[OpenBIOS] Proposals for development stages

[Mark Zhitomirski]

Ed Brinker wrote:
> Finally, I have been on this list for about a year.  I have seen
> discussions flare up from time to time after a month or so of dormancy. 
> ...  But I do know that there is a
> standard way of buiding a software system:  requirements => preliminary
> design => detailed design => unit coding => unit testing => system testing.
>  The first step is always the requirements and if we can't, as a group,
> determine a set of requirements then this group will slowly twist in the
> wind until long after the 512 bit PC's have passed into oblivion.
> ... But please, can we build a set of requirements. ... 


This is my attempt to figure out how OpenBIOS development should be run 

Stage 0: divide BIOS into several tasks:

1 initialization of chipset - mandatory
2 booting OS from FDD - mandatory for the initial phase
3 configuration
4 BIOS services
5 floppy based diagnostics, embedded in ROM diagnostics
6 booting OS from HDD
7 booting OS from CD-ROM, Network
8 serial console
9 network console - this is my proposal for avoiding inefficient serial
communications
10 USB keyboard support
11 Open-SCSI-BIOS
12 Open-VGA-BIOS
13 Open-Net-BIOS
11 power saving and sleeping
12 get used to another name for BIOS - it's not I/O system anymore and
this name is confusing

To my mind the only OS that should have the possibility to boot for the
first time must be Linux.
This will give the project initial user base and attract possible
developers. This OS like other 
can live mostly without BIOS. Boot loader maybe customized for this OS
to be more strait forward then
current implementations

Stage 1: develop set of routines for BIOS developers and testers
- requirements (general hardware - chipset, processor, M/B make etc. and
maybe specific hardware, 
which can be implemented easily)
- software tools 

Stage 2: ...

I've just found OpenBIOS project about 2 weeks ago and took it close
though I can see some indications 
of no real achievements so far. Anyway in near time I'm going to study
downloadable software and 
summarize my suggestions on web. Sorry, if this reading was just waste
of time for you but this is the best of 
my efforts this moment. I'm really wish contribute to this project with
my skills and available hardware
though I may not be seen as person who can be in the clean room. I've
seen a lot of BIOS source for
XT/AT and it doesn't make sense for me to re-implement it.
Hope you don't find this reading useless,
yours Mark Zhitomirski
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