common flash hw write enable methods

[Andrew Kohlsmith]

> It doesn't. Basically most flasher programs use some kind of data
> structure the look for in the bios memory, that contains pointers to
> functions like "map flash to memory", "disable write protection", etc.
> This is at least the case with AMI and Award, probably Phoenix as well.
> These are 16bit calls, which makes it kind of hard/impossible to really
> use directly. It's possible to search for this structure and look at
> the code. However, this is likely to be illegal in many countries.

Not in Canada.  :-)

Yeah this does sound kind of ugly.  Especially since the Orasis BIOS won't 
boot up in Bochs, as it seems to end up hanging due to some PIT simulator 
inconsistencies.

> Especially after the first non-vendor-written flashers appeared, many
> people were scared of viruses destroying the flash data and such.
> Security by obscurity...

Well, if worse comes to worst I can just cut the trace and wire those pins to 
+12.  The datasheet for the chip says that it operates normally under those 
circumstances, except that all "soft" boot block protection is disabled.

Regards,
Andrew