Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 19:29:53 -0700 From: Mike Smith <msmith@freebsd.org> To: Parag Patel <parag@cgt.com> Cc: Sergey Babkin <babkin@bellatlantic.net>, Ronald G Minnich <rminnich@lanl.gov>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Anybody working on FreeBSD BIOS? Message-ID: <200006160229.TAA01564@mass.osd.bsdi.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 15 Jun 2000 19:14:25 PDT." <77540.961121665@pinhead.parag.codegen.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> > Well, the main reason we're replacing the BIOS is that we've had several > requests from people who want relatively sane firmware in their > computers. :) One of our (potential) customers needs to completely > manage their rack-mount systems remotely using the serial port without > video and without a keyboard - something that few motherboards support. Intel are actually pretty aggressive on this (eg. EMP and IPMI), but the boards they offer it on aren't cost-effective. 8( > Another option is to create a custom ISA or PCI card with pretty much > just a ROM on in, let the BIOS set things up, then completely take over > control of the machine. This is a lot more work and more expensive, not > to mention taking up one of the relatively few slots, but it would work > in more computers. (Some BIOSes still refuse to run without video and > keyboard though.) It's actually not _that_ expensive, but you're right about interoperability. By now, based on the timeframe I've watched you through, I'd say that you should have a board that looks like a plain VGA framebuffer and has a keyboard cable hung out the back, and software up and running. Build cost at 100 off would probably be < $100. > One problem with flash disks and such is that by the time the machine is > ready to boot from one, it's already well past where you'd like to have > control over the BIOS settings. This is a problem, yes, but rewriting the BIOS, bootloader and parts of the kernel isn't the path of least resistance, IMO. 8) > Frankly, I'd just as soon support PowerPC or Alpha ATX motherboards with > SmartFirmware. Anyone know of inexpensive ATX non-x86 boards? :) Well, Alpha Processor now have SRM on the UP1000, but this isn't what you'd call "inexpensive", and the board's not very compact either (Slot B module mounted vertically). If your customer's not _desperate_ for a super-low-cost solution, I'd suggest any of the Intel boards that offer EMP (most of these also offer BIOS-over-serial support, actually - as do a number of other vendors, IIRC AMI do this on some of their boards as well). -- \\ Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. \\ Mike Smith \\ Tell him he should learn how to fish himself, \\ msmith@freebsd.org \\ and he'll hate you for a lifetime. \\ msmith@cdrom.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200006160229.TAA01564>