[LinuxBIOS] New wiki index page.

[Uwe Hermann]

Hi,

I have justboldly replaced the main wiki page with a new draft
version I have been thinking about. It definately needs a bit more
work, but maybe you like it.

I used a photo from Ward (I hope you don't mind), and the LinuxBIOS
logo in one of the icons (if that's not possible with the current logo
license, I'll remove the icon and create another one; please don't
sue me :).

Some native speaker should probably look over the grammmar, wording,
and spelling, and I think some of the content (especially in "Benefits"
and "Use Cases & Deployments" might actually be wrong. I was just making
educated guesses ;-)

http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Welcome_to_LinuxBIOS

HTH, Uwe.

[Stefan Reinauer]

Hi Uwe!

* Uwe Hermann  [061009 23:12]:
> I have justboldly replaced the main wiki page with a new draft
> version I have been thinking about. It definately needs a bit more
> work, but maybe you like it.

This rocks! I love it!
> http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Welcome_to_LinuxBIOS

We're getting there, in big steps!

[Uwe Hermann]

Hi,

On Mon, Oct 09, 2006 at 11:24:26PM +0200, Stefan Reinauer wrote:
> > http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Welcome_to_LinuxBIOS

Ah, while I'm at it, here's a few smaller suggestions for the wiki:

* Remove the index.php part from the URL (needs mod_rewrite
   and editing of LocalSettings.php). The old URLs will remain
   valid, too, so no external links will break.
   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_url

* In the menu on the left I'd change "Welcome to LinuxBIOS" to
   "Welcome", and "Download LinuxBIOS" to "Downloads".
   The "Supported Motherboards" is very long, too, but I'm not
   sure how to make that shorter without losing information.

HTH, Uwe.

[Stefan Reinauer]

> Remove the index.php part from the URL (needs mod_rewrite
> and editing of LocalSettings.php). The old URLs will remain
> valid, too, so no external links will break.
> http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_url

That wont work since we have a couple of non-wiki files on the site as
well (unless someone volunteers to wikify them all)
> In the menu on the left I'd change "Welcome to LinuxBIOS" to
> "Welcome", and "Download LinuxBIOS" to "Downloads".

We can also completely change the sidebar, making several categories..
see www.openbios.org for an example
> The "Supported Motherboards" is very long, too, but I'm not
>    sure how to make that shorter without losing information.

I dropped it completely.

BTW: does the news field on the main page get updated automatically?

[LinuxBIOS] Motherboard supported?

[Quinn Storm]

I have a motherboard, via kt133 chipset, I think its an abit, not sure,
but the model name is kt7a-raid...anyhow I am rather curious if it will
work with linuxbios, does anyone know?

[LinuxBIOS] Motherboard supported?

[Bari Ari]

Quinn Storm wrote:
> I have a motherboard, via kt133 chipset, I think its an abit, not sure,
> but the model name is kt7a-raid...anyhow I am rather curious if it will
> work with linuxbios, does anyone know?

Take a look at:
http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/FAQ#Will_LinuxBIOS_work_on_my_machine.3F

The VIA KT133 chipset

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/legacy/kt133/

was the VT8363 with the VT82C686A. Not supported by LinuxBIOS.

-Bari

[LinuxBIOS] Motherboard supported?

[Uwe Hermann]

Hi,

On Wed, Oct 11, 2006 at 09:41:42PM -0500, Bari Ari wrote:
> Quinn Storm wrote:
> > I have a motherboard, via kt133 chipset, I think its an abit, not sure,
> > but the model name is kt7a-raid...anyhow I am rather curious if it will
> > work with linuxbios, does anyone know?
>
> Take a look at:
> http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/FAQ#Will_LinuxBIOS_work_on_my_machine.3F
>
> The VIA KT133 chipset
>
> http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/legacy/kt133/
>
> was the VT8363 with the VT82C686A. Not supported by LinuxBIOS.

