[LinuxBIOS] disassembly of bios code

[Rogelio Serrano]

Im trying to make linuxbios work on a kt600 mb by trying to understand how
the bios initializes the board during bootup. Any tips?

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Rogelio Serrano  [060221 18:02]:
> Im trying to make linuxbios work on a kt600 mb by trying to understand how the
> bios initializes the board during bootup. Any tips?

Go to http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/datasheets/ and tell them you
need the KT600 datasheets.

Stefan

[Rogelio Serrano]

On 2/22/06, Stefan Reinauer  wrote:
> Rogelio Serrano  [060221 18:02]:
> > Im trying to make linuxbios work on a kt600 mb by trying to understand
>
> how the
> > bios initializes the board during bootup. Any tips?
>
> Go to http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/datasheets/ and tell them you
> need the KT600 datasheets.
>
> Stefan

I just filed a request.

[LinuxBIOS] RES: disassembly of bios code

[Jardel Silveira]

Dear Mr. Serrano,

I suggest you the articles by Darmawan Mappatutu.

http://www.geocities.com/mamanzip/

Thanks.

Jardel.
Development Engineer.
Federal University of Ceara - LESC

________________________________________
De: [e-mail] [mailto:[e-mail]]
Em nome de Rogelio Serrano
Enviada em: terça-feira, 21 de fevereiro de 2006 14:02
Para: [e-mail]
Assunto: [LinuxBIOS] disassembly of bios code

Im trying to make linuxbios work on a kt600 mb by trying to understand how
the bios initializes the board during bootup. Any tips?

[Ronald G Minnich]

Rogelio Serrano wrote:
> Im trying to make linuxbios work on a kt600 mb by trying to understand 
> how the bios initializes the board during bootup. Any tips?

one tip: I don't want any code that you can't document back to the 
chipset documents you have. In particular, I don't want anything that 
comes from disassembled bios code. We're worked very hard, and 
succeeded, at keeping the linuxbios code base clean; I want to keep it 
that way.

ron

[Peter Karlsson]

On Tue, 21 Feb 2006, Ronald G Minnich wrote:
> one tip: I don't want any code that you can't document back to the
> chipset documents you have. In particular, I don't want anything that
> comes from disassembled bios code. We're worked very hard, and
> succeeded, at keeping the linuxbios code base clean; I want to keep it
> that way.

But what about reverse-engineering the chips (in whatever way) and 
documenting it, and then contributing this documentation instead of code 
(a.k.a. clean-room engineering)?

Best regards

Peter K

[Ronald G Minnich]

Peter Karlsson wrote:
> But what about reverse-engineering the chips (in whatever way) and 
> documenting it, and then contributing this documentation instead of code 
> (a.k.a. clean-room engineering)?

I'll let someone else handle that question. I only can say that I much 
prefer to work with companies that wish to help with linuxbios (such as 
AMD). If you have the possibility of collaboration with a company, that 
is preferable to having to reverse engineer.

thanks

ron

[Rogelio Serrano]

On 2/22/06, Ronald G Minnich  wrote:
> Peter Karlsson wrote:
> > But what about reverse-engineering the chips (in whatever way) and
> > documenting it, and then contributing this documentation instead of code
> > (a.k.a. clean-room engineering)?
>
> I'll let someone else handle that question. I only can say that I much
> prefer to work with companies that wish to help with linuxbios (such as
> AMD). If you have the possibility of collaboration with a company, that
> is preferable to having to reverse engineer.
>
> thanks
>
> ron

who alse has an NDA with via? Is it possible for individual nda holders to
collaborate? Maybe with enough ports to via chipsets we can convince them to
use it?

[Ronald G Minnich]

Rogelio Serrano wrote:
> who alse has an NDA with via? Is it possible for individual nda holders 
> to collaborate? Maybe with enough ports to via chipsets we can convince 
> them to use it?

VIA has, in the past, been very helpful, on some chipsets. I would not 
rule out VIA being helpful again. Did you contact them?

thanks

ron

[Rogelio Serrano]

On 2/22/06, Ronald G Minnich  wrote:
> Rogelio Serrano wrote:
> > Im trying to make linuxbios work on a kt600 mb by trying to understand
> > how the bios initializes the board during bootup. Any tips?
>
> one tip: I don't want any code that you can't document back to the
> chipset documents you have. In particular, I don't want anything that
> comes from disassembled bios code. We're worked very hard, and
> succeeded, at keeping the linuxbios code base clean; I want to keep it
> that way.
>
> ron

I understand. I will most likely get an intel board instead.

[Ronald G Minnich]

Rogelio Serrano wrote:
> I understand. I will most likely get an intel board instead.

I would not recommend Intel either. They are not supportive of 
LinuxBIOS; quite the contrary.

thanks

ron

[Rogelio Serrano]

On 2/22/06, Ronald G Minnich  wrote:
> Rogelio Serrano wrote:
> > I understand. I will most likely get an intel board instead.
>
> I would not recommend Intel either. They are not supportive of
> LinuxBIOS; quite the contrary.
>
> thanks
>
> ron

I see. Its very expensive here in Manila too. Maybe an nforce4 board is
better?

Krgds,
Roger

OT: I wonder if there is an architecture out there with a "standardised"
dram setup. Is there a pc architecture out there that does not require a
bios?

[Richard Smith]

> OT: I wonder if there is an architecture out there with a "standardised"
> dram setup. Is there a pc architecture out there that does not require a
> bios?

Get something ARM based.  We (Bitworks) are likeing the offerings from
sharp.  Most don' t have a floating point unit though so if you are
doing a lot of hard core math it might not hold up.

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Rogelio Serrano  [060222 05:28]:
> I see. Its very expensive here in Manila too. Maybe an nforce4 board
> is better?

I think nforce4 is supported. Isn't that ck084?

Stefan

[Ronald G Minnich]

Stefan Reinauer wrote:
> Rogelio Serrano  [060222 05:28]:
> > I see. Its very expensive here in Manila too. Maybe an nforce4 board
> > is better?
>
> I think nforce4 is supported. Isn't that ck084?

yes. Iwill, tyan, and others have very nice ck804 boards, and they are 
supported in linuxbios.

ron

[yhlu]

Yes.

On 2/22/06, Stefan Reinauer  wrote:
> Rogelio Serrano  [060222 05:28]:
> > I see. Its very expensive here in Manila too. Maybe an nforce4 board
> > is better?
>
> I think nforce4 is supported. Isn't that ck084?
>
> Stefan