when, not if, some kiddie finds a hole in this illconceived poster child for the DUH foundation, BIOS will come to mean "Bend It Over and Squeeeeeeel."
When will they learn that features are secondary to function and stability and that security is paramount. The fastest way to screw up security, function and stability is to tack on internetable widgets.
When some aluminum foil beanie-head writes a cute set of bells and whistles and bundels it up with mass manufactured computer software/firmware so that the average user can't even disable it, secure it, or remove it, the author is essentially building a bomb which someone will end up dropping on the entire internet.
UPNP's SSDP Discovery Service is a stellar example of what happens when bells and whistles attack. What possessed MS to believe that it would be a good idea to build a system level back door into XP that starts by default, while leaving default disabled, the puny "firewall" they put in (which at least forces the attack on this service to be focused and deliberate for it to succeed, just makes my brain hurt with the logic of it.
UPNP service was supposed to make home and office automation simple and easy. Like anyone is really gonna shell out an extra $500 for a refrigerator that can plug into their computer and run amok with a credit card, automatically ordering 30 head of dairy cattle delivered to their third floor walk-up apartment each time they run low on milk. "Windows couldn't find Dairy|Milk|Skim|32 Oz... Ordering malnourished skinny cows at best price-break supported by your Total Net Worth.
At least the UPNP vulnerability was only a system level exploit.
Oh Joy...
Just when I thought that a system level vulnerabilty was as bad as it can get.
If Microsoft made automobiles, they would be made in such a way that someone could steal your tires while the car was moving. If you crashed, which could happen at 10 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats, none of the doors would work and your windows would all turn blue. On the freeway, someone could suddenly appear in your passenger seat, remove your stearing wheel and empty your glove box of Lic and reg, checkbook and spare keys and you might never even see them do it.
I now quite enjoy my beta model Linux, though it took some getting used to. My car never crashes any more, though occasionaly the radio disappears, or one of the mirrors falls off. At least I don't have to reinstall the engine because someone sent a mangled email to my rear view mirror.
why do we need a BIOS anymore...?
Visualize this two part exercise.
Install an unformatted HDD in a new machine and then leave the OS CD in the cd box it came in...
The machine will run, devices will be found, and connections made to them without the OS loaded or even formatting the disk. Up to several pages of data will scroll up your screen beginning with the video BIOS information, memory test,and moving on to HDD, CDR/CDRW/ATAPI/SCSI/floppy devices, and PCI card slot population and device configuration, USB info, IDE RAID ports/devices installed and finally integrated peripherals and NIC BIOS along with any RAM boot settings just before it tries to find the boot server (if it has a RAM boot Eprom on the NIC card)
All this activity seems fairly useless to the user and the time it takes is generally annoying, but all that activity is from the BIOS alone, it hasn't even started setting up the control logic in memory because the control logic has to be loaded from the HDD... but to get to the HDD, floppy drive, or other bootable device, the machine has to have some form of control over these devices, starting instructions. Those starting instructions are the BIOS, which loads the control logic (Operating System) into an area of memory from which the computer can assume control of its own functions. The BIOS checks out the hardware resources of the machine at boot, and builds a control table in memory listing the basic resources of the motherboard and essential components of storage and control, it then hands this off to the OS after the OS has finished loading, but these functions are independant of the OS, which OS it will be booting, or the location of the connection to the boot information (HDD, RAID, Server, Floppy, SCSI device, or even a RAM chip. The BIOS doesn't even care if you have more than one OS available. It will look for starting instructions in several places which are configurable in CMOS, and if those instructions happen to be a boot manager, then it will load the boot manager without skipping a beat. That is already a LOT going on without having an OS running yet.
Now, disable or FlashFry your BIOs and put the CD in the drive...
You now have the ultimate in desk fans, even with the CD in the drive, the only thing that will function on it will be fans and motors and only those which are independant of BIOS control.
Why would something like this happen?
Because the BIOS is not the Eprom chip on the MB, it is the logic written to the chip.
When the machine powers up, that set of instructions starts running, with one simple basic task, to load the OS so that the machine can function at a more complex and user friendly level.
The BIOS boots your system, not the OS.
