[LinuxBIOS] Support for Intel G965 GMCH Chipset?

Richard Smith smithbone at gmail.com
Tue Oct 31 18:20:36 CET 2006


Chris Ziomkowski wrote:

> 
> 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?

Stability is a matter of reference.  On chipsets/mainboards that have a 
bit of time under their belt they are very stable.  Usually once it 
works it just works.  That said there can be some pain associated with 
older revs and a newer toolchain.  Its caused us some trouble in the past.

However, porting to a new chipset is a whole new game.  There are many 
open end issues with respect to a short fixed timeline.  The key is the 
documentation.  If you can't get the right level of _correct_ 
documentation then you could spend months chasing bugs that reduce to 
"set this bit, in this hidden register."  Things like that just destroy 
a timeline and don't show well up the management chain.

I don't want to stop you from trying an Intel port since we get requests 
for newer Intel chips all the time, BUT what you are looking at is a 
pretty tall order.  You need to sit down with whatever vendor you have 
that reps Intel and have a long talk with them about getting the 
required docs with clear deliverables on their part.  I recommend you 
have them list the document names and numbers that they will provide.

A specific question would be to ask them if you can get example code 
that enables the RAM for that chipset.  And make sure you get a copy 
(and read) all errata notes.

-- 
Richard A. Smith




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