[LinuxBIOS] A very good idea

[Peter Stuge]

On Fri, May 04, 2007 at 10:01:49AM +0100, MARTIN WOODHOUSE wrote:
>   processor=xxxxx
>   primaryRAM= yyyyy
>   videochip=zzzzz
>   etc
>   etc

[..]

>   Could this not work?

Yes. This macro principle is actually already used in the current
version of LinuxBIOS v2 and the tools and language have been improved
a lot for the next version. (new syntax but same good concept)
What I was rambling about yesterday was what kind of code the macro
language generates, for performance reasons.

We still have more code than just register writes, and that will
probably continue to be the case for systems supporting dynamic
configuration.


>   What are the possible snags?

Mainly two things;

* Dynamic hardware configurations
  Optional CPU, RAM or expansion slots need to be detected at startup
  and initialized only if they are filled with something.

* Mainboard vendor configurations
  There's not a single standard way for a mainboard vendor to connect
  all the hardware together on the board. The initializing software
  in most cases needs to know some hardware design detail or other.


//Peter