PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.x: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:44, 2 February 2024

PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.x is a family of PhoenixBIOS versions developed by Phoenix Technologies from 1997 until 2002 when it was replaced by the FirstBIOS. Although it was replaced in 2002, instances of it with copyright years as late as 2006 exist. VMware's virtual machine solutions (such as Workstation Pro and Player) still use the PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0 for BIOS-based virtual machines today.

POST screen

The POST screen of the PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.x is displayed in 640x480 (VGA) resolution (with a few pixel lines at the bottom unused) with an 8x19 font. It is also the first commercially sold BIOS solution with this font (excluding late instances of Intel's Hi-Flex BIOS code fork for their motherboards that also used it). Along with their Hi-Flex font, the same font was also used on Intel's AMIBIOS 6 fork. AMI also started using this same font in 1999 with the AMIBIOS 07.00.xx (and later the AMIBIOS 8).

Although most retail versions of the BIOS are displayed in this mode, the Siemens/Fujitsu-Siemens "PhoenixBIOS 4.06" code fork instead uses the older 720x400 display mode with 8x16 font. As the fork is likely based on a pre-release version of 4.0 Release 6.0, this likely suggests the 640x480 display mode was introduced during a later stage of 4.0 Release 6.0's development.

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 == POST screen ==
-The POST screen of the PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.x is displayed in 640x480 resolution (with a few unused pixel lines) with an 8x19 font. It is also the first commercially sold BIOS solution with this font (excluding late instances of Intel's Hi-Flex BIOS fork for their motherboards that also used it). [[American Megatrends|AMI]] also started using this same font in 1999 with the [[AMIBIOS 07.00.xx]] (and later the [[AMIBIOS 8]]).
+[[File:PhoenixBIOS-4.0-Rel-6.x.gif|thumb|The POST screen of PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0]]
+The POST screen of the PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.x is displayed in 640x480 (VGA) resolution (with a few pixel lines at the bottom unused) with an 8x19 font. It is also the first commercially sold BIOS solution with this font (excluding late instances of Intel's Hi-Flex BIOS code fork for their motherboards that also used it). Along with their Hi-Flex font, the same font was also used on Intel's AMIBIOS 6 fork. [[American Megatrends|AMI]] also started using this same font in 1999 with the [[AMIBIOS 07.00.xx]] (and later the [[AMIBIOS 8]]).
+Although most retail versions of the BIOS are displayed in this mode, the [[PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.x#Siemens fork|Siemens/Fujitsu-Siemens "PhoenixBIOS 4.06" code fork]] instead uses the older 720x400 display mode with 8x16 font. As the fork is likely based on a pre-release version of 4.0 Release 6.0, this likely suggests the 640x480 display mode was introduced during a later stage of 4.0 Release 6.0's development.