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Blurring The Line Between BIOS And OS

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the daddy-what-were-hard-drives dept.

Jon Kincade writes "The Register has an article about Phoenix Technologies cME software that allows users on anything from servers to embedded systems to run diagnostics, browse the web and other things without having to boot into a full fledged OS. The primary use seems to be recovery from system crashes. Also, this may explain why the Phoenix browser was asked to change its name a few months ago."

3 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  2. Re:Bad by azmaveth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I agree.

    The whole point of a "Basic Input/Output System" is for, well, basic I/O. It was meant to be a thin layer between the OS and the hardware.

    While I agree that the technology can be improved upon, I don't think this is the proper direction to take.

    I much prefer the route that Gigabyte has taken with their DualBIOS. If there is serious enough trouble with the OS, just boot to a CD with recovery tools on it. If there's a problem in the BIOS, you now have a spare. I don't see the necessity of a TCP/IP stack in the BIOS.

    My $0.02.
    -azmaveth

  3. BIOS is just a bad way to market it? by DJStealth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What if they called it an OS on a chip?

    Make it separate from the BIOS; but possibly on the same EEPROM chip; it will only load up if you hold down the F12 button (or something) when you boot.