OpenBIOS January 2000

openbios@openbios.org

39 participants
43 discussions

Re: [OpenBIOS] ROM-Emulators
by Ross 31 Jan '00

31 Jan '00

Do anyone out there know how I can get around the 64k limit of a self booting floopy disk? I know up to 40k of data on the floppy. ---------- > From: Winter Jörg <joerg.winter(a)disch-gmbh.de> > To: openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de > Subject: [OpenBIOS] ROM-Emulators > Date: Monday, January 31, 2000 1:05 AM > > > > > ---------- > > Von: Edwin Rhodes[SMTP:edwin_rhodes@hotmail.com] > > Antwort an: openbios(a)freiburg.linux.de > > Gesendet: Montag, 31. Januar 2000 02:26 > > An: openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de > > Betreff: Re: [OpenBIOS] Fine. > > > > can i have a copy of this rom-emulator? > > thanks edwin > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Winter Jörg <joerg.winter(a)disch-gmbh.de> > > To: <openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de> > > Sent: Friday, January 28, 2000 10:50 AM > > Subject: [OpenBIOS] Fine. > > > I´m sorry, but a copy of my ROM-Emulator would not be what you expext ... > > I was not talking about Software. The Emulator is a little piece of Hardware > that I bought. It is intended to be inserted into a standard 32 Pin > Jedec-Memory Socket. Then you download a 64k image via the parallel port of > any PC into this Hardware. You press reset at the board and it boots ... > well sometimes ... > > If you are interested in such an Hardware try th e following urls as a > start: > > www.hed.de (they make tools for embedded and microcontrol. I once talked to > their Boss and got the impression that they are really good!) > > www.embedded-tools.de (they have a modular Emulator called PromJet. Its able > to act like rom/ram/flash up to 16Mbit and 32Bit Words. Furthermore it can > handle operating voltages from 2 to 5V. It also has an ethernet plug ...) > > Well this is not an advertisement ... I did not test these devices but they > seem interesting to me ... > > > eMail: mailto:Joerg.Winter@Disch-GmbH.de > > > > > - > To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de > with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message

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Starting Linux from the C environment
by Winter Jörg 31 Jan '00

31 Jan '00

> ---------- > Von: Stawnyczy, Evan[SMTP:EStawnyczy@geo-logistics.com] > Antwort an: openbios(a)freiburg.linux.de > Gesendet: Montag, 31. Januar 2000 15:48 > An: openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de > Betreff: RE: [OpenBIOS] Fine. > > my understanding of lilo is that if you place it on the boot sector, you > can > load the boot sector to a point in memory (I cannot recall exactly where > right now, you can email me farther if you need to) and simply jmp to it. > Actually all boot sectors work the same way... > Basicly you are right. But lilo makes extensive use of *real* BIOS functions like int13, int10, int16, and some strange int15-shift-this-memory-to-ems function that I forgot the functioncode of. I´d rather do this in C and burn a barebone Kernel onto my Disk ... But I´m not sure if I kill my own running environment by copying a Kernel to mem at 0x10000. Furthermore I have no idea if the segment-deskriptor-setup is suitable for an immediate start of a kernel image ... I´ll try this tomorrow and keep you up to date if I succeed on this ... > eMail: mailto:Joerg.Winter@Disch-GmbH.de > > - To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message

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ANNOUNCE: Collecting OpenBIOS patches
by Jeff Garzik 31 Jan '00

31 Jan '00

I've been on this mailing list for about a year, and very little movement has occurred during that time. Since there is still interest in this project, I would like to start collecting patches against OpenBIOS 0.0.2-pre1, hopefully leading up to a new [unofficial] release. I am currently working on getting the Intel 430TX (Triton I) low-end Pentium chipset working with OpenBIOS. My goal is to be able to boot either an MS-DOS or Linux OS, just like a regular BIOS. After that, I will probably tackle the Intel 430FX chipset, or a newer Via-based chipset like the VT82C686A. So if you have patched to OpenBIOS, please "diff" them against the current release on the Web site, 0.0.2-pre1, and post them to the mailing list. (or e-mail directly me to if the patches are large) I will integrate all these patches and roll a new tarball, probably sometime around Valentine's Day (Feb 14th). Input, comments, and/or patches are greatly appreciated! I think OpenBIOS is a great project, especially for all the older PCs out there with no BIOS updates since 1995 or so.... Jeff -- Jeff Garzik | Andre the Giant has a posse. Building 1024 | MandrakeSoft, Inc. | - To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message

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RE: [OpenBIOS] Fine.
by Stawnyczy, Evan 31 Jan '00

31 Jan '00

my understanding of lilo is that if you place it on the boot sector, you can load the boot sector to a point in memory (I cannot recall exactly where right now, you can email me farther if you need to) and simply jmp to it. Actually all boot sectors work the same way... -----Original Message----- From: Edwin Rhodes [mailto:edwin_rhodes@hotmail.com] Sent: January 30, 2000 8:27 Pm To: openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de Subject: Re: [OpenBIOS] Fine. can i have a copy of this rom-emulator? thanks edwin ----- Original Message ----- From: Winter Jörg <joerg.winter(a)disch-gmbh.de> To: <openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de> Sent: Friday, January 28, 2000 10:50 AM Subject: [OpenBIOS] Fine. I´ve just completed an small piece of Hardware. Only a 486 16mb EDO an UART. Everything put together on a small pcb-board. Then modified Openbios a little bit, loaded it into a ROM-emulator and go! *COOL*! The machine boots, complains about the missing RTC (who needs an rtc?), tests the mem ... and then executes : for (;;); Ok for that. - but can somebody tell me what I have to do to get a Linuxkernel loaded ? I intend to put an 16bit latch on the isabus and connect a flashdisk there ... I could write C code to load the kernel image from the first, say, 1k blocks of the disk. But where do I put this image and how I´m gonna start it ? Please someone gimme a hint on that. I´ll submit the loadcode Ive done then back to this group ... maybe someone wants to use it ? Regards, Jake Ah. By the way, this mail was done by Exchange - locked inside a virtual machine that runs under Linux. (Thats the place where it should be ;-)). eMail: mailto:Joerg.Winter@Disch-GmbH.de - To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message - To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message - To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message

