Chipset autodetect -- pro and con

[Matthew Sullivan]

How about having a source tree, which allows chipset type config at compile
time, keeping what's in the flash simple streamlined and efficient...

Yours

Mickey

M Carling wrote:

> There seems to be some disagreement over the issue of whether or not
> OpenBIOS should provide for possibility to compile into a single binary
> support for multiple chipset types to be autodetected at run-time.
>
> For OpenBIOS to be successful, it needs to become more attractive to
> the MB manufacturers than the alternatives. I don't know whether such
> a feature would be attractive to the MB manufacturers or not. I suggest
> will begin by compiling a list of the advantages and disadvantages of
> this feature. Having done that (so that we understand it ourselves as
> best we can) we should then ask the manufacturers. (This will be a good
> step toward getting free hardware from them for development.)
>
> When we ask them, we should also ask any other questions about their
> needs. In effect, we need to do some market research.
>
> Here are the advantages and disadvantages that I can think of. There are
> probably others.
>
> Pro:
>
> It's cool.
>
> It would allow manufacturers to have one BIOS ROM that supports all
> their MB products.
>
> The autodetect code might also be useful for diagnostics.
>
> Con:
>
> Extra complexity--something else to go wrong. Bug free code is *really*
> important in the BIOS.
>
> Extra complexity--more difficult to test.
>
> What other questions would we like the MB manufacturers to answer for us?
>
> M
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