Hi!
Let me start by saying that I've never really investigated the BIOS before, so I may make some false assumptions below. Please point out the errors of my ways.
Me too!! I've got a pretty good idea how things work, but do x86 asm. I'm also unsure about some of the memory limitations, and what, if anything, does the BIOS do once a protected mode OS starts.
Under linux, bios is not used (well, with exceptions of APM).
Other 'systems' switch into v86 mode to call bios functions.
Pavel
On Tue, 17 Feb 1998, Pavel Machek wrote:
Under linux, bios is not used (well, with exceptions of APM).
What about the IDE LBA mappings? I don't think that is done inside the Linux kernel, so I imagine it is handled by the BIOS. Sure, it isn't a call to Int 13, but we've got to handle that.
Also, some people (like myself, unforunitly) have a SCSI BIOS onboard. AFAIK, that SCSI BIOS is part of the regular BIOS (corrections, anyone?). If so, we will have to handle that as well to get Linux to boot.
-- Chris Arguin | "The duke had a mind that ticked like a Chris.Arguin@unh.edu | clock and, like a clock, it regularly +--------------+ went cuckoo." - Wyrd Sisters, http://leonardo.sr.unh.edu/arguin/home.html | Terry Pratchett
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Chris Arguin wrote:
On Tue, 17 Feb 1998, Pavel Machek wrote:
Under linux, bios is not used (well, with exceptions of APM).
What about the IDE LBA mappings? I don't think that is done inside the Linux kernel, so I imagine it is handled by the BIOS. Sure, it isn't a call to Int 13, but we've got to handle that.
Also, some people (like myself, unforunitly) have a SCSI BIOS onboard. AFAIK, that SCSI BIOS is part of the regular BIOS (corrections, anyone?). If so, we will have to handle that as well to get Linux to boot.
Not likely. For the NCR and Adpatec it's it own BIOS even though it's on the same chip. It's just loaded at the end of the normal BIOS (or a specific offset) and chained once the initial bios is done.
I posted once before that with the old shareware triton MRBIOS you could make it NCR aware by doing a binary copy to the end of it just before flashing. The NCR BIOS image was available right over the net. The Adaptec one (and the company), might not be so easy to deal with.
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On Tue, 17 Feb 1998, Chris Arguin wrote:
On Tue, 17 Feb 1998, Pavel Machek wrote:
Under linux, bios is not used (well, with exceptions of APM).
What about the IDE LBA mappings? I don't think that is done inside the Linux kernel, so I imagine it is handled by the BIOS. Sure, it isn't a call to Int 13, but we've got to handle that.
Also, some people (like myself, unforunitly) have a SCSI BIOS onboard. AFAIK, that SCSI BIOS is part of the regular BIOS (corrections, anyone?). If so, we will have to handle that as well to get Linux to boot.
actually, i think newer BIOSes (award, AMI) scan for certain recognizable scsi cards and loads bios routines from the card _ _ __ __ _ _ _ | / |/ /_ __/ /_____ | Nuke Skyjumper | | / / // / '_/ -_) | "Master of the Farce" | |_ /_/|_/_,_/_/_\__/ _|_ nuke@bayside.net _|
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