[LinuxBIOS] Concepts for LX v3

ron minnich rminnich at gmail.com
Sun Dec 3 00:27:48 CET 2006


On 12/2/06, Anton <anton.borisov at gmail.com> wrote:
> It would be nice to have TMS (Test Monitor System) onboard. Some big vendors have it on their systems for ages.
> Pros:
> a) Test for DRAM
> b) Test for Media (HDD, CF, SD, ..) connected to the host
> c) Test for Peripherals
> Cons:
> a) size. may not fit into 1/2/4 Mbit.
>
> TMS is a regular payload, access is done via RS232 (or USB in future), the same way as we all see printk messages nowdays.
> However, it's not yet clear to me is it possible to have multiple payloads at once and how to choose between them.
> Where to store boot options (CMOS is a way too small for it).
>
> Another concept to store big payloads which can't be stored in flash (even 16 Mbit is not enough) is to have
> dedicated partition. On booting media. With FAT16 or use a very simple FS to avoid licensing problems (no journaling
> features required).
>
> Pros:
> a) bigger and more payload sources at once from one place
> b) possibility to have several linuxbios images to be flashed back in case of emergency
> Cons:
> a) need to prepare boot media, like SATA/IDE device, to have dedicated partition
> b) need to add support lines for FS on dedicated FS (however, I see FILO can boot ext2 partition,
> hope this one will be enough).


We're trying to keep linuxbios simple. A TMS payload is fine. Linux is
the desired payload, and linux can do a very good job of testing all
this stuff, and experience shows it has the best bug-fixed drivers.
open firmware could also play this game, and OFW has a lot of drivers
too -- more every day, now that it is open source.

ron




More information about the coreboot mailing list