Microsoft moves to integrate Windows with BIOS

[amon-ra]

news.zdnet.co.uk/software/developer/0,39020387,39116902,00.htm

[Gość: mgregor]

Byl juz kiedys taki projekt przeniesienia jadra linuksa do kosci BIOS'u.
Powstaly nawet testowe biosy do wielu plyt. Nie wiem na jakim etapie jest to
teraz (czy wogole jeszcze ktos sie tym zajmuje) ale pomysl byl niezly. Ale jesli
chodzi o integracje Windowsow z BIOS'em to mam troche mieszane
uczucia...Windowsy jakie sa kazdy widzi ;-)

[Gość: bzykbzyk.]

mgregor napisał(a):

> Byl juz kiedys taki projekt przeniesienia jadra linuksa do kosci BIOS'u.
> Powstaly nawet testowe biosy do wielu plyt. Nie wiem na jakim etapie jest to
> teraz (czy wogole jeszcze ktos sie tym zajmuje) ale pomysl byl niezly.
> Ale jesli chodzi o integracje Windowsow z BIOS'em to mam troche mieszane
> uczucia...Windowsy jakie sa kazdy widzi ;-)

Przecierz BIOS pod DOS to archaiczny dinosaur.

To jest wymaganie rzadu amerykanskiego aby BIOS byl pod LINUX (embeded
systems) jak rowniez aby system operacyjny byl na chips a nie na hard disk.

To sa tak zwane embeded systems, wiele firm nad tym pracuje np. Wind
River sie tym zajmuje.

[Gość: bzykbzyk.]

> October 03, 2003, 17:25 BST

> A deal with BIOS maker Phoenix Technologies would allow the operating system
> to directly control hardware. It also raises concerns over who controls the
> software in PCs.

> A BIOS, or basic input/output system, is the software that ties the operating
> system to a PC's hardware. Traditionally, it has carried out basic tasks such
> as hardware and system configuration, and has been standardised and simple
> enough to allow the installation of alternative operating systems, including
> Linux.

BIOS operowany przez DOS to jeszccze jeden komputerowy antyk.

No tak rzad Amerykanski wymaga aby BIOS byl pod LINUX to Microsoft
przesuwa BIOS do OS aby ratowac Windows!

Wiaze sie to rowniez z tym ze najnowsze komputery beda mialy OS na chip a
nie na hard disk, tak ze Microsoft musi szukac alternatyw za nim BIOS
razem z operating system bedzie integrowany w komputer na chips zamiast na
hard disk.

The switch to the Linux BIOS is a US government requirement.


Is Tyan now working with the Linux community to optimize its products for use
with the Linux kernel?

Chang: We do a couple of different things, but not so much in the driver field.
At the moment, the company is working in the HPC arena developing diskless
clusters in large installations, by compressing a bootable version of Linux
onto Flash. That is a big job for us, to port all of our systems to a Linux
BIOS. Tyan has been working for some time at developing a Linux BIOS for its
motherboards. The company will soon switch all of its boards to having only
Linux in the BIOS, for reliability and for quick boot and reboot capabilities.

Q: What are the reasons for Tyan moving to a Linux BIOS?
Is it for a faster boot time when recovering from power outages?

Chang: No, mainly, the switch to the Linux BIOS is a US government requirement.
We’re doing this to comply with government lab regulations for the improved
security and reliability that a Linux BIOS affords. And it really isn’t about
power outage recovery, but more for getting rid of the hard drive for boot-up
purposes. Use of a Linux BIOS is in response to the requirements of the
diskless systems that the government labs are using. For example, when you have
a thousand nodes, and a thousand drives at each node, every time you reboot the
system you run the risk of failure. What we’re working on is trying to reduce
the number of failures.
This is becoming a requirement for most of the large government installations
we handle. Performance is one issue, but it takes a back seat to reliability.
When we test and verify our motherboards, we initially use Unix and Linux to
put them through their paces because only Unix and Linux have the capability to
load the boards properly with verifiable results.

Q: In the area of diskless workstations, does Tyan work with Wind River’s
VxWorks at all?