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LinuxBIOS Gains Steam

Posted by michael on from the sleek-penguin-under-arctic-ice dept.

solferino writes: "LinuxJournal has a good overview article about linuxBIOS and where it's currently at (hint : moving like a sleek penguin under arctic ice). Why linuxBIOS? To quote from the article "Currently two different interest groups are working on LinuxBIOS: one working on embedded systems and one building large-scale computer clusters. For these applications the legacy x86 firmware is suboptimal." Yes, this was a slashdot story in March this year but this article is relevant for updating the project status and for providing indepth information."

10 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. Heroic bird by david+duncan+scott · · Score: 5, Funny

    Moving like a sleek penguin under arctic ice? I'm thinking brave but lost and alone, thousands of miles from his home at the Antipodes, almost certain to starve...is there anything we can do to help? A walkathon? A benefit concert? A herring?

    --

    This next song is very sad. Please clap along. -- Robin Zander

  2. BIOSes should not be operating system-specific. by Brett+Glass · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is no better to be locked into running Linux on a machine than to be locked into running Windows. The BIOS should be a generic facility that can load any desired operating system.

    1. Re:BIOSes should not be operating system-specific. by DGolden · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I quite like OpenFirmware, but have yet to see a x86 PC motherboard which uses it - PPC ones do, of course. The specification standard includes support for x86 computers, but the mobo manufacturers have deals with the BIOS producers (if they're not already the same company), and the BIOS producers have deals with MS, which means they've had financial incentives for years for keeping the BIOS in the dark ages of DOS.

      Most current BIOSes are extremely biased toward DOS and DOS-derivatives like windows 95 - they're pretty ill suited to even Windows 2000, I'm sure microsoft now would prefer them to be replaced too (but with something that still ties you to MS, of course - no doubt MS will be prodding at x86 BIOS manufacturers to get this).

      At the same time, perhaps what's needed is a open standard for the provision of a wodge of on-mobo flash-ram - the main reason people want to replace the BIOS with linux, so that the OS loads in a blink of an eye, perhaps without even requiring a HD. It's just silly that the BIOS spends a good while screwing around in Real Mode when Linux (or newer versions of Windows!) just go back and do all the setup again...

      I thik it's be REALLY nice to have an OpenFirmware-type BIOS on x86, but with a few megs of flash on the motherboard that one could load the OS kernel and perhaps an initrd from, instead of having to mess about with the harddrive.

      --
      Choice of masters is not freedom.
    2. Re:BIOSes should not be operating system-specific. by sjames · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The BIOS should be a generic facility that can load any desired operating system.

      That is a desirable goal. Linux was chosen first because that was what the developer needed (meeting personal or professional need is the start of most Free software projects). Secondly, Windows is much more difficult since it is quite dependant on the legacy BIOS calls at startup while Linux is not.

      The upshot is that if you can load the linux image into ram and jump to it, it will boot. With windows, you'd have to re-implement a good bit of the original BIOS.

      Currently, LinuxBIOS just needs an ELF formatted binary image to load and execute. If you'd care to write a second stage that implements all of the necessary BIOS calls and boots Windows, feel free. There are a few people on the developer's list that would love to see that.

      As a side note, it doesn't look like it would be all that hard to get *BSD or The HURD booting from LinuxBIOS.

  3. What LinuxBIOS is NOT by CatherineCornelius · · Score: 5, Informative
    The importance of this Linux BIOS project is not that it provides a way of doctoring motherboards so that they will not load Windows (and in any case, such an effort could hardly pose any commercial threat to Microsoft).

    Nor is it that the BIOS is free software--there are other open source BIOS projects that can perform a DOS/Windows boot.

    It isn't even that LinuxBIOS is suitable for embedded systems--other free BIOS's will support embedded systems and can perform a DOS/Windows boot.

    In any case, there's nothing to stop someone writing a DOS/Windows boot loader and booting it from LinuxBIOS.

