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Hi Matthijs, |
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Matthijs Kooijman wrote: |
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> > > http://pcengines.ch/alix.htm |
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> > |
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> > coreboot |
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> |
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> It seems that these boards are shipped with TinyBIOS, which is also |
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> release under an open license. Is coreboot so much faster/more |
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> open/better? |
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I certainly think so, but as a coreboot developer I will be biased. :) |
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TinyBIOS is a light and lean BIOS while coreboot has another focus. |
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coreboot doesn't want to be a BIOS, it only does very early hardware |
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initialization and then it hands over to another program (the payload |
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in coreboot terms) which can be a bootloader (FILO for kernels on |
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disk, EtherBoot/gPXE network etc) or a Linux kernel or even an |
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application using the C library libpayload. There is also an open |
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source BIOS payload called SeaBIOS. The payload goes with coreboot |
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into the flash chip. |
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> Also, I don't see any removable flash chip on the boards. Does this |
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> mean that if^H^Hwhen you brick the board, it's over, or is there |
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> some backdoor? |
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As was mentioned, the LPC bus is available on a pin header, and |
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PC Engines offer the LPC.1A product for those who want to experiment |
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with firmware: http://pcengines.ch/lpc1a.htm |
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It's not available in the order form, but just send them an email, |
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they are very friendly. |
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Of course you can also hook up a ROM emulator to the LPC bus. There |
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are a few different products available, more or less commercial. One |
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open source solution called the FLASH-PLAICE just uses the Xilinx |
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Spartan 3E FPGA eval board. |
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PC Engines also make pinouts and many schematics available online |
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which warms the hardware hacker hearts. :) |
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//Peter |
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