I'd really, really like to see a bunch of popular, cheap, mainstream
boards supported out of the box. IMHO this is really essential to get
more developers on board.

Looking at a few random shops here in Germany, it seems that the most
popular brands are Asus, ASRock, MSI, Gigabyte for mainbaords in the
price range of 40-80 Euros.
I personally have a bunch of Asus boards here I can use for testing.

What's the major obstacle for supporting those? Is it just that
Someone Has To Do It (tm), or are there major problems with lack of
datasheets or something?

Uwe.

[LinuxBIOS] Motherboard supported?

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Uwe Hermann  [061012 14:00]:
> Looking at a few random shops here in Germany, it seems that the most
> popular brands are Asus, ASRock, MSI, Gigabyte for mainbaords in the
> price range of 40-80 Euros.
> I personally have a bunch of Asus boards here I can use for testing.
>
> What's the major obstacle for supporting those? Is it just that
> Someone Has To Do It (tm), or are there major problems with lack of
> datasheets or something?

Yes, doing the work is the major issue here for most of the boards.

Many of the cheap boards use the same or similar chipsets as the 
more expensive ones.

So one task to get things started is to find a couple of cheap boards
that consist of supported components... (or habe most of the components
supported)

Stefan

[Uwe Hermann]

Hi,

On Thu, Oct 12, 2006 at 03:53:54AM +0200, Stefan Reinauer wrote:
> > Remove the index.php part from the URL (needs mod_rewrite
> > and editing of LocalSettings.php). The old URLs will remain
> > valid, too, so no external links will break.
> > http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_url
>
> That wont work since we have a couple of non-wiki files on the site as
> well (unless someone volunteers to wikify them all)

I should work with a little trick. Try something like this in the
.htaccess file (in the top-level webserver directory):

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  RewriteEngine on
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR]
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d 
  RewriteRule ^.* - [L]
  RewriteRule ^(.+)$ index.php?title=$1 [L,QSA]
</IfModule>

It will only redirect URLs which are neither a real file, real
directory, or a symlink (so the non-wiki content should still be
accessible).

You also have to change $wgArticlePath to read
  $wgArticlePath      = "$wgScriptPath/$1";
in LocalSettings.php.

But putting all files in the wiki is a good idea anyway,
so yes, I volunteer :)
> > In the menu on the left I'd change "Welcome to LinuxBIOS" to
> > "Welcome", and "Download LinuxBIOS" to "Downloads".
>
> We can also completely change the sidebar, making several categories..
> see www.openbios.org for an example

That's probably not necessary in this case, as all the links are
listed on the main page already.
> BTW: does the news field on the main page get updated automatically?

No, but that would probably be overkill anyway. The news section hasn't
been really updated too often in the past...

Uwe.

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Uwe Hermann  [061012 12:27]:
> I should work with a little trick. Try something like this in the
> .htaccess file (in the top-level webserver directory):
>
> <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>

[..]
> </IfModule>
>
> It will only redirect URLs which are neither a real file, real
> directory, or a symlink (so the non-wiki content should still be
> accessible).
>
> You also have to change $wgArticlePath to read
>   $wgArticlePath      = "$wgScriptPath/$1";
> in LocalSettings.php.

Ok this worked. The only thing I noticed is I had to remove the file
called FAQ which is part of the mediawiki distribution - It would
override the LinuxBIOS FAQ otherwise.

If you find any other such overrides, please let me know.
> But putting all files in the wiki is a good idea anyway,
> so yes, I volunteer :)

Thank you very much. You are doing a great job!

Stefan

[Carl-Daniel Hailfinger]

Uwe Hermann wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have just boldly replaced the main wiki page with a new draft
> version I have been thinking about. It definately needs a bit more
> work, but maybe you like it.

Great!

Now the only thing we should fix is
http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Payloads
where the list of possible payloads does not list Linux.

