[LinuxBIOS] What must the BIOS initialize in order to have Linux boot?

[Adam Talbot]

What must the BIOS initialize in order to have Linux boot, if the kernel
is the payload.  I know that the dram controller must be up, but what
else?  Super IO is nice for debug reasons, but is it required?.  South
bridge?  Does the modern 2.6 have enough brains to start the south bridge?
-Adam Talbot

[LinuxBIOS] What must the BIOS initialize in order to have Linux boot?

[Peter Stuge]

On Wed, Oct 10, 2007 at 04:31:23PM -0700, Adam Talbot wrote:
> I know that the dram controller must be up, but what else?

PCI
> ..Super IO..

Dunno.

//Peter

[LinuxBIOS] What must the BIOS initialize in order to have Linux boot?

[Uwe Hermann]

On Fri, Oct 12, 2007 at 03:34:11AM +0200, Peter Stuge wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 10, 2007 at 04:31:23PM -0700, Adam Talbot wrote:
> > I know that the dram controller must be up, but what else?
>
> PCI

Northbrige (RAM and other stuff) and southbridge. You may get away with
initializing almost nothing in the SB, depending on where you boot from
(IDE, SATA, network), but usually you really want to init all available
devices.

I doubt Linux can do all of the init.
> > ..Super IO..
>
> Dunno.

Not critical, but if it's not initialized correctly you'll lose keyboard,
mouse, floppy, parallel ports etc. The system will still boot usually,
but many parts won't work.

Uwe.