Garbled output installing xenix

[Wu Liu]

/--MSR113 at psuvm.psu.edu (Matt Richmond) said...
| Hi all..  I am running a 386SX compatible with a Trident 8800 series
| video card and Imtec 1453Q monitor.  I recently bought a used version
| of xenix (I got 286 version because, you guessed it, it was CHEAP!  :-)
| Anyways, on installation, the BOOT: prompt comes up fine, but then
| when I press return like the manual says, and it *should* be doing
| a hardware check, a bunch of garbage flashes across the screen and
| it makes weird noises.  I read through the Troubleshooting section
| and it said the most likely cause of this is an incompatible video
| card, and Trident is NOT listed under the compatible list.. :(
| My question is this, has anyone else had this problem with Trident
| cards and if so, how did you fix it?   Any help would be greatly
| appreciated..  Thanks much!!
| 
| --Matt
\--

I believe that versions of Xenix prior to 2.3 do not support VGA cards
at all.  If you want to use a VGA card with Xenix 2.2 or earlier
systems, you'll have to set the card to default to EGA or CGA mode.