LinuxBIOS Boots Linux, OpenBSD, Windows

Ivan writes "LinuxBIOS coupled with BOCHS has replaced the PC BIOS. The union of these two cool open source projects completely replaces closed source BIOS, while retaining the ability to boot other operating systems like BSD and Windows. Here's the announcement."

Comments

Re:HURD

[The Original Yama]

Microkernels have their pros and cons, with their main con being slower speed due to the greater need for message passing. The open source nature of Linux allows it to have a monolithic design with many microkernel-like properties.

With that said, GNU/HURD still has a lot going for it. Whereas Linux is essentially a UNIX clone (and there's nothing wrong with that), GNU/HURD is very different. Remember, GNU means "GNU's Not UNIX". There is a great overview of HURD given at KernelTrap.

Re:rushed announcement

[LordNimon]

Well, under Windows it might, but it doesn't have to. There is a floppy driver for OS/2, and formatting doesn't use any CPU under OS/2. In fact, formatting floppies while printing, recalculating a large spreadsheet, and playing an audio file without hiccup was one of the early demonstrations of OS/2 at trade shows.