flash_n_burn rom utils, /dev/bios ... resquest

[Peter Stuge]

On Tue, Apr 20, 2004 at 04:37:37PM -0700, Ian Zimmerman wrote:
> 
> Mathieu> I'd rather like to make a backup copy of my bios in another
> Mathieu> chip and then to cold plug this copy to work with Linuxbios.
> 
> Mathieu> Has anyone felt this worry . 
> 
> Same here.
> 
> I feel that the reliance on hotplugging flash chips has limited
> linuxbios audience to hard-core metal hackers.

While it is obviously true that a number of people in the audience are
worried about hotplugging the BIOS ROM I don't think it has a very
negative impact yet - LinuxBIOS is getting closer and closer to a very
stable release but in order to get there, more hard-core hackers are
needed anyway to contribute support for various system components such
as CPUs, chipsets etc.

Also, any BIOS software probably isn't targeted even at power users -
more so at system integrators and/or retailers, who are in a much
better financial position for getting "pro" BIOS tools such as a
standalone programmer.

On the other hand, there's always the possibility of getting a
BIOS-saviour, or even a cheaper model standalone programmer at $200.
(They're usually not really good until up at $400-$500 though.)


//Peter