I am investigating options for an embedded systems project which we need to launch Q1 next year.
I found linuxbios and love the idea. I have a few concerns though, and I thought someone here might be able to help me decide how difficult it might be to go this route.
First, all of the mainboards that I can find which fit our requirements use the Intel G965 GMCH chipset. (Requirements are mini ITX format, Intel Core 2 Duo desktop processor support, not socket 478, and dual Gbit LAN. I've only found 3 products after a week of searching. ) Chipset docs are available at http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intelg965/
The G965 is not listed as supported, and I've been unable to find any comforting comments in the list archives. I am an accomplished embedded systems programmer, but my time is stretched very thin on this project. Do you guys believe I will be able to make this work without heroic efforts?
Second, the mainboards all come with an 8 Mbit BIOS flash. Will this be enough to boot Linux directly? There is no IDE capability on these boards, so the only disk options are USB or SATA. I don't need video support. There will only be a serial console.
Assuming I can boot direct to Linux from the BIOS, would SATA or USB be more appropriate for loading the rest of the system?
Any comments would be appreciated. Am I getting in over my head? Do you think linuxbios is stable enough to consider for a commercial product?
Thanks,
Chris