Messages in this thread | | | From | Peter Samuelson <> | Date | Fri, 10 Dec 1999 15:45:23 -0600 (CST) | Subject | Re: [linux-fbdev] Re: atyfb with 2.3.30 ond x86 |
| |
[me] > > Sounds like Open Firmware. It was designed for *exactly* this > > problem: initializing a peripheral at boot time on multiple > > platforms. I don't know who all jumped on that bandwagon but a lot > > of PowerPC people did (I know of PowerMacs and some RS/6000s). > > Intel platforms (surprise!) never bothered.... [Richard B. Johnson] > But they do!
No, they don't. Read again, I was referring to methods of cross-platform POST stuff (emphasis on cross-platform), such as Open Firmware does. Basically OF implements a FORTH VM that the card firmware executes on, and thus the same card can init itself on any platform that (a) uses OF and (b) has the right bus.
I don't know the whole story but I suspect that PC BIOS people never got interested in doing OF because all hardware vendors who wanted to hawk cards for PC users were already using Intel code for their BIOS hooks. (And screw those Mac users anyway.) Pragmatically, it seems the OSF/1-on-Alpha people chose to write an x86 VM to leverage this, rather than license an implementation of OF with its FORTH approach.
Peter
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |