Messages in this thread |  | | | From | "Etienne Lorrain" <> | | Date | Thu, 22 Oct 1998 11:54:39 +0001 | | Subject | Re: Motherboard design specifically for Linux |
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Hi,
I am not sure it is on-topic, but here are my $0.02 on this thread (multiple answers):
> > > Many flash chips have a separatly write-protectable area used > > > for boot areas. > > > > I know. Is it large enough? > > AMD 29F040 flash chips (512KB) are divided into 64KB sectors that > can be individually erased.
Take care that even with write-protectable sectors, most of FLASHs cannot erase and program themself by executing code from the FLASH been treated. You also do not want to enable memory cache in this process. A small independant ROM is sometime better (to do basic checks like RAM check) instead of coping code to erase/program FLASH in RAM.
> [people talking about reprogram FLASH after total panic]
Surely there should not be complex drivers in the non erasable boot software, because it should be bug free. Anyway, when a company build a motherboard, it has to test it on the production line, without any card on the ISA bus... I have heard they use a connection through the keyboard interface, with a very basic protocol, use this one at last choice. Note also that programming a FLASH *before* soldering is theoretically not guaranted to work...
Etienne.
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