Intel says the PC BIOS will be replaced with 'EFI']

[Bob Bell]

On Fri, Feb 21, 2003 at 09:08:16PM -0500, Chip <chip.programmer at att.net> wrote:
> They have been trying to push that for three years.  Unless all the hardware
> can initialize itself magically, including PCI, AGP, Video, USB, keyboards,
> there will continue to be a need for BIOS.

[ Note: I'm not an expert, what I'm about to say may be grossly
incorrect, but I think it's true ]

    Not magically, but the hardware does initialize itself.  You install
EFI drivers on the FAT32 EFI partition on your boot device, which the
firmware can then use to provide at a least a basic interface to your
hardware.

    Commercial UNIX workstations have been doing this for years.  Of
course, there you have tighter control over what goes into a box, so you
can keep the firmware somewhat close to the vest, too.  Intel doesn't
have the same control over IPF and IA-32 boxes, which is why EFI is
a more open and documented interface.

-- 
Bob Bell <bobbell at zk3.dec.com>
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