BIOS will be dead in 3 years

[hutch--]

I vaguely remember having a board years ago that supported a text mode mouse but with the hardare font changed so it looked roughly like a mouse cursor. I have a view about a BIOS, you should only be able to modify it by changing a jumper on the main board, reflashing it then changing the jumper back. Best way I know of knackering anyone hacking a BIOS due to user ignorance.

[sinsi]

After reading about some Dell server boards' firmware being infected with malware I trust things like EFI even less.
The win7 dvd I have has got different boot catalogs, one for BIOS and one for EFI. All it takes is for some fool to download
the pirate version with a 'special' EFI file on it to be screwed. Sucked in maybe but once it's a torrent...

I had a 486 board with a graphical BIOS interface, used the mouse too. It was crap - 640x350 16-colour EGA, the screens were
like a curtain coming down when they redrew, the mouse was jerky. Not really a GUI since it was only text, but the start screen
had (sort of) buttons, just like that windows thing. :bdg

[dedndave]

ms mouse used to come with dos drivers
in fact, when you bought the mouse, you also got a copy of z-soft paintbrush   :P

[hutch--]

Don't laugh, I used to have a Z mouse long ago and it was the best mouse with a moving ball I ever had. I used the zmouse driver for years in DOS because it was far smaller than the ever bloating Microsoft one. All mechanical mouses were a pain to keep clean, I am a devoted fan of optical mouses for that reason, I only ever have to clean the pads on it.

[dedndave]

i have always liked MS mouses (mice ?)
but - yah - optical is the only way to fly
i am using a MS laser 6000 mouse and keyboard
they actually spent a little engineering effort to reduce power consumption
the batteries last quite long in both