Regards,
Carl-Daniel

[Uwe Hermann]

Hi,

On Mon, Oct 09, 2006 at 11:35:57PM +0200, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> Now the only thing we should fix is
> http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Payloads
> where the list of possible payloads does not list Linux.

Done (somewhat), thanks!

Uwe.

[Svante Signell]

On Mon, 2006-10-09 at 23:35 +0200, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> Uwe Hermann wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have just boldly replaced the main wiki page with a new draft
> > version I have been thinking about. It definately needs a bit more
> > work, but maybe you like it.
>
> Great!
>
> Now the only thing we should fix is
> http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Payloads
> where the list of possible payloads does not list Linux.

Sorry for jumping into this thread: What about grub2 (not grub legacy),
does it qualify as payload for LinuxBIOS?
> Regards,
> Carl-Daniel
> -- 
> http://www.hailfinger.org/

[LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload [was: New wiki index page.]

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Svante Signell  [061025 09:05]:
> On Mon, 2006-10-09 at 23:35 +0200, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> > Great!
> >
> > Now the only thing we should fix is
> > http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Payloads
> > where the list of possible payloads does not list Linux.
>
> Sorry for jumping into this thread: What about grub2 (not grub legacy),
> does it qualify as payload for LinuxBIOS?

In theory, yes, but grub2 is not there yet.

Two things are required to do this though:
- add an ide driver in grub2. biosdisk is not the way to go.
- add support for compiling grub2 as an elf image.

Stefan

[Ward Vandewege]

On Mon, Oct 09, 2006 at 11:12:14PM +0200, Uwe Hermann wrote:
> I have justboldly replaced the main wiki page with a new draft
> version I have been thinking about. It definately needs a bit more
> work, but maybe you like it.

Oh! I like it!!!
> I used a photo from Ward (I hope you don't mind), and the LinuxBIOS

Of course not - use whatever photo you like :)

Thanks!
Ward.

[Uwe Hermann]

Hi,

On Mon, Oct 09, 2006 at 05:40:25PM -0400, Ward Vandewege wrote:
> > I used a photo from Ward (I hope you don't mind), and the LinuxBIOS
>
> Of course not - use whatever photo you like :)

Great, thanks!

I was thinking that we could put up a new image from time to
time,always highlighting some cool use case of LinuxBIOS,
e.g. a booting OLPC, a cluster bootingon LinuxBIOS etc. etc.

Uwe.

[Ronald G Minnich]

Uwe Hermann wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have justboldly replaced the main wiki page with a new draft
> version I have been thinking about. It definately needs a bit more
> work, but maybe you like it.
>
> I used a photo from Ward (I hope you don't mind), and the LinuxBIOS
> logo in one of the icons (if that's not possible with the current logo
> license, I'll remove the icon and create another one; please don't
> sue me :).
>
> Some native speaker should probably look over the grammmar, wording,
> and spelling, and I think some of the content (especially in "Benefits"
> and "Use Cases & Deployments" might actually be wrong. I was just making
> educated guesses ;-)
>
> http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Welcome_to_LinuxBIOS
>
> HTH, Uwe.

I really, really like it.

ron

[Segher Boessenkool]

> I have justboldly replaced the main wiki page with a new draft

[ ----------^  your mailer is still messing up, although slightly
  differently than before ;-) ]
> version I have been thinking about. It definately needs a bit more
> work, but maybe you like it.

It's great, but someone needs to complain, so....

- The penguin in the "About" logo could be a bit bigger (just bleed/
   crop it a bit if needed);
- It took me a while to realise the thing in the "Developers" logo is
   meant to be a keyboard;
- The "101" and "?" logos aren't (properly) anti-aliased.

Great job though :-)

Segher

[David H. Barr]

> > version I have been thinking about. It definately needs a bit more
> > work, but maybe you like it.
>
> It's great, but someone needs to complain, so....
> The penguin in the "About" logo could be a bit bigger (just bleed/
> crop it a bit if needed);
> It took me a while to realise the thing in the "Developers" logo is
> meant to be a keyboard;
> The "101" and "?" logos aren't (properly) anti-aliased.
>
> Great job though :-)

I wholeheartedly concur; this is one of the better Wiki cover pages
I've ever seen.

