[LinuxBIOS] [RFC] Call for Action: LinuxBIOS foundations

popkonserve popkonserve at gmx.de
Tue Aug 28 20:59:53 CEST 2007


What i really don't get is:
Why trying to support bleeding edge hardware almost nobody has 
datasheets for instead of writing reliable custom drivers that would 
support older hardware. development itself would be far easier, at least 
SOME hardware would be supported and people would be able to TEST 
linuxbios on old hardware without fearing to ruin an expensive 
mainboard. most of the drivers written only include a working version 
which is far away from a full featured support that would make a 
difference to the original bios versions. this is imho what drives users 
away.

i'm willing to write more generic full featured drivers 
(northbridge/southbridge) for older chipsets (i posted a list and i'll 
stick to that list). my problem is not that i don't understand the 
hardware itself but the linuxbios framework. i don't want to spend hours 
of code surfing just to understand how and where certain code sniplets 
are called or how certain config files need to be written. a 
documentation to the code is close to non-existant. while this might not 
be a problem to long-term developers it drives new ones away.

what i would like to see is: generic support for usb/cdrom boot, ide 
support in southbridges, an onscreen menu (nothing fancy) and a far 
better documentation for users and developers.
Holger




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