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Date:      Mon, 10 Nov 1997 02:01:28 +1030
From:      Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>
To:        Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com>
Cc:        mike@smith.net.au (Mike Smith), wghhicks@ix.netcom.com, mini@d198-232.uoregon.edu, chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: x86 gods; advice? Suggestions? 
Message-ID:  <199711091531.CAA00402@word.smith.net.au>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sun, 09 Nov 1997 10:32:24 -0000." <199711091032.DAA24687@usr06.primenet.com> 

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> > > And it doesn't lock you into x86 to run the BIOS on video cards...
> > > where's the fun in that?
> > 
> > I don't give a shit what it doesn't do, Terry.
> 
> Boy, no sense of humor.  What it *does* do, then is make cards not
> depend on particular processors.

Sorry; I didn't want you hijacking the thread.  But I guess it's too 
late now. 8)  (redirected to -chat)

It only makes cards independent if they have Fcode BIOS support.

How many video cards have Fcode BIOS support out-of-the-box?  Yes, they 
*could*, but they *don't*.

> > What *I* care about is that OpenBoot is big, it is expensive and
> > proprietary,
> 
> That last arrow struck home (the others missed, though, if expensive
> is meant in terms of overhead instead of as a subset of proprietary,
> which would make your statement redundant.

No, expensive is "Ask FirmWorks what it would cost to license their 
implementation".  Unless you feel like trying to code such a 
monstrosity from the specification alone.

> > and it is a complete crock from the POV of usability.  
> 
> Again, you only need to use it once.  The code for the OS is similar
> to what I've been pushing in terms of VM86 fallback drivers.  You
> don't use it except for the boot, so usability isn't an issue.

"Only use it once" multiplied by *how* many new users?

mike




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