[LinuxBIOS] Please explain why is some hardware not supported even though it runs fine in linux

Al Boldi a1426z at gawab.com
Fri Mar 9 14:25:53 CET 2007


Uwe Hermann wrote:
> > What is so special about linux bios that needs special vendor support
> > that linux os doesnt?
>
> One important thing is RAM initialization. When Linux takes over, the
> BIOS has already programmed the northbridge/chipset to properly set up
> and enable the RAM of your computer. So Linux doesn't have to care about
> setting up RAM...
>
> In the BIOS, we must do just that, and that requires totally different
> code than what is in Linux itself. And special knowledge from datasheets
> which are probably not so common and easily available than data sheets
> for the "higher level" stuff...

Are the datasheets enough to get the board supported by LinuxBIOS?

If so, which board has been supported by only relying on the datasheets?

Also, the factory bios contains a lot of ram timing info; can't this be used 
to get a generic/blind LinuxBIOS to init ram, and then payload from flash?


Thanks!

--
Al





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