Just to point out something trivial, I thought I'd point out that
Internet Explorer 6's broken .png implementation does not render those
front page images consistently; that is to say, some of those images
render with a black background and some with green.  It so happens
that the non-anti-aliased logos are the two that render green.

One possible workaround would be the following JavaScript, pasted into
an appropriate header somewhere:
 http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bobosola/pngtestfixed.htm
 http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bobosola/pnghowto.htm

I realize the bulk of this list probably uses a non-MS browser, and I
also recognize that .png rendering in IE7 (real soon now) should be
repaired.  In addition, I understand that a browser-specific patchup
is not necessarily a good thing as such.

However, it is my general feeling that the percentage of web surfers
which will continue to use IE6 significantly overlaps with that
portion which does so with JavaScript fully enabled.  The only
remaining question is whether enough of them will visit this
wonderfully informative and visually attractive front page to make
this workaround worthwhile.

Regards,
-dhbarr.

[Stefan Reinauer]

* David H. Barr  [061010 19:40]:
> Just to point out something trivial, I thought I'd point out that
> Internet Explorer 6's broken .png implementation does not render those
> front page images consistently; that is to say, some of those images
> render with a black background and some with green.  It so happens
> that the non-anti-aliased logos are the two that render green.

Thanks for this valuable feedback. Its supposed to be fixed now.

Stefan

[Uwe Hermann]

Hi,

On Tue, Oct 10, 2006 at 12:40:18PM -0500, David H. Barr wrote:
> Just to point out something trivial, I thought I'd point out that
> Internet Explorer 6's broken .png implementation does not render those
> front page images consistently; that is to say, some of those images
> render with a black background and some with green.  It so happens
> that the non-anti-aliased logos are the two that render green.

Ah, thanks, I didn't consider that. I was about to just use a white
background instead of transparency, but the JavaScript is probably
better...

Stefan, thanks for fixing!

Uwe.

[Uwe Hermann]

Hi,

On Tue, Oct 10, 2006 at 07:08:22PM +0200, Segher Boessenkool wrote:
> > I have justboldly replaced the main wiki page with a new draft
>
> [ ----------^  your mailer is still messing up, although slightly
>   differently than before ;-) ]

Sigh. I'll try to figure out what's going on...
> > version I have been thinking about. It definately needs a bit more
> > work, but maybe you like it.
>
> It's great, but someone needs to complain, so....
> The penguin in the "About" logo could be a bit bigger (just bleed/
>  crop it a bit if needed);

Done.
> It took me a while to realise the thing in the "Developers" logo is
>  meant to be a keyboard;

I tried a few variations here, e.g. a side perspective, but nothing
really looked too good.I put an empty icon in the wiki, feel free to
give it a try :)

http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Image:Chip_empty.png
> The "101" and "?" logos aren't (properly) anti-aliased.

Done (somewhat).

Uwe.

[Segher Boessenkool]

> Sigh. I'll try to figure out what's going on...

Heh :-)
> > The penguin in the "About" logo could be a bit bigger (just bleed/
> >  crop it a bit if needed);
>
> Done.

Just a little bit more :-)
> > It took me a while to realise the thing in the "Developers" logo is
> >  meant to be a keyboard;
>
> I tried a few variations here, e.g. a side perspective, but nothing
> really looked too good.I put an empty icon in the wiki, feel free  
> to
> give it a try :)

Yeah it's bloody hard.  Maybe you should try something else than
a keyboard?
> > The "101" and "?" logos aren't (properly) anti-aliased.
>
> Done (somewhat).

Great!  Now do some kerning on the 101 thing (no I won't ever be
satisfied ;-) )

Segher