OpenBIOS March 2000

openbios@openbios.org

26 participants
40 discussions

Re: [OpenBIOS] Unofficial OpenBIOS web page
by Ross 05 Mar '00

05 Mar '00

Hey, ron: I have two questions that you may be able to help me out wit or point me to the proper source. I'am in need of the following: 1). a routine in x86 asm code that can test the cache memory on the 430XX chipset. 2). a routine in x86 asm code that can test the the USB Interface on the 430XX chipset. I know you are not a fan of assembly code but you appear to be very knowledgeable about it. BTW thanks for the win32 tools tar stuff. //Ross ---------- > From: Ronald G. Minnich <rminnich(a)lanl.gov> > To: OpenBIOS Mailing List <openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de> > Subject: Re: [OpenBIOS] Unofficial OpenBIOS web page > Date: Saturday, March 04, 2000 11:13 PM > > why not put them on the official one? I'm missing something. > > ron > > - > To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de > with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message

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Unofficial OpenBIOS web page
by Bob Dobbs 05 Mar '00

05 Mar '00

I have been collecting some of the important messages of the OpenBIOS mailing list discussing various thing and I was thinking about compiling them and making an unofficial OpenBIOS web page. Anybody have any comments? -graham - 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] Clarification needed
by Winter Jörg 04 Mar '00

04 Mar '00

... > So what I am doing right now is implementing the interrupts via the > firmware/init/irq.c capabilities so that I can get linux to come up. > > Is this correct or should I be putting in BIOS IRQ support in another > location (e.g. in the boot/ code)? > This may have impacts on how Ron re-organizes things too. > Any feedback would be appreciated. > Thanks > Wallace ... I dont have the source at hand now. But if the firmware/init/main.c is running you are already in protected mode with all 32bit mechanisms running. Here you are in a state where you can ignore the bootsect.S and even the setup.S of the kernel. just try to read the kernel off your disk with plain ATA commands and then jump to the adress of the a symbol called "start_kernel" or something like that. Sorry for the fuzzy description, but as I said I dont have the sources at hand now ... hope it helped although ... If you are interested in further discussion of this topic I can grab my sources next week, let me know! bye byte, Jake. - 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] asm code
by Edwin Rhodes 04 Mar '00

04 Mar '00

thanks for the code, it didnt work straight off but after 20 mins of hacking it, i got it working :) thanks, one last question, this code clears the memory but doesnt move the cursor to the top left hand corner of the screen, how to i do this? can i use the gotoxy function or will that not work in the kernel? i have afeeling that it wont work. what code do i need to move the cursor to the top left hand corner? im sure its somthing simple but since im new to this kernel hacking business im still getting used to the linux kernel. thanks again for the code. edwin ----- Original Message ----- From: James <jvh(a)uclink4.berkeley.edu> To: <openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de> Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2000 11:03 AM Subject: Re: [OpenBIOS] asm code > /* > Since you are already in C after it uncompresses the kernel, you could > do something like: > */ > > int i; > void *vidmem = 0x0b8000; > > for (i = 0; i < 80*25*2; i++) { /* Clear an 80*25 screen */ > *(vidmem + i) = 0; > } > > /* > Something like that, at least; I've been doing way too much Java > recently, I can't think straight.. > The harder part is writing something to the screen; letters are on the > even bytes (0xb8000, 0xb8002, 0xb8004, etc), attributes are on the odd > ones (0xb001, 0xb003...). > - James > > > what code do i need to zero 0b8000 - 0bfff0. > > thanks edwin > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: James <jvh(a)uclink4.berkeley.edu> > > To: <openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de> > > Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 3:27 PM > > Subject: Re: [OpenBIOS] asm code > > > > > > > > hi sorry this is slightly off topic but i need some asm code to clear > > > > the screen in the linux kernel -- just after it says uncompressing > > > > linux. how would i implement this in assembler, that would compile > > > > under gas. thanks edwin > > > > > > By the time it says "uncompressing linux" it is already in 32 bit mode C > > > code (inflate.c). It is writing to the screen directly at memory address > > > 0b8000. To clear the screen, just zero 0b8000 - 0bfff0. > > > > > > > ps. will you eventually implement all the standard bios calls so that > > > > other os's such as dos etc will run under open bios? or will it be > > > > just a bios for linux? thanks and good luck. > > > > > > I believe the goal is to get support for the 32 bit OSs that don't use the > > > BIOS, like WinNT, BeOS, Linux, BSD, and others (at least I think that is > > > the goal and I think those OSs don't use the BIOS). > > > > > > - James > > > > > > - > > > 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 > - To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message

