Code Structure

[Chris Arguin]

Partially to get people talking about what we should support, I would like
to propose a possible code layout. A fairly simple method of sorting the
source code that should be fairly extensible.

memory/       <- how to setup cache, memory timing, etc...
   Bus/
    PCI/   
    ISA/
    AGP/         <- How to access and set up those buses
    USB/
    etc...
   Drives/           <- for our purposes, anything that can boot
    Floppy/
    IDE/
    SCSI/
   Interface/        <- The front-end
    Input/       <- Where do we get input from, and how
    Output/      <- Where do we send output, and how
   Common/           <- Whatever code that is common
   misc/             <- Anything else

For example, my computer would be built with something like

memory/Intel/82437FX
   Bus/PCI/Intel/82437X
   BUS/ISA/Intel/PIIX
   Drives/Floppy/Std_Floppy
   Drives/IDE/PIIX
   Drives/SCSI/NCR53c8xx
   Interface/Power_CLI
   Interface/Input/Keyboard
   Interface/Output/VGA_text
   misc/std_timer

The Interface/Power_CLI would be something like the Sun-bootloader, or the
Alpha console. Other possibilities would be a standard (like in most PCs),
or maybe a PC96 compliant one, if that applies.

Notice that you can easily change to a serial boot if desired, and I think
this sort of division allows for quite a bit of flexibility. Configuration
scripts can hide much of the actual details (for example, I would just
select the Intel 430fx chipset, which would set up the Memory, PCI, ISA,
and all that).

Comments?

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[Adam Wiggins]

On Tue, 17 Feb 1998, Chris Arguin wrote:
> Partially to get people talking about what we should support, I would like
> to propose a possible code layout. A fairly simple method of sorting the
> source code that should be fairly extensible.

I'd like to add rescue/ as really this should be the first bit of
code we do also with maybe a floopy utility disk to do the burn/recovery.
    Also as someone said we should first get the thing so it can boot
linux then work on the dos/win support. I imagine we need a very small
(code wise) consol interface that can be piped to teh vga card or the
serial port (for those who want serial config, one of the reasons this
project started i think) and to work in the mem/bus inits then move onto
the boot devices.
    Anyway enough speil from me.
    Cheers Adam
> memory/       <- how to setup cache, memory timing, etc...
>    Bus/
>    PCI/   
>    ISA/
>    AGP/         <- How to access and set up those buses
>    USB/
>    etc...
>    Drives/           <- for our purposes, anything that can boot
>    Floppy/
>    IDE/
>    SCSI/
>    Interface/        <- The front-end
>    Input/       <- Where do we get input from, and how
>    Output/      <- Where do we send output, and how
>    Common/           <- Whatever code that is common
>    misc/             <- Anything else
>
> For example, my computer would be built with something like
>
> memory/Intel/82437FX
>    Bus/PCI/Intel/82437X
>    BUS/ISA/Intel/PIIX
>    Drives/Floppy/Std_Floppy
>    Drives/IDE/PIIX
>    Drives/SCSI/NCR53c8xx
>    Interface/Power_CLI
>    Interface/Input/Keyboard
>    Interface/Output/VGA_text
>    misc/std_timer
>
> The Interface/Power_CLI would be something like the Sun-bootloader, or the
> Alpha console. Other possibilities would be a standard (like in most PCs),
> or maybe a PC96 compliant one, if that applies.
>
> Notice that you can easily change to a serial boot if desired, and I think
> this sort of division allows for quite a bit of flexibility. Configuration
> scripts can hide much of the actual details (for example, I would just
> select the Intel 430fx chipset, which would set up the Memory, PCI, ISA,
> and all that).
>
> Comments?
>
> OpenBIOS -- http://www.linkscape.net/openbios/
> [e-mail]   Body: un/subscribe
> Problems?  [e-mail]

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