AMIBIOS 5: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 08:05, 12 May 2024

AMIBIOS 5 is a version of AMIBIOS by American Megatrends, often known with the core date 101094 (October 10, 1994) in the identification string. It was quickly replaced by AMIBIOS 6 in less than a year. AMIBIOS 5 has no visual changes or new features compared to the latest known AMIBIOS 4 core (with the date 081594, August 15, 1994), so it is assumed to be a bug fix release only.

Setup Utility

AMIBIOS 5 was the second and last version of AMIBIOS to only offer the WinBIOS Setup Utility as an option for OEMs. With AMIBIOS 6, some new setup utilities were introduced. The same colour schemes from AMI WinBIOS (AMIBIOS 4) were kept.

AMIBIOS 5 Setup Utility

Bugs and quirks

Like WinBIOS (AMIBIOS 4), as the AMIBIOS 5 setup utility mimicked the Windows 3.xx user interface, it was mainly designed for use with a mouse rather than with a keyboard, although it can still be used with a keyboard only. As it was not compatible with some mouse interfaces, using it with a keyboard only could be sometimes needed. It takes a few more seconds to load the setup utility if a mouse is not detected). This is likely because by default it assumes a mouse is installed, however when one is not, it renders the setup utility again for keyboard only operation (without a mouse pointer).

Some users of AMIBIOS versions with the WinBIOS Setup Utility (probably also including AMIBIOS 5) have also reported display issues, where the monitor would either flicker or nothing would be displayed after entering the utility.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[File:AMIBIOS 5 101094.png|thumb|POST screen of AMIBIOS 5]]
-AMIBIOS 5 is a version of [[AMIBIOS]] made by [[American Megatrends]] and known with the subcore date <code>101094</code> (October 10, 1994) in the string. It was quickly replaced by [[AMIBIOS 6]] in less than a year. AMIBIOS 5 has no visual changes or new features compared to the newest known AMIBIOS 4 core (with the date <code>081594</code>, August 15, 1994), so it's assumed AMIBIOS 5 is a bug fix release only.
+'''AMIBIOS 5''' is a version of [[AMIBIOS]] by [[American Megatrends]], often known with the core date <code>101094</code> (October 10, 1994) in the identification string. It was quickly replaced by [[AMIBIOS 6]] in less than a year. AMIBIOS 5 has no visual changes or new features compared to the latest known AMIBIOS 4 core (with the date <code>081594</code>, August 15, 1994), so it is assumed to be a bug fix release only.
 == Setup Utility ==
-AMIBIOS 5 was the last version of AMIBIOS to only offer the WinBIOS Setup Utility. With [[AMIBIOS 6]], new setup utilities were included. The same colour schemes from AMI WinBIOS (AMIBIOS 4) were kept.
+AMIBIOS 5 was the second and last version of AMIBIOS to only offer the WinBIOS Setup Utility as an option for OEMs. With [[AMIBIOS 6]], some new setup utilities were introduced. The same colour schemes from [[AMI WinBIOS|AMI WinBIOS (AMIBIOS 4)]] were kept.
 <gallery mode="packed" widths="300px" heights="164px">
 File:AMIBIOS 5 Setup.png|AMIBIOS 5 Setup Utility
@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 == Bugs and quirks ==
-Like WinBIOS (AMIBIOS 4), as the AMIBIOS 5 setup utility mimicked the Windows 3.xx user interface, it was mainly designed for use with a mouse rather than with a keyboard, although it can still be used with a keyboard. It was also not compatible with some mouse interfaces, which in such situations operating through a keyboard is required. AMIBIOS 5 also takes a few more seconds to load the setup utility if a mouse is not detected (just like WinBIOS). This is likely because by default it assumes a mouse is installed, however when one is not, it renders the setup utility again for keyboard only operation.
+Like WinBIOS (AMIBIOS 4), as the AMIBIOS 5 setup utility mimicked the Windows 3.xx user interface, it was mainly designed for use with a mouse rather than with a keyboard, although it can still be used with a keyboard only. As it was not compatible with some mouse interfaces, using it with a keyboard only could be sometimes needed. It takes a few more seconds to load the setup utility if a mouse is not detected). This is likely because by default it assumes a mouse is installed, however when one is not, it renders the setup utility again for keyboard only operation (without a mouse pointer).
-Some users of AMIBIOSes with the WinBIOS Setup Utility (probably also including AMIBIOS 5) have also reported display issues with the setup utility, where the monitor would either flicker or nothing would be displayed when setup is launched.
+Some users of AMIBIOS versions with the WinBIOS Setup Utility (probably also including AMIBIOS 5) have also reported display issues, where the monitor would either flicker or nothing would be displayed after entering the utility.