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More Power To The Firmware
An anonymous reader writes "In More Power To The Firmware Amit Singh talks about technical details of EFI, the next-gen BIOS replacement standard Intel, Microsoft and others are pushing. This is a very informative piece where he talks of issues with legacy BIOS, how it affects those who develop in the firmware environment and how EFI plans to solve these problems. EFI usage examples are included, including a programming example. He contrasts EFI with Open Firmware as well. IMO the second half of the article is even more interesting, where sample FORTH code is provided for displaying a window/mouse pointer GUI inside the Apple/Mac firmware! And of course, there's code for a new 'Towers of Hanoi' animation using the Mac firmware (remember Hanoimania?). Aspiring Mac Firmware Hackers could also check out the suggested projects ;-)"
"but can you imagine any sort of Windows-dependent BIOS?"
No. Luckily, the article didn't mention one.
Oddly Draconis
Too cynical to live, too stubborn to die.
Here's a link to an older KT entry; "Status And Discussion Of EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) Support"
Explains some history, rationale and technical details.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Well, given that there's LinuxBIOS
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
The OS is the BIOS? Either you're trolling [but given your subject disclaimer, perhaps not], or you misunderstand the concept of abstraction layers, and their ordering. The BIOS cannot be dependent on Windows, it sits beneath the OS. The OS is dependent on it. Drivers, in effect, are mini-BIOSs in themselves. They abstract out the different hardware devices to a standard windows API. The BIOS that comes with your machine abstracts out the out-of-the-box components of your motherboard among other things. Sometimes windows drivers talk to the bios, but mostly they skip it altogether.
- Oisin
PGP KeyId: 0x08D63965
While the OS may have been in ROM, Like the Atari ST's, that doesnt make it the actual BIOS.
By its very definition, the BIOS is a much lower level block of code. the true hardware abstraction layer, that the OS rides on top of..
Sure its also in a ROM of some sort, perhaps even the same chips.. but that still doesnt really make a ROM based OS a 'BIOS'..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Developers (that means you) will have to be able to sign their own software, or the system would be pointless. This would be an extra command in the makefile, no biggie.
You don't understand Trusted Computing. It's not about signing software. There's no need to sign at all. What happens is if you change the software at all - even a single instruction - that that software no longer works with and existing data and can no longer communicate with other programs on the internet.
The Trust chip generates a hash of the software. The hash is linked to an encryption key. If you change the software you lose the hash and can no longer get the the decryption key at all. Nothing works anymore. Very biggie.
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Just because DRM is there doesn't mean software will be DRM-protected. And just because software vendors aren't DRMing their products doesn't mean TPTB won't impose DRM on all electronic components.
It's like Macrovision. About 90% of commercial VHS tapes are not Macrovisioned. But 100% of VCRs are Macrovision-compliant by law. Sure, you can purchase deMacrovision boxes for legal use, but most people aren't going to go through the trouble. The same thing will happen with computer hardware. All computer components manufactured for sale in the US will be "trusted." The enterprising and resourceful geek will get all of his components direct from Asia and either run Linux or a dusty old copy of XP/Longhorn, but for all practical purposes, DRM will be everywhere. It may not be taken advantage of by everyone, but it will be everywhere.
dinner: it's what's for beer