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0 pointsuserbinator2y ago0 comments

Text-only BIOS setup was the norm for a long time before the stupidly bloated EFI graphical stuff became common. Even then, there were the better full-featured TUIs:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Award_BI...

https://liveusb.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/awardbios-firstb...

And the simplified crap with tabs that often came with prebuilt PCs but later seems to have spread to others too:

https://cdn.staticneo.com/a/Intel_Sandy_Bridge_Z68_P67/S%20B...

0 comments

jasonjayr2y ago

To my horror, I recently had to visit the UEFI firmware setup of a Lenovo tablet.... That was touch enabled.

alexvoda2y ago

And it is to be expected to be able to configure a touchscreen device using the touchscreen.

Ayesh2y ago

Most gaming laptops' UEFI screens are so "gamer" it's cringe. Dell XPS series have UEFI GUIs that are quite neat and absolutely an improvement over the text screens.

minedwiz2y ago

I'm also partial to the Surface devices'. MS put a surprising amount of effort into making them look Windows-y.

lights01232y ago

I did enjoy my Dell touchscreen-supported firmware setup when there was a menu 15 items long and an incredibly slow mouse speed.

AshamedCaptain2y ago

> Text-only BIOS setup was the norm for a long time

Long-time Thinkpad users scoff at that ... while the figure of a duck suddenly enters their minds..

(Yes: I clearly remember my pre-USB thinkpad having a graphical BIOS with windows, icons, and a duck-shaped mouse cursor).

userbinatorOP2y ago

For those who haven't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTaNi6uL41s

BIOSes of the time were all written in highly-optimised Asm, and I suspect those little "easter eggs" they added were because the programmers knew they had enough space left over to put some more fun stuff in.

There was also AMI WinBIOS that provided a GUI, but I remember it being much less featureful than other BIOSes of the time with a TUI and didn't like mobos that used it, so in that case they may have sacrificed functionality for appearance.

dsm90002y ago

I miss Openboot firmware that was on SunOS servers and workstations. It was IIRC mostly written in FORTH and we could write forth snippets at the serial console to make mods / query the pre boot environment. I also found the SGI boot firmware similarly functional. Both allowed changing boot settings and allowed to boot from network without any trouble at all. Graphical BIOS that came with the x86 systems was such a downgrade for us especially since you could not interact over serial/remotely with a simple terminal connection. IMHO

ojbyrne2y ago

Somebody missed the memo: https://bwiggs.com/notebook/queens-duck/

mzmzmzm2y ago

Is there also a term for when you present mangagers or clients with an array of options and intentionally degrade the ones that in your opinion would come out worse? Asking as a graphic who would never ask someone to pick the best of three pitches while alreading harboring a strong preference.

doublerabbit2y ago

A 90's TUI that will forever be more productive than Windows 11.

pjmlp2y ago

As someone with experience in Turbo Vision and Clipper, I don't miss them, beyond some nostalgia from simpler times.

larvaetron2y ago

> Text-only BIOS setup was the norm for a long time

I've had a GUI BIOS setup on almost every PC I've owned since the first 486 I built back in 1993.

xcv1232y ago

The GUI was rendered in text mode. It's called a TUI (Text-based User Interface)

einr2y ago

Plenty of 486 era machines had the AMI ”WinBIOS” whose setup utility kinda-sorta emulated a Win 3.x look and ran in (EGA 640x350 4bpp?) graphics mode, with mouse support:

https://media.moddb.com/images/groups/1/4/3107/winbios.gif

mratsim2y ago

TIL, I thought TUI meant Terminal UI

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

jasonjayr2y ago

To my horror, I recently had to visit the UEFI firmware setup of a Lenovo tablet.... That was touch enabled.

alexvoda2y ago

And it is to be expected to be able to configure a touchscreen device using the touchscreen.

Ayesh2y ago

Most gaming laptops' UEFI screens are so "gamer" it's cringe. Dell XPS series have UEFI GUIs that are quite neat and absolutely an improvement over the text screens.

minedwiz2y ago

I'm also partial to the Surface devices'. MS put a surprising amount of effort into making them look Windows-y.

lights01232y ago

I did enjoy my Dell touchscreen-supported firmware setup when there was a menu 15 items long and an incredibly slow mouse speed.

AshamedCaptain2y ago

> Text-only BIOS setup was the norm for a long time

Long-time Thinkpad users scoff at that ... while the figure of a duck suddenly enters their minds..

(Yes: I clearly remember my pre-USB thinkpad having a graphical BIOS with windows, icons, and a duck-shaped mouse cursor).

userbinatorOP2y ago

For those who haven't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTaNi6uL41s

dsm90002y ago

ojbyrne2y ago

Somebody missed the memo: https://bwiggs.com/notebook/queens-duck/

mzmzmzm2y ago

doublerabbit2y ago

A 90's TUI that will forever be more productive than Windows 11.

pjmlp2y ago

As someone with experience in Turbo Vision and Clipper, I don't miss them, beyond some nostalgia from simpler times.

larvaetron2y ago

> Text-only BIOS setup was the norm for a long time

I've had a GUI BIOS setup on almost every PC I've owned since the first 486 I built back in 1993.

xcv1232y ago

The GUI was rendered in text mode. It's called a TUI (Text-based User Interface)

einr2y ago

Plenty of 486 era machines had the AMI ”WinBIOS” whose setup utility kinda-sorta emulated a Win 3.x look and ran in (EGA 640x350 4bpp?) graphics mode, with mouse support:

https://media.moddb.com/images/groups/1/4/3107/winbios.gif

mratsim2y ago

TIL, I thought TUI meant Terminal UI

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse