Stefan Reinauer wrote:
- Thomas Ekstrand thomas.ekstrand@gmail.com [070327 10:25]:
Maybe it can be of some use in the documenation or something? I will say that I'm no expert so it's basically a summary of what you can find on the internet. but still...
I think LinuxBIOS can greatly use this. We're still not exactly successfully conveying what LinuxBIOS is to our potential users. Any step towards that helps.
Stefan
May I be of help here by acting as a complete nono? I have been reading the emails fly by here for the last two weeks and been trying to read through the entire website, but I still lack a few reasons for even wanting to begin with linuxbios. As a user mind you, because otherwise this project is ofcourse wildly interesting. So, as an ordinary person who just owns a pc, what would I get out of using linuxbios instead of the proprietary one that came with my machine already? I did watch the FOSDEM presentation video of Ron Minnich, so I'm not entirely in the blue. I understand the proper support for clusters and the point about your bios not contacting its manufacturers without you knowing. But, I find the point (expressed as a big plus) of having a prompt waiting for input, just a few seconds after booting, a bit vague.
What exactly am I supposed to be able to do right away at that point? Is my own special kernel running yet, are my filesystems mounted, am I able to start my own favorite movie/music player?
As a normal user, sofar, I see linuxbios simply shaving off a few seconds of booting time, and thats it. In other words, I see its merit as being an open system that can grow into something extremely cool, but I don't see its necessity, especially right now.
(I do however hope that Luc Verhaegen keeps at it and brings support for the via mini-itx boards into play, since these are mediacenters and should be instant-on. And I do hope that the intel 440BX chipsets becomes supported, since that might be very cool for the freesco project that uses such ancient hardware and could do with a flashable ROM.)
Cheers, Warren