[LinuxBIOS] Tyan s2895 clarification

[Lionel Elie Mamane]

Hi,

I'm confused. My Tyan s2895 has a 8Mbit LPC Flash ROM, so I thought I
could not use a RD1 Bios Savior, as no 8Mbit model was available; this
kept me from trying out LinuxBIOS by fear of turning my computer into
an expensive paper weight. But now I see posts to this ML's archive
(such as
http://www.linuxbios.org/pipermail/linuxbios/2006-January/013420.html)
that talk about using 4Mbit savior with the Tyan s2895.

Quid?

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Lionel Elie Mamane  [060829 17:03]:
> I'm confused. My Tyan s2895 has a 8Mbit LPC Flash ROM, so I thought I
> could not use a RD1 Bios Savior, as no 8Mbit model was available; this
> kept me from trying out LinuxBIOS by fear of turning my computer into
> an expensive paper weight. But now I see posts to this ML's archive
> (such as
> http://www.linuxbios.org/pipermail/linuxbios/2006-January/013420.html)
> that talk about using 4Mbit savior with the Tyan s2895.

While the original bios needs 1MB (8MBit), LinuxBIOS requires quite less
than that. So as long as you put LinuxBIOS in the bios savior chip and
leave the factory bios in its original chip, everything will work fine.
IOSS states that they can not be used because you can not stick another
8MBit BIOS on the savior itself.

Stefan

[Lionel Elie Mamane]

On Thu, Aug 31, 2006 at 03:41:34PM +0200, Stefan Reinauer wrote:
> Lionel Elie Mamane  [060829 17:03]:
> > I'm confused. My Tyan s2895 has a 8Mbit LPC Flash ROM, so I thought I
> > could not use a RD1 Bios Savior, as no 8Mbit model was available; this
> > kept me from trying out LinuxBIOS by fear of turning my computer into
> > an expensive paper weight. But now I see posts to this ML's archive
> > (such as
> > http://www.linuxbios.org/pipermail/linuxbios/2006-January/013420.html)
> > that talk about using 4Mbit savior with the Tyan s2895.
> While the original bios needs 1MB (8MBit), LinuxBIOS requires quite
> less than that. So as long as you put LinuxBIOS in the bios savior
> chip and leave the factory bios in its original chip, everything
> will work fine.

Ah, so a smaller chip inserted in the socket will actually work, I was
afraid it wouldn't. Good. Thank your for that explanation. If you will
bear with me, please explain me things a bit further.

I have determined that my motherboard contains an SST 49LF080A chip
for the BIOS, through the method described on the IOSS web site (run
the motherboard manufacturer flash tool, it will tell you).

What if I go the other route, buy an out-of-mainboard
burner/programmer and a replacement BIOS flash chip?  Can I actually
put a bigger one in there? Must I buy exactly the same one (from the
same manufacturer) or can I buy another "compatible" chip? What must I
make sure the chip I buy has/is to ensure it is compatible?

The reason I'm thinking in this direction is that
http://linuxbios.org/index.php/Payloads tells me that with a 512KB
chip, I'll be too tight to have Linux as a payload, but the other
payloads can use only network or an IDE device; I'd like to boot from
SCSI if possible.

Hmmm... I suppose I could boot from a self-burnt CD with filo
instead.