[LinuxBIOS] Support for Intel G965 GMCH Chipset?

Chris Ziomkowski cziom at jsg.co.th
Sun Oct 29 11:41:17 CET 2006


I am investigating options for an embedded systems project which we need 
to launch Q1 next year.

I found linuxbios and love the idea. I have a few concerns though, and I 
thought someone here might be able to help me decide how difficult it 
might be to go this route.

First, all of the mainboards that I can find which fit our requirements 
use the Intel G965 GMCH chipset. (Requirements are mini ITX format, 
Intel Core 2 Duo desktop processor support, not socket 478, and dual 
Gbit LAN. I've only found 3 products after a week of searching. ) 
Chipset docs are available at 
http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intelg965/

The G965 is not listed as supported, and I've been unable to find any 
comforting comments in the list archives. I am an accomplished embedded 
systems programmer, but my time is stretched very thin on this project.  
Do  you guys believe I will be able to make this work without heroic 
efforts?

Second, the mainboards all come with an 8 Mbit BIOS flash. Will this be 
enough to boot Linux directly? There is no IDE capability on these 
boards, so the only disk options are USB or SATA. I don't need video 
support. There will only be a serial console.

Assuming I can boot direct to Linux from the BIOS, would SATA or USB be 
more appropriate for loading the rest of the system?

Any comments would be appreciated. Am I getting in over my head?  Do you 
think linuxbios is stable enough to consider for a commercial product?

Thanks,

Chris





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