[LinuxBIOS] [PATCH][v3] Support for multiple LinuxBIOS payloads

pyro pyro at linuxlabs.com
Wed Aug 29 22:43:27 CEST 2007


Greetings,

On Wed, 29 Aug 2007, Peter Stuge wrote:

> On Wed, Aug 29, 2007 at 03:58:56PM +0200, Stefan Reinauer wrote:
> > - one requirement would be: if payload can not be loaded, attempt
> > to load it via serial or usb console via ymodem protocol.
>
> Only ymodem with serial - USB is already a reliable transport.
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 29, 2007 at 04:38:47PM +0200, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> > Agreed. That way, we could even abuse a fallback image for early
> > porting without the need to reflash continuously.
>
> Yes - this has been a thought of mine all the way since the
> Symposium.
>

I've been thinking about that a good bit lately. Once the serial port and
CAR is up, a very simple monitor program should be able to accept simple
commands and programs from the serial console.

Beyond development, a small, simple and stripped down fallback that can
either jump to the normal image or bring up the monitor would be a lot
more likely to fit in a boot block and leave room for the normal image to
have a good sized payload.

The other thought is having a real boot block that isn't erased when
either the normal image or the payload are updated. Even if the image is
perfect, a power failure (or someone tripping over a power cord) at the
wrong time can ruin your day if the box is production rather than
development (and so isn't fitted with a BIOS saviour, LPC hack or even a
socketed flash). In the few commercial deployments I did, I had LinuxBIOS
set the lockdown bits (intel flash) on the sectors for the fallback image
so the customer could have a blessed payload update procedure that
wouldn't leave them with a brick.

G'day,
sjames



>
> //Peter
>
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