The term Boot comes from "Bootstrap" and that from the phrase "raising oneself by one's own bootstraps". This word was coined as the name for a process required to start old mainframe computers in which a crew of several people would spend weeks to months setting toggle switches on a special panel. a row of 8 switches in two groups of four, with an extra switch on the end. The two banks of switches were properly set into position, and then the end switch was hit. This sent current through those switches in the banks which were closed, this current passed through an array of crossed wires with tiny magnetic donuts at the intersections. Called "flip-Flops" or memory "cores" (this is where the term "core memory" comes from) these donuts would magnetically allign with the current passing in the wires by physically changing position, when running this made these machines quiet noisy as the magnetic cores "flip-Flopped". The racks on which the cores and crossed wires were strung were called registers. The connections between the registers, were the busses.
If the current was the same polarity as the donut, there was no change in orientation and the result was 0 (false). If the current caused the donut to change orientation (which generated a current pulse in the second wire) then the signal would be 1 (true). The process of flipping the panel switches set up the orientation of the flip-flops as machine code instructions in 4 bit nibbles each paired into an 8 bit byte, basically storing information by tipping over a magnetic washer balanced between two wires. The process of loading machine code manually by toggle switch was mind numbingly tedious and was replaced by a punched paper tape with holes indictating which switches would be closed for each byte, the paper passed through a reader with small spring wires over each column on the strip, if a wire passed through a hole it made electrical contact with a pad on the other side of the strip, which in tern sent current flowing through the wires in the "core" exactly as it would if manual switches had been used, but taking only hours rather than weeks. (and you thought your system booted slow.;)
The BIOS came along after computers became semiconductor based. It is a set of machine code which loads the control code from a storage device, just as the punch tape reader replaced manual boot panel switches.Now keep in mind that magnetic storage computers were huge in size, small in capacity. A 4-banger pocket calculator has more capacity than one of those monsters did.
The BIOS on a modern PC replaces what would be a crew of thousands of people flipping manual switches for decades, writing the OS into the memory of the CPU.
Think of the BIOS in terms of tiny service engineers manually reading each line of the Operating System from the HDD and flipping switches to set the logic states for each byte of code, one bit at a time. Only after the control logic is set up in memory can the computer function.
Thats why we need BIOS.
I had a couple of those, they didn't have much in the way of a BIOS either. chuckle.
Wish I'd kept one, I have this door in the back of the house that slams when I open the front door... also excellent for protecting closet shelves from dust.. so light... and sooo easy to use.
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when, not if, some kiddie finds a hole in this illconceived poster child for the DUH foundation, BIOS will come to mean "Bend It Over and Squeeeeeeel." When will they learn that features are secondary to function and stability and that security is paramount. The fastest way to screw up security, function and stability is to tack on internetable widgets. When some aluminum foil beanie-head writes a cute set of bells and whistles and bundels it up with mass manufactured computer software/firmware so that the average user can't even disable it, secure it, or remove it, the author is essentially building a bomb which someone will end up dropping on the entire internet. UPNP's SSDP Discovery Service is a stellar example of what happens when bells and whistles attack. What possessed MS to believe that it would be a good idea to build a system level back door into XP that starts by default, while leaving default disabled, the puny "firewall" they put in (which at least forces the attack on this service to be focused and deliberate for it to succeed, just makes my brain hurt with the logic of it. UPNP service was supposed to make home and office automation simple and easy. Like anyone is really gonna shell out an extra $500 for a refrigerator that can plug into their computer and run amok with a credit card, automatically ordering 30 head of dairy cattle delivered to their third floor walk-up apartment each time they run low on milk. "Windows couldn't find Dairy|Milk|Skim|32 Oz... Ordering malnourished skinny cows at best price-break supported by your Total Net Worth. At least the UPNP vulnerability was only a system level exploit.
Oh Joy... Just when I thought that a system level vulnerabilty was as bad as it can get. If Microsoft made automobiles, they would be made in such a way that someone could steal your tires while the car was moving. If you crashed, which could happen at 10 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats, none of the doors would work and your windows would all turn blue. On the freeway, someone could suddenly appear in your passenger seat, remove your stearing wheel and empty your glove box of Lic and reg, checkbook and spare keys and you might never even see them do it. I now quite enjoy my beta model Linux, though it took some getting used to. My car never crashes any more, though occasionaly the radio disappears, or one of the mirrors falls off. At least I don't have to reinstall the engine because someone sent a mangled email to my rear view mirror.
