[coreboot] BIOS Saviour

[Alexandr Frolov]

Hello all,

I am wondering about using the BIOS Saviour device (IOSS RD1). If I 
understood it correctly  the 'original' flash card is at the bottom and 
'experimental' one is at the top.  The 'original' comes with IOSS RD1 
kit attached to the PLCC socket and could not be removed. The 
experimental is an any kind of flash chip of appropriate ROM type (in my 
case PLCC), for example the one which was installed in my motherboard 
before. The experimental is removable.

The reason that the origninal is used as 'back up' makes one to choose 
the device with approprite flash size. In my board I have SST49LF080A 8 
Mbit, should I use IOSS RD1-LPC8 which is 8 MBit also?

On the http://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual/Tools#BIOS_Savior it is 
said that 'This device helps to minimize the amount of hot swapping 
required and reduces mechanical and electrical stress on the BIOS 
chips'. Actually I dont fully understand this. The exerimental flash 
chip is still have to be unplugged to be reprogrammed by flash 
programmer. This phrase makes sense to me only if in-circuit 
reprogramming is used (like 'hot-swap').

Could anybody share his expeirience with this device? How do you use it? 
Is it still possible to buy? It seems that manufacturer is out of 
bussiness now.

Best regards,
Alexander