    The point, surely, is that "LinuxBIOS generally weighs in under 64KB and doesn't waste ROM space with unnecessary functionality. Because it isn't a legacy design, LinuxBIOS starts up fast, even without code optimization."

    It really just provides a nice slimmed down boot cycle suitable for embedded systems that do not require the PC BIOS baggage. We're not even talking about manufacturers dropping DOS/Windows compatibility, simply one or two equipment providers considering using LinuxBIOS in situations where compatibility is unnecessary and speed to boot is an important factor.

  4. Arctic Penguins? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, if it's "moving like a sleek penguin under arctic ice", it isn't going anywhere, there are no penguins in the Arctic, they are all Antarctic residents. :)

  5. Reminds me of my ? to RMS about a free BIOS by weave · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I attended a talk by RMS at H2K. He mentioned how he doesn't use any software that isn't free. I asked him if the BIOS code that boots his computer was free (as in speech).

    He said it was a good question. His position on it is if it's flashable and programmable, source should be free.

    He kind of dodged the question about whether or not his computer BIOS was flashable, free, whatever...

    Don't get me wrong, unlike most people, I have a lot of respect for the guy and I don't believe for a second Linux or Open Source would be where it is today without the efforts of him and his team. It's just that there are always little contradictions that trip up even the best of zealots. Like, I wonder if his life is in danger, will he approve of being hooked up to a computer that provides life support but is running non-free software! :-)

  6. Karma Whoring: by brad3378 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm surprised nobody posted this link yet:

    The Linux Bios Homepage

    --
  7. Re:and the bios is for what, exactly? by TandyMasterControl · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Typical, when they're not decrying Microsoft for embracing and extending, they themselves are embracing and debilitating. ..
    Anyway, why an embedded device would want to use x86 hardware is beyond me...

    because it's incredibly cheap maybe, with a mind boggling array of useful peripheral hardwares?

    The aim of LinuxBIOS doesn't even remotely touch on some competitive manuevering as you ignorantly suggest.
    Installing a LinuxBIOS ROM in place of normal DOS compatible microcode is something you do to modify I>commodity off the shelf hardware hardware to -for example- make your appliance system boot Linux to multiuser + network runlevel from a cold start in 3 seconds or less. It is a very specialized aftermarket improvement for hardware integrators - not motherboard OEMs or PC sellers- and has nothing whatever to do with the kinds of exclusionary practices Microsoft is famous for. It is not practical for general use PC system design, since kernel upgrades mean plugging in a new ROM or reprogramming the old one in a special ROM burner. It is for dedicated appliances only.

    In short, Anonymous Coward, if you can't comment intelligently, and without smallminded paranoia, you may want to forgo commenting at all.

    --
    Johnny Quest has two Daddies.
  8. What should be in the ROM by tsprad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1. Initialize all the programmable chips so the board can come up and run.

    2. A quick self-test to make sure that everything looks like it's basically working.

    3. Offer the option of a more extensive self-test to provide some assurance that weird behavior is not a hardware problem.

    4. Load a bootstrap loader from *any* I/O device on the board that might be practical. If the board has an Ethernet interface, it must be able to boot from that. If not, then perhaps from a serial port. This is for initial system installation. Normally you'd boot from the disc controller, of course.

    5. Not require any equipment that's not permanently attached to the motherboard, i.e., if you don't know you've got a keyboard and a local video display, then use the Ethernet (preferably) or a serial port for operator control. Load the loader unattended if there's no operator present.

    6. A remote reset sure would be nice if you could make sure you could keep it out of the hands of the jokers.

    With all that and a 100Mbit Ethernet, the admin could reinstall the officially-approved software on the luser's workstation in a few minutes, without getting out of his own chair, and without having to walk the luser through any complicated procedure like finding the reset button and pressing it, let alone finding some special floppy or CD. And not just luser's workstations, servers, too. once the power and the Ethernet are plugged in you'd never have to turn the lights on in the server room again.