why do we need a BIOS anymore...? Visualize this two part exercise. Install an unformatted HDD in a new machine and then leave the OS CD in the cd box it came in... The machine will run, devices will be found, and connections made to them without the OS loaded or even formatting the disk. Up to several pages of data will scroll up your screen beginning with the video BIOS information, memory test,and moving on to HDD, CDR/CDRW/ATAPI/SCSI/floppy devices, and PCI card slot population and device configuration, USB info, IDE RAID ports/devices installed and finally integrated peripherals and NIC BIOS along with any RAM boot settings just before it tries to find the boot server (if it has a RAM boot Eprom on the NIC card) All this activity seems fairly useless to the user and the time it takes is generally annoying, but all that activity is from the BIOS alone, it hasn't even started setting up the control logic in memory because the control logic has to be loaded from the HDD... but to get to the HDD, floppy drive, or other bootable device, the machine has to have some form of control over these devices, starting instructions. Those starting instructions are the BIOS, which loads the control logic (Operating System) into an area of memory from which the computer can assume control of its own functions. The BIOS checks out the hardware resources of the machine at boot, and builds a control table in memory listing the basic resources of the motherboard and essential components of storage and control, it then hands this off to the OS after the OS has finished loading, but these functions are independant of the OS, which OS it will be booting, or the location of the connection to the boot information (HDD, RAID, Server, Floppy, SCSI device, or even a RAM chip. The BIOS doesn't even care if you have more than one OS available. It will look for starting instructions in several places which are configurable in CMOS, and if those instructions happen to be a boot manager, then it will load the boot manager without skipping a beat. That is already a LOT going on without having an OS running yet. Now, disable or FlashFry your BIOs and put the CD in the drive... You now have the ultimate in desk fans, even with the CD in the drive, the only thing that will function on it will be fans and motors and only those which are independant of BIOS control. Why would something like this happen? Because the BIOS is not the Eprom chip on the MB, it is the logic written to the chip. When the machine powers up, that set of instructions starts running, with one simple basic task, to load the OS so that the machine can function at a more complex and user friendly level. The BIOS boots your system, not the OS. The term Boot comes from "Bootstrap" and that from the phrase "raising oneself by one's own bootstraps". This word was coined as the name for a process required to start old mainframe computers in which a crew of several people would spend weeks to months setting toggle switches on a special panel. a row of 8 switches in two groups of four, with an extra switch on the end. The two banks of switches were properly set into position, and then the end switch was hit. This sent current through those switches in the banks which were closed, this current passed through an array of crossed wires with tiny magnetic donuts at the intersections. Called "flip-Flops" or memory "cores" (this is where the term "core memory" comes from) these donuts would magnetically allign with the current passing in the wires by physically changing position, when running this made these machines quiet noisy as the magnetic cores "flip-Flopped". The racks on which the cores and crossed wires were strung were called registers. The connections between the registers, were the busses. If the current was the same polarity as the donut, there was no change in orientation and the result was 0 (false). If the current caused the donut to change orientation (which generated a current pulse in the second wire) then the signal would be 1 (true). The process of flipping the panel switches set up the orientation of the flip-flops as machine code instructions in 4 bit nibbles each paired into an 8 bit byte, basically storing information by tipping over a magnetic washer balanced between two wires. The process of loading machine code manually by toggle switch was mind numbingly tedious and was replaced by a punched paper tape with holes indictating which switches would be closed for each byte, the paper passed through a reader with small spring wires over each column on the strip, if a wire passed through a hole it made electrical contact with a pad on the other side of the strip, which in tern sent current flowing through the wires in the "core" exactly as it would if manual switches had been used, but taking only hours rather than weeks. (and you thought your system booted slow. ;)
The BIOS came along after computers became semiconductor based. It is a set of machine code which loads the control code from a storage device, just as the punch tape reader replaced manual boot panel switches.Now keep in mind that magnetic storage computers were huge in size, small in capacity. A 4-banger pocket calculator has more capacity than one of those monsters did.
The BIOS on a modern PC replaces what would be a crew of thousands of people flipping manual switches for decades, writing the OS into the memory of the CPU.
Think of the BIOS in terms of tiny service engineers manually reading each line of the Operating System from the HDD and flipping switches to set the logic states for each byte of code, one bit at a time. Only after the control logic is set up in memory can the computer function.
Thats why we need BIOS.
I had a couple of those, they didn't have much in the way of a BIOS either. chuckle. Wish I'd kept one, I have this door in the back of the house that slams when I open the front door... also excellent for protecting closet shelves from dust.. so light... and sooo easy to use.