On 28/09/07 11:05 -0700, ron minnich wrote:
OK, these mobos are close enough to each other to share most code. Let me throw out a challenge to this group. Make the bios image that runs on each board *IDENTICAL*. You can figure out what each board is -- can you tell by which superio it is or something? -- and then case out in runtime.
There is a tipping point there though - many people chose LinuxBIOS for the very reason that you don't carry around many Ks of code that you don't need. Even traditional BIOS vendors don't try this. To me the more important thing is to show that the hardware support is there, and that it is a simple build option away.
Why is this good? Because a vendor can see that with proper design, a single bios image can support many mainboards -- even if the hardware differs slightly -- thus reducing the cost.
I just think you have to be very careful - run time detection is not what puts the butts in the seats.
Jordan