On Wed, 3 Feb 1999 karl-erik.asbjornsen@thomson-csf.no wrote:
Well, the message is important (from my point of view), but I hope you will receive it just once :-)
Got only one of this one! :)
Its becoming a desease to subscribe to Mailinglists and then create a loop by forwarding any message to the subscribed address back to the list (!) :-(
Should be gone now, I think.
A little off topic maybe, but have you seen the cool car MP3-player at http://www.empeg.com ? Looks cool! If you manage to make a working mp3-box, let me know, would be cool to build one myself!
Well, in short, take a look at http://www.mp3.com/hardware/ to view a lot of hardware solutions for mp3. But I want to build one solution of my own with the features _I_ need. Empeg is nice though not like I expect an mp3 player to be like.
Of course, this is a large project, and my ideas make it even larger :-). But, would f.e. Linux be that great if it would have just been a "better DOS", say, an "OSS DOS"? OK, it would be for free, but what for?
And we even have FreeDOS! I think we just need a start, and maybe there could be configurable if you want a clean 32bit bios, or you want a bios16-compatible binary. I think that is the big issue here, as I have said before: Make it configurable!
Of course, why not, anything is configurable. But keep development and compatibility in mind. I mean, to program (and use) a BIOS16, compatible to the stone-aged API in every PC, is a totally other task than to create a BIOS32 with support for a totally new API, new hardware, a new boot process, new boot loaders etc.
See, what I mean? Either FreeDOS to have a free DOS or Linux to have a better operating system. I think we should start the second approach, make a BIOS32 with a new API. Not having to try to be compatible to the old BIOS16 stuff and to have to implement any workaround _they_ implemented long ago.
I mentioned this possibility in a mail a while ago. The problem is where should we store this old original bios where it can't be accidentally deleted? I like this idea, and use (2) for loading linux and other OSS oses, and as you say, maybe we could get M$ to help us make win 2k/9x/NT-loaders later.
I think, it's not the point whether it can be erased somehow, by a virus or such. I think, if BIOS16 loading can be performed by BIOS32, it is the same problem as having your boot sector destroyed.
If you want to climb up a hill, you _first_ buy special material, cables, helmets, etc. While programming BIOS32, we should, of course, implement a back door for the BIOS16 to boot not only from hard disk (as from any other media supported by BIOS32, remote boot etc.), but also to boot from floppy disk (as you suggest later). Well, then the problem of losing the BIOS16 is the same as losing the boot sector of your OS now: Boot from a floppy (or CD-ROM) containing the BIOS16 and fix your problems!
This is things that are new. Would be cool with a totally remote controllable machine with no display adapter/keyboard at all.
Of course, to have it 100%, the OS has to be willing to play our game, too. But the idea of using all modern hardware, as it is intended, ALREADY AT PRE-BOOT TIME would offer a lot of new visions one can not imagine today. Think of the remote boot process today: One needs an additional BIOS usually plugged into your network adapter (if that one has a socket for it), and the protocol used is, frankly, prehistoric. NetBEUI (RPL) or BOOTP, typically without authentication, compression or encryption etc. are the answers to the demand of centralized administration. The door is open for anyone in the net (assuming a non-switched network) to install a RPL or BOOTP (DHCP) server faking anything the client would need to look as usual.
Fast boot up is something I would really like. Just turn on the PC, and it's there! :)
Yes, but it's a "long and winding road" there.
One thing I would like is a possibility to load bios images from floppy. That would be a nice way to test the image before flashing it and leave the box unusable... Would be really nice during development.
See above. A main topic should be the ability to boot BIOS32 from BIOS16 and vice versa. The first for development and for the hardcord folks with a BIOS16 not being able to be booted from BIOS32. The second is for the time when BIOS32 is the better and BIOS16 is only used for booting all those 16bit OSes (DOS, Win9x) sporadically (to demonstrate how it _was_ somewhen or how it not should become any more :-)).
Winschdawos, - Matthias