[LinuxBIOS] RD1 BIOS Savior [was Re: No known linux compatable BIOS programmer ?]

[Ken Fuchs]

>On 08/12/2005 12:19 PM, Ken Fuchs wrote:

>> Sorry, you are both wrong.  The USB cable is used _only_ for power.
>> All data goes through the parallel port.  It is a slow (5 minutes to
>> burn and 2 minutes to verify), cheap burner, but I have found it to be
>> extremely reliable.
>> 
>> I was talking about the Enhanced Willem Universal Programmer.
>> Perhaps, the two of you were talking about another, possibly
>> hypothetical flash programmer.

Jeff Carr wrote:

>Just to verify once again, there is no known linux bios programmer?

I don't know of any, but I haven't looked beyond the Enhanced Willem
Universal Programmer and its MS Windows program.

>What about programming the chips in socket from within Linux; yes risky,
>but this does work right? The reason I ask is because that means that we
>do know *HOW* to program them, we just don't have an external device to
>do it.

The RD1 BIOS Savior is what you need to make this a safe operation.
It adds a second flash (BIOS) device that works as a backup, once it is
successfully programmed.  It is installed in the BIOS socket and the
original BIOS chip is installed into it.  There is a pair of wire going
from the RD1 BIOS Savior to a sliding switch that mounts into the
provided slot cover.  In the ORG position, the original BIOS is active
and in the RD1 position, the RD1's BIOS device is active.  I used one
successfully on a Tyan S2885 system.

First copy the original BIOS to a file.  Next, boot in the ORG
position.  Move the switch to the RD1 position and flash the original
BIOS image to the RD1 flash device.  Test booting the RD1 flash device.
Repeat the last two steps until the RD1 flash device boots OK.  Now,
flash all development BIOS images to the original BIOS device which is
usually a higher quality device.  The RD1 BIOS image can be used in case
of a bad development BIOS image that doesn't boot.

Sincerely,

Ken Fuchs <kfuchs at winternet.com>