Guys,
Here is a message from the OpenBIOS[1] mailing list. Someone has
written a PC firmware replacement which will boot Linux. It doesn't do
any of the normal BIOS services, but it does boot Linux (big first
step).
Jeff
[1] OpenBIOS home page: http://www.freiburg.linux.de/openbios/
-- Jeff Garzik | "Vegetarian" is the Indian word Building 1024 | for 'lousy hunter.' MandrakeSoft, Inc. |
attached mail follows:
I was asked to announce this again, so here goes.
At www.acl.lanl.gov/linuxbios, at the top, there are links to the following: 1) A context-diff to 2.2.13 to implement the lobos system call. Lobos stands for Linux OS Boots OS, and it provides the pieces to allow a kernel to read a file in, overlay the current kernel with the file, and boot the new kernel. NO BIOS support is needed, so the whole thing takes about .5 second on my 600E laptop. Also, the log buffer is preserved across boots -- handy. 2) S00 modified to check for /lobos. If /lobos exists then S00reboot calls a program to call the lobos system call 3) The script command (/usr/bin/lobos) that is essentially a reboot command to make lobos happen 4) finally, a simple .c program that invokes the system call.
Also included on this web page is a paper on how it all works.
Let me know if you have questions, comments, or improvements.
BTW, I'm going to plug openbios into the nvram on my l440gx today using the intel iflash utility. If this works, next step is booting linux out of nvram. Wish me luck!
ron
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Feb 15 2000 - 21:00:23 EST