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Clarification needed
by Wallace I. Kroeker 04 Mar '00

04 Mar '00

Hello, Now that I've been working with the OpenBIOS code for a little while and as I slowly pull back the skins of this Onion I would like to get some clarification about the structure. I will try to explain what I understand is to be the structure and maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong. boot/ This contains all the code needed to get the basic BIOS up and running (excluding the actual specific chipset code). The final task under boot32 is to ungzip something and start running it. drivers/ This is the specific chipsets that are supported. firmware/ Hmmm ... what is this suppose to be ... it looks like the piece of code that would provide support for our BIOS interrupt handling. HOWEVER, there are some things to watch out for with this scenario. A standard x86 system has low memory usage as: 00000-001DF - Interrupt Vectors 001E0-002FF - User Vectors 00300-003FF - Bios stack/user Vectors 00400-004FF - Bios data 00500-005FF - DOS and Basic Use 00600-9FFFF - User Ram The built in payload that comes with OpenBIOS unloads in the low end and takes up some of the user space. This has implications for how OpenBIOS might actually load other OSs. Linux for example from a zImage disk loads starting at 0x1000 (contrary to the in-line documentation that claims 0x10000! If you look at the code the variable is set to 0x1000 which is the second 64K segment on the x86 machine). This means (as Ron pointed out a while back) that for Linux you should use a bzImage. The Linux kernel has a hack in it for magically moving the image to 0x10000 and everything is fine. The orginal intent was for this to be used with large linux kernels that won't fit in the low end. DOS isn't going to work as the OpenBIOS firmware uses up it's space. FreeDOS ... someone else will have to tell me about that but if it is following the DOS model then it will have problems too. Another thing of note is that the regular Linux boot requires the following Interrupts to be supported: Linux Interrupts expected in linux/arch/i386/bootsect .S: 0x13 - 00 reset the FDC (Floppy Disk Controller) 0x13 - 0x02 read the boot sector 0x13 - 0x15 read DASD type (check for a harddrive if DL bit 7 is set ... Linux set DL = 0x81) ... Likely for the flashdisk we will have to return something 0x10 - print of characters (e.g. new line ) ... SUPPORTED by the video BIOS for now ... 0x15 - memory size AH = 0x88 0x15 - Check AH = 0xC0 system config parameters - Micro Channel arch. : set the Carry flag for this. 0x16 - keyboard repeat rate setting AX=0305 BX = 0 to set it to the max 0x16 - 00 0x16 - 01 0x11 - Get installed capabilities (AX=0) EAX has equipment list ... used to determine if the Mouse is active 0x15 - 0x87 Move Block 0x1A - 0x02 Read the real time clock time So to avoid having to implement these you will have to modify the bootsect.S code and find other ways of feeding Linux the information it wants. So what I am doing right now is implementing the interrupts via the firmware/init/irq.c capabilities so that I can get linux to come up. Is this correct or should I be putting in BIOS IRQ support in another location (e.g. in the boot/ code)? This may have impacts on how Ron re-organizes things too. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks Wallace - 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] STPC BIOS sources posted
by Jaime Dias 02 Mar '00

