[LinuxBIOS] RFC Winflashrom Architecture -- Current device driver (testbed)

[Darmawan Salihun]

Hi,
Corey Osgood wrote:
> Okay, I hate to sound naive, but what Windows versions can/will this
> support? I'm assuming 2000 and XP, 
Yes, indeed.  The current driver is still on 2000/XP because I only have
the DDK for that version of Windows right now.
I haven't evaluate the WDK that's used for Vista yet.
> what about Vista and 98? Also, where
> this is going to be a driver, will there be any problem with Vista
> complaining about it not being signed? Vista can be a real pain with
> drivers that aren't signed, the beta I was running had a workaround to
> allow you to boot, but I think that was removed from the retail release,
> which I have (free of charge, the only way I'd have it) but haven't
> installed yet.
>   
I'm still trying to figure out how to support Vista in the future because 
it has a quite different architecture for "native" Vista driver. IIRC it's the "KMDF" model.
"KMDF" is still a big question mark for me :-(. As for Windows 98. I'm not sure yet whether 
I will be able to "backport" the driver to support it or not. But, Vista support will surely 
become a priority in the future. Anyway, I have no Vista platform for testing for the moment.
I'm focusing on 2000/XP right now. Beside, I heard that there will be service pack for Vista 
in the near future. Maybe, it's better to wait for it before trying to do anything with Vista 
because sometimes a new improved version of the Kernel API function is coming down the road. 
As for the driver signing. I'm also thinking about it. But, IIRC there is a way to generate 
the "signing" related stuff just enough to make it capable to be loaded in Vista. 
I'm not sure but I guess it's in one of my OSR magazine sent a few months ago. 
I'll try digging up on them ;-).


> And last (but not least), flashing the BIOS while running Windows always
> seems to have been a tricky beast, I bricked a couple boards using
> windows-based flash tools back in the day. Will there be any ill side
> effects and/or potential issues with this?
>   
This issue will need more testing to be solved because I have no problem at all 
doing it in two different motherboards. I successfully carry out the flashing 
even in motherboard that not officially supports windows-based flashing program.
I'm using the very early beta version of my program to flash a modified BIOS and it works 
flawlessly (It's a VIA693A motherboard).


> BTW, good work!
>   
Thanks.

--Darmawan