Re: Use of BIOS calls in modern code (Was: Re: [OpenBIOS] Why protected mode?)

[Ed Brinker]

I agree. I do very much agree.  A bios built of a minimal ROM based loader
and loadable modules would allow the OpenBIOS to support almost any
imaginable configuration (even Wintel if you wanted).

At 08:05 PM 7/21/99 +0100, you wrote:
> On Sat, 17 Jul 1999, Edward Brotsman Dreger wrote:
> > Back to an earlier thread: What development model are we following?
> >
> > IMHO, I think that the "BIOS" proper should be the bare minimum.  All
> > other functionality, even some "standard" BIOS functions such as ACPI, 
> > could be implemented as modules -- even as option ROMs.  Since we'll need
> > option ROM loader code, anyway, why not reuse it for the "roll-your-own"
> > modules?
>
> If I may delurk to support this view (and repeat some stuff that I put on
> the wishlist).
>
> My interest in openbios is that Sychron is working on cluster software to
> make cabinets full of commodity motherboards into clusters (think in terms
> of an SP2 or SGI Origin at 10% of the cost). Buying commodity hardware is
> easy; OS software exists - make up a Beowulf from the Extreme Linux CD, or
> (better yet) buy the stuff we're working on. BUT the available commercial 
> BIOSes thwart easy installation and management (and hence scaling up).
> Until a proper minimal bios is available we have to equip each one with 
> a graphics card, have a console switch, etc.
>
> Beowulfs, and the kind of cluster we have planned will use 100 or 1000s of
> bios chips per system - so serious production quantities for ROM blowing
> are very achieveable (Intel themselves are talking about filling buildings
> with Ks of motherboards for the ASP market). I know very little about
> BIOSs, processors and motherboards, so much of the list traffic is chinese
> to me, but I've been used to the monitor ROMs of e.g. Digital and Sun
> systems over the past 10 years. Though they weren't exactly perfect, and 
> started to bloat, I feel that I've lost the degree of control over my 
> hardware that I had back then, so I am very encouraged by opinions
> expressed here that a minimal bios chip with *optional* extras is the way
> to go - if this means that we can...
> Eliminate the bulky and unneccesary stuff e.g. GUIs
> Control motherboards and monitor status at the BIOS level via e.g.
>
> serial line or USB, so a command line is essential, not merely useful.
> Configure hardware to do *exactly* what we need.
> Easily add our own bios functionality, if that seems useful, without
>
> needing to touch the rest of the BIOS, just like a Linux kernel module.
> Do the above on 1024 nodes en masse. :-)
>
> The less functions that are blown into ROM, the happier I am, cos that
> means they can be pulled from the net (or USB or whatever device seems
> appropriate) as required.
>
> openbios can really make a mark in the compute / server cluster market -
> Phoenix / AMI and friends have the desktops sewn up, so I really would
> urge the openbios development model towards minimalism in the first
> instance and cluster support in the second. I don't wish to deprive anyone
> of GUIs or other bells and whistles, I just require them to be optional.
> There may be bells and whistle that we'd like, such as APM support for our
> UPS of choice, or a heartbeat between systems to provide fast non OS 
> reliant notification of hardware failure, which are irrelevant for desktop
> PCs, and I have no wish to impose them on anyone. I don't want to watch
> advertisements as my desktop PC boots, and certainly not when restarting
> a cluster node.
>
> If anyone else is interested in issues relating to BIOSs for servers,
> especially for large clusters, please get in touch, on or off this list.
>
> Peter Lister         [e-mail]    PGP (RSA): 0xE4D85541
> Sychron Ltd          http://www.sychron.com  PGP (DSS): 0xBC1D7258
> 1 Cambridge Terrace  Voice: [phone]
> Oxford OX1 1UR  UK   FAX:   [phone]
>
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