[LinuxBIOS] Status VIA Epia M1000

["Jørgen P. Tjernø"]

Hi!

I've got an Epia M1000 that I use as a mediamachine (HTPC?), and I 
recently learnt of LinuxBIOS. Therefore, I was curious wether or not 
using LinuxBIOS would be to my advantage, e.g. to reduce boot-times. I 
see the main LinuxBIOS lists HTPC under example uses. :-)

So, I'm curious. Would you recommend me trying out LinuxBIOS on the 
machine? What advantages would it give me?
Also, does LinuxBIOS v2 (or the unfinished v3) support Epia M1000 
properly? On the "Supported Motherboards" page for LinuxBIOS v2, it says 
"Motherboard mostly works, but some issues remain." on Epia-M. Is this 
correct? Are there any places which list the issues that I can expect?

I should probably also mention that it boots Linux (Ubuntu) over the 
network, currently using PXE for the linux image, and NFS for the root fs.

Thanks in advance.

Kindest regards, Jørgen P. Tjernø.

[Corey Osgood]

Jørgen P. Tjernø wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I've got an Epia M1000 that I use as a mediamachine (HTPC?), and I 
> recently learnt of LinuxBIOS. Therefore, I was curious wether or not 
> using LinuxBIOS would be to my advantage, e.g. to reduce boot-times. I 
> see the main LinuxBIOS lists HTPC under example uses. :-)
>
> So, I'm curious. Would you recommend me trying out LinuxBIOS on the 
> machine? What advantages would it give me?
> Also, does LinuxBIOS v2 (or the unfinished v3) support Epia M1000 
> properly? On the "Supported Motherboards" page for LinuxBIOS v2, it says 
> "Motherboard mostly works, but some issues remain." on Epia-M. Is this 
> correct? Are there any places which list the issues that I can expect?
>
> I should probably also mention that it boots Linux (Ubuntu) over the 
> network, currently using PXE for the linux image, and NFS for the root fs.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Kindest regards, Jørgen P. Tjernø.

Hi!
Sorry, but the Epia-M1000 uses the via vt8235 southbridge, which we do 
we do have support for in LBv2 (v3 is still in the early development 
stages), and the via cle266 northbridge, which we don't support yet.

-Corey

[Corey Osgood]

Corey Osgood wrote:
> Jørgen P. Tjernø wrote:
> > Hi!
> >
> > I've got an Epia M1000 that I use as a mediamachine (HTPC?), and I 
> > recently learnt of LinuxBIOS. Therefore, I was curious wether or not 
> > using LinuxBIOS would be to my advantage, e.g. to reduce boot-times. I 
> > see the main LinuxBIOS lists HTPC under example uses. :-)
> >
> > So, I'm curious. Would you recommend me trying out LinuxBIOS on the 
> > machine? What advantages would it give me?
> > Also, does LinuxBIOS v2 (or the unfinished v3) support Epia M1000 
> > properly? On the "Supported Motherboards" page for LinuxBIOS v2, it says 
> > "Motherboard mostly works, but some issues remain." on Epia-M. Is this 
> > correct? Are there any places which list the issues that I can expect?
> >
> > I should probably also mention that it boots Linux (Ubuntu) over the 
> > network, currently using PXE for the linux image, and NFS for the root fs.
> >
> > Thanks in advance.
> >
> > Kindest regards, Jørgen P. Tjernø.
>
> Hi!
> Sorry, but the Epia-M1000 uses the via vt8235 southbridge, which we do 
> we do have support for in LBv2 (v3 is still in the early development 
> stages), and the via cle266 northbridge, which we don't support yet.
>
> -Corey

Apologies, the cle266 is vt8623ce, which may work with the current 
vt8623 code. The only way to really find out if it works for you is to 
set up some sort of backup system (BIOS savior, spare BIOS chips, etc) 
and try it. And yes, using LinuxBIOS should reduce your boot time, 
although I don't know the exact amount of time you'll gain.

-Corey

[Jonathan McDowell]

On Mon, Mar 12, 2007 at 05:13:54AM -0400, Corey Osgood wrote:
> Corey Osgood wrote:
> > Jørgen P. Tjernø wrote:
> > > I've got an Epia M1000 that I use as a mediamachine (HTPC?), and I 
> > > recently learnt of LinuxBIOS. Therefore, I was curious wether or not 
> > > using LinuxBIOS would be to my advantage, e.g. to reduce boot-times. I 
> > > see the main LinuxBIOS lists HTPC under example uses. :-)

...
> > Sorry, but the Epia-M1000 uses the via vt8235 southbridge, which we do 
> > we do have support for in LBv2 (v3 is still in the early development 
> > stages), and the via cle266 northbridge, which we don't support yet.
>
> Apologies, the cle266 is vt8623ce, which may work with the current 
> vt8623 code. The only way to really find out if it works for you is to 
> set up some sort of backup system (BIOS savior, spare BIOS chips, etc) 
> and try it. And yes, using LinuxBIOS should reduce your boot time, 
> although I don't know the exact amount of time you'll gain.

Unless someone's broken it LinuxBIOS v2 should support the EPIA-M1000
fine; I have a few dozen of these running SVN release 2357. My machines
don't have the VGA BIOS, but I have tried it with success - you need
version 1.13 rather than the latest 1.16 I believe.

J.