02 Mar '00

> > > Other than copyright questions STP pretty much is laid out (in how it > > works) just like I want. No NASM at all. Get memory going, get into 32-bit > > mode, get into C in short order. It's really a good design. > > "> I don't understand why you can't use directly vga cards bios????? I didn't mean computers > bios! Is there something memory stuff why we can't use cards bios? I can browse my old > source archives to find my old vesa code (It worked with and without dosextender). We cannot because: 1) vga BIOS often uses main BIOS for some things, 2) vga BIOS is a 16bit code and AROS uses 32bit code (first 4 kb - the bootsector and setup file are in 16bit) 3) We have destroyed BIOS area in memory because we keep there other things 4) calling ANY bios (16 bit) would destroy multitasking and slow performance down a lot." well i accept suggestions, anyway to improve this to take use of bios (openbios) ? thanks in advance, jaime 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] STPC BIOS sources posted
by Jaime Dias 02 Mar '00

02 Mar '00

> > > Other than copyright questions STP pretty much is laid out (in how it > > works) just like I want. No NASM at all. Get memory going, get into 32-bit > > mode, get into C in short order. It's really a good design. > > is any plan to get hardware init and drivers? it has future plans on open bios to support mutilpe os loader? regards, jaime 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] STPC BIOS sources posted
by Ross 02 Mar '00

02 Mar '00

Jeff, can you please send me a copy of this file that I can unzip with winuzip for windoze 95. Thank you. //Ross ---------- > From: Jeff Garzik <jgarzik(a)mandrakesoft.com> > To: openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de > Cc: Linux Kernel List <linux-kernel(a)vger.rutgers.edu> > Subject: [OpenBIOS] STPC BIOS sources posted > Date: Wednesday, March 01, 2000 9:57 AM > > free bios hackers-- > > Johan Rydberg has kindly allowed me to posted his GPL's STPC BIOS > sources. The code is early work and incomplete, but may be useful to > people here... > > I have been hacking on this instead of OpenBIOS lately, as it seems > easier to use these stpc source to create a BIOS for the i430FX. > > Download from http://gtf.org/garzik/bios/ > > Jeff > > > > (copied to linux-kernel as there has been quite a bit of interest in > BIOS sources there too) > > -- > Jeff Garzik | Rule 1: > Building 1024 | There is no cabal. > 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] opening tgz and Tar files with winzip95 7.0
by Ross 02 Mar '00

02 Mar '00

Thanks ron. //Ross ---------- > From: Ronald G. Minnich <rminnich(a)lanl.gov> > To: openbios <openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de> > Subject: Re: [OpenBIOS] opening tgz and Tar files with winzip95 7.0 > Date: Thursday, March 02, 2000 7:03 AM > > On Thu, 2 Mar 2000, Ross wrote: > > > Help Anyone: > > > > I get the following error message when using > > winzip95 version 7.0 when trying to unzip the following file > > stpc-bios-0.1.42..1.tgz (Error Reading After Processing 0 Entries) > > can someone out there help me out with this one. Winzip95 say's > > that it can handle these file but its not. > > > go grab the cygwin32 tools and use the 'tar' that's in there. much easier. > > ron > > - > 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] opening tgz and Tar files with winzip95 7.0
by Ross 02 Mar '00

02 Mar '00

I have tried GUNZIP for dos and reloaded WinZip 7.0 SR-1 and still come up with the error stpc-bios-0.1.42..1.tgz (Error Reading After Processing 0 Entries) gzip -d creates a file called taz from tgz? /Ross ---------- > From: Marcus Gossner <mgossner(a)inova-computers.de> > To: 'openbios(a)freiburg.linux.de' <openbios(a)elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de> > Subject: RE: [OpenBIOS] opening tgz and Tar files with winzip95 7.0 > Date: Thursday, March 02, 2000 6:10 AM > > > >Help Anyone: > > > > > >I get the following error message when using > > >winzip95 version 7.0 when trying to unzip the following file > > >stpc-bios-0.1.42..1.tgz (Error Reading After Processing 0 Entries) > > >can someone out there help me out with this one. Winzip95 say's > > >that it can handle these file but its not. > > >//Ross > > > I unpacked it with WinZip 7.0 SR-1 (1285g) without > any problems (german version of WinZip). > > Marcus > > > > > > > - > To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo(a)freiburg.linux.de > with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message

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