Messages in this thread | | | From | (Miquel van Smoorenburg) | Subject | Re: MILO vs BIOS on Linux/Intel. | Date | 11 Feb 1998 18:04:41 +0100 |
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In article <E0y2c94-0001Ff-00@imladris.demon.co.uk>, David Woodhouse <Dave@imladris.demon.co.uk> wrote: > >oleg@usm.uni-muenchen.de said: >> I'm wondering how difficult it would be to >> put MIniLOader in flash like it was done on Alpha instead >> of that LILO/MBR mess ? > >There's not going to be enough room in with the normal BIOS. However, if >you've got a network card with space for a ROM, you could put it in there.
Yep - in a former life, I once wrote a program that was put into an EPROM and put into a ROM socket of the network card. It loaded (in assembly) a small filesystem from the EPROM containing a few DOS TSRs (packet drivers actually) and a master program (.COM format, bridging code). It also mimiced enough of INT21 to let these programs run.. aah good old fashioned hacking :)
Now, it would be doable to write some EPROM code that redirected INT10 (BIOS video functions) to the serial port adding VT100 escape codes. That would get you a serial-console into the BIOS setup! Does anyone know if a general BIOS setup screen uses INT10 or if it writes to video memory directly?
Mike. -- Miquel van Smoorenburg | The dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac lay in his bed miquels@cistron.nl | awake all night wondering if there is a doG
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