Open Bios

[James Gilmore]

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.

[Edwin Rhodes]

I think this is probably the best idea i've seen on this openbios mailing list since the project was started! :) Go for it. As for an os for this i think freedos is perfect for the job. I've tried using it for bootable cdrom projects and it works ok. If anyone needs any cdroms burnt i can do that, no probs. I think this would enable everyone to create the perfect bios for your system. Great idea, im all for it!

edwin
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: James Gilmore 
  To: [e-mail] 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2000 6:38 AM
  Subject: [OpenBIOS] Open Bios

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.