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RE: [OpenBIOS] where I'm at with the 440gx and reading nvram
by Wallace I. Kroeker 29 Jan '00

29 Jan '00

Ron, I am working with the 440BX chipset and have it hobbling along. I am having problems with the MDA getting any screen output. I am able to get beeps out for different keys on the keyboard but no character display. (Of course, this could be just the situation to use Morse code :-). Do you have any thoughts as to what might be the problem? Could I get your 440gx chipset and superio components as a reference? Thanks Wallace > -----Original Message----- > From: Ronald G. Minnich [SMTP:rminnich@lanl.gov] > Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2000 10:43 AM > To: openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de > Subject: RE: [OpenBIOS] where I'm at with the 440gx and reading nvram > > I'm actually getting somewhere now via a different path. > > I have mmaped 0xffe00000 from /dev/mem and I can see the BIOS. I'm not > looking at what's in it, but the contents of 0xf0000 and 0xffe00000 do > match. > > This also revealed a bug in the linux do_mmap code: it doesn't correctly > handle the case of mmap'ing the tail end of memory ... > > Now to try to kick the nvram a little. This will require setting a write > enable bit in the bridge, which I do know is not set normally. No big > deal. It's still a mystery to me why the darn thing was not visible > in-kernel, but oh well: I prefer user-mode code for this sort of thing > anyway. > > ron > > - > To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de > with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message - To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message

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None
by Edwin Rhodes 29 Jan '00

29 Jan '00

i think that it is probably a good idea that we do not run away from supporting other operating systems not just support linux, sure enough linux is the best but to make open bios an alternative to ami bios and award we have to support at least freedos! :) edwin ps. i tried that open bios dos loader program, it returned the error message "cant find intel pci bridge" or somthing like that, weird cos its an intel clone motherboard with pci bridge on it! its gon an AMD cpu in it though. does open bios support the AMD chip? edwin

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Fine.
by Winter Jörg 28 Jan '00

28 Jan '00

I´ve just completed an small piece of Hardware. Only a 486 16mb EDO an UART. Everything put together on a small pcb-board. Then modified Openbios a little bit, loaded it into a ROM-emulator and go! *COOL*! The machine boots, complains about the missing RTC (who needs an rtc?), tests the mem ... and then executes : for (;;); Ok for that. - but can somebody tell me what I have to do to get a Linuxkernel loaded ? I intend to put an 16bit latch on the isabus and connect a flashdisk there ... I could write C code to load the kernel image from the first, say, 1k blocks of the disk. But where do I put this image and how I´m gonna start it ? Please someone gimme a hint on that. I´ll submit the loadcode Ive done then back to this group ... maybe someone wants to use it ? Regards, Jake Ah. By the way, this mail was done by Exchange - locked inside a virtual machine that runs under Linux. (Thats the place where it should be ;-)). eMail: mailto:Joerg.Winter@Disch-GmbH.de - To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message

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Open Bios
by James Gilmore 27 Jan '00

27 Jan '00

Where can I find a good primer on assembly? I would very much like to contribute something useful to this project. I admit a lack of skills, but the best way to learn is to get involved. From what I have seen so far, just to put things in perspective, is: Everyone has thier own ideas where they want this project to go. Most everyone is working on a different platform. Some people want a spartan bios, very streamlined, while others want a more robust bios. So we should attack this from a different angle. We should choose an OS (I recommend FreeDOS) as a startpoint, then build a BIOS configurator, menu driven, that allows the person to select the options he/she wants. Then the program would detect the architecture of the system, (possibly by reading current BIOS version?),prompt the user to confirm/correct what it detects, and compile an image to be flashed. I realize that is asking alot. But it is not beyond the scope of feasibility. Most systems now days have the option to boot from a cd. So if we make an iso of the whole package, it could then be burned on a CD, and thus be bootable. Otherwise one could copy it to a partition and configure thier bootloader to look for it. Rather than FreeDOS we might consider hacking a very minimal OS that would work on basically any platform. Consider, the only major requirements are disk access, and the ability to load our software. It would not be a major undertaking if we took a look at what's already out there. It seems to me that there are a lot of people interested in this project but no one knows exactly how to contribute. This would give the project some structure, and allow everyone to pick an area to work on toward a more tangible goal. I realize that this is way beyond the scope that most of you were contemplating. But there are many of us interestedin OpenBIOS, and it would keep us from each reinventing the wheel as we go. With many hands, we can move mountains. More than that, the end product would be *darn* attractive to basically everybody.

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Flash Writer for Linux
by Antonio Dias 26 Jan '00

26 Jan '00

Hello all, Does anyone know of a good and working flash writer for Linux? I'm willing to update my mainboards with a new flash image and I would like to use Linux and only Linux tools. Thanks in advance, Antonio Dias - To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message

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RE: [OpenBIOS] ANNOUNCE: Collecting OpenBIOS patches
by Stawnyczy, Evan 26 Jan '00

26 Jan '00

I've been on this OpenBIOS newsletter for almost 2 months... i'ven't seen much traffic. However, I would _LOVE_ to contribute, so, can someone tell me what is required, or in which way i can contribute? thanks - To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message

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