would love to hand out scanned versions of the manual,
>but please don't ask as I do not have permission to do this. It
>does scan easily, however.
>
> This is one of the best access tools I have seen in a
>long time and it certainly reduces the frustration level
>greatly.
>
> Here is the contact information as received from another
>poster a few days ago:
>
>>here is the number of canada connect.
>>ask for greg dinwoodi.
>>403-705-2025
>>email
>>info@realweasel.com
>
> It will cost around $270 in US Dollars and, if you think
>of it as like buying a tool for getting work done, it is not a
>bad price for a new kind of access.
>
> It isn't being marketed at the blind community, but
>rather, is marketed toward people who need to run a P.C. remotely
>as a server and who can not or don't want to be physically
>present but need to still be able to reboot or reset the system.
>
> One last thing I almost forgot. The realweasle expects
>you to be running something that either is or behaves like a
>VT100 terminal. Most of the telecom programs such as MSKermit,
>Telics, etc can do this with no problem, but you will get lots of
>weird stuff if you aren't in VT100 mode.
>
> Good luck.
>
>
>Martin McCormick 405 744-7572 Stillwater, OK
>OSU Center for Computing and Information services Data Communications Group
>
Lloyd Rasmussen, Senior Staff Engineer
National Library Service f/t Blind and Physically Handicapped
Library of Congress (202) 707-0535 <lras@loc.gov>
<http://www.loc.gov/nls/>
HOME: <lras@sprynet.com> <http://lras.home.sprynet.com
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