Armijn Hemel armijn@uulug.nl writes:
hello all,
for the Dutch Linux Magazine (http://www.linuxmag.nl/) I'm writing an article about open source hardware and LinuxBIOS is one of the projects I will mention. I have a question which does not seem to be answered in the FAQ.
Do I really need to remove the normal BIOS from a machine, insert a ZIF socket, etc.? I read an article (British Linux Magazine) which suggests that you always have to, but when I read the LinuxBIOS pages I start to wonder...
If it's not the case, any chance that LinuxBIOS will work for a Dell Optiplex GX1 system (Intel 440BX PIIX4e chipset)? I already took a look and you can't remove the BIOS, which I'd like to have replaced, because it freaks me out and has wasted hours of precious time.
There are two important cases. 1) Development machines. 2) Production machines.
On production machines you can have things soldered on with no problem.
On a development machine you want some insurance against misflashing the BIOS.
There is some safety with linuxbios on development machines as it is typically configured to have two copies of the firmware on the ROM chip.
As for getting a socket on a board without one for people who have the skill removing a rom chip and soldering in a socket is fairly doable.
The minimum requirements for developing LinuxBIOS are: 1) a method for recovering from a bad flash (usually a socketed rom chip) 2) a serial console. 3) Documentation... 4) Time
With all of those you can probably do a complete LinuxBIOS port.
Eric