[Gllug] [Off-Topic] BIOS questions

[Mike Brodbelt]

Emon wrote:

> 1)
> I once heard (from an unreliable source) that Intel & others are
> working on a open source alternative for BIOS, is it true?, if
> so, then how far have they progressed?

I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call it open source. Intel came up with
  a BIOS replacement called EFI. The spec has now been contributed to
the Unified EFI Forum, and Intel have indicated they won't publish any
more specs on their own. Parts of the existing spec have been released
under various open source licenses.

Basically, it replaces BIOS with a boot system that includes platform
independent device drivers stored in no-volatile memory on the board.
Device initialisation can be performed by the EFI driver, relieveing the
operating system from having to drive the hardware directly. EFI can
co-exist with BIOS on a board. Intel based Macs use EFI, but no current
version of Windows supports it, and Windows Vista will not support it at
release. Of course "trusted" drivers below the OS level are also a part
of the whole trusted/treacherous computing scene. EFI seems like a good
idea, but I'm not convinced it'll gain significant traction for some
time. With no OS support in sight, I'd expect most board manufacturers
to not bother.


> 2)
> The AMI BIOS on my Motherboard has the option to enable "Boot
> sector virus checking", & as far as I know you cannot update the
> virus definition file for this virus guard. If so, then is there
> any point in keeping this virus guard enabled?, will it be able
> to detect new viruses?

There is no definition file. Enabling this means the BIOS will halt the
system if any write is attempted to sector 0 of the hard disk. In
today's world, my view would be that you get no real protection from it,
as boot sector viruses are all but extinct. If enabled, it will lock
your system if you attempt to update your MBR bootloader.

> 3)
> I read (somewhere) that AGP cards also have a BIOS. Is there any
> way to upgrade this BIOS like the motherboard BIOS?

Yes - you usually have to download and run a manufacturer provided
flashing utility, most often when the system is booted from a DOS floppy.

HTH,

Mike
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