VGA BIOS init debate

[Adam Agnew]

I want to throw these arguments into the debate:


I vote for the ELF payload. I would say that linking it in would be just
as good, except that if EFI ever does really become common, a lot of
these payloads would become useful to a larger user base. I do agree that
there would be some redundancy in code, but I also believe the build
process would be simplified (rom-o-matic certainly seems more feasible
without so many options) and those new to LinuxBIOS would be able
to grasp how it all links together easier.

Right now, the split in idealogy has put us in quite the pickle. Linuxbios
has two ways to tftp boot, three ways to polled ide boot, two ways to get
a vga rom up and running.. If things are still even linked in to
freebios2, there's a lot of confusion. Do different boot methods use elf
payloads or are they compiled in? Well that would depend on which one.
I too would like the Linux kernel to solve all of these problems, I hope
I've never created the impression that I wish otherwise. But the chunk of
mailing list traffic from embedded enthusiasts is getting still larger,
nothing's really changed in ROM size since the Great Payload Debates of
2001, and Linux has only gotten bigger (though there's hope..).

- Adam Agnew

On Fri, 8 Aug 2003, ron minnich wrote:

> folks, any opinions expressed on this VGA BIOS discussion would be
> welcome.
>
> VGA BIOS in linuxbios, or in an ELF payload? What's your bet?
>
> ron
>
>