Ron Tsur wrote:
I feel bad about apparently, opening the issue of patents and proprietary information in my response to Niklas on this mailing list. I don't see that Niklas and this group of interested individuals should be discouraged from pursuing the goal of producing free and open-source software. The work should proceed. However, we should be careful about using any known-to-be-proprietary information and signing non-disclosure agreements.
[deletium]
Well said. The sudden turn to legal issues is, quite frankly, scaring me. I, personally, can not afford to hire a lawyer with the necessary qualifications. Maybe if we all chipped in we could... If we continue on the path we have been going we will *need* a lawyer. Asking around is simply not enough.
Therefore, I agree with Ron. We should build a specification from scratch with reference to Linux. Then we get the Linux kernel to support us. Then we can add features such as APM, improved user setup, comprehensive hardware enumeration, and, of course, loading DOS/Win/OS/2.
So... Let's start, shall we? Maybe we should contact specific kernel maintainers about negotiating a spec. Ask them what bugs them about current BIOS structure and collectively come up with solutions.
From the maintainers list:
Primary Mailing List - linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
APM driver: Stephen Rothwell - Stephen.Rothwell@canb.auug.org.au Mailing List - linux-laptop@vger.rutgers.edu
IDE driver: Andre Hedrick - hedrick@astro.dyer.vanderbilt.edu
IDE/ATAPI CDROM: Jens Axboe - axboe@image.dk
PCI Subsystem: Martin Mares - mj@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz
PNP: Tom Lees - tom@lpsg.demon.co.uk List - pnp-devel@ferret.lmh.ox.ac.uk
SCSI: List - linux-scsi@vger.rutgers.edu
Plus you-know-who.
I've probably left out people (specifically networking people).
Also we should contact the LILO maintainers.
I'd rather start doing this than muck around in waters of unknown depth. I have *some* traditional BIOS information, including snippets of IBM technical docs in a book on x86 architecture... I think we should wait on DOS though. Maybe if we do this then we will know a lot more about it all when we do tackle that situation.
Agree/disagree?
James Oakley - To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@freiburg.linux.de with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message