Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 23:23:13 -0400 From: Sergey Babkin <babkin@bellatlantic.net> To: Parag Patel <parag@cgt.com> Cc: Mike Smith <msmith@FreeBSD.ORG>, Ronald G Minnich <rminnich@lanl.gov>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Anybody working on FreeBSD BIOS? Message-ID: <39499DA1.614B786D@bellatlantic.net> References: <78045.961122915@pinhead.parag.codegen.com>
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Parag Patel wrote: > > On Thu, 15 Jun 2000 19:29:53 PDT, Mike Smith wrote: > > > >By now, based on the timeframe I've watched you > >through, I'd say that you should have a board that looks like a plain VGA > >framebuffer and has a keyboard cable hung out the back, and software up > >and running. Build cost at 100 off would probably be < $100. > > Yeah, if I were a hardware guy. :) Besides there are other people > taking this approach like PC Weasel. I think I saw someone selling this kind of boards. For something like $100 or $200. I can look in my archives for URL if you're interested. > >This is a problem, yes, but rewriting the BIOS, bootloader and parts of > >the kernel isn't the path of least resistance, IMO. 8) > > Sure, I know that *now*... :) Would not it be simpler to slightly patch the existing BIOS ? Like cut out the parts you don't want to execute, and then later your customized board would fill them up. Now, with only 3 major generic BIOSes (AMI, Phoenix, Award) (well, also Compaq but who would buy Compaq hardware anyway ?) it might be simpler to find where it calls the parts you don't like and use this experience on any boards using this kind of BIOS to replace them with NOPs, than to figure out chipset-dependent parts for each particular board. The only catch would be to get the new ROM checksum right. > >If your customer's not _desperate_ for a super-low-cost solution, I'd > >suggest any of the Intel boards that offer EMP (most of these also offer > >BIOS-over-serial support, actually - as do a number of other vendors, > >IIRC AMI do this on some of their boards as well). Phoenix in high-end machines (such as Intel Saber architecture) has option of serial console. > They're using the Intel boards right now, but with a Sun background they > really really want Open Firmware in an x86 box. I think they may end up > getting Sun hardware anyway. Eh ? I don't quite get how Sun could be associated with Open Firmware. It always looked quite proprietary to me. (My personal experience with both Sun workstations and SPARC-based ICL was not particularly pleasant). -SB To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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