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bios: Definition and Recommended Links

Our favorite links for this topic area. Enjoy, fellow researchers! Questions, comments, new links? Email eewindow@aol.com!.

In computing, the BIOS (pronounced /'ba?o?s/) is an initialism stands for the Basic Input/Output System according to the IBM Personal Computer Technical Reference manual[1] [2] or the punctuational variants Basic Input Output System, or Basic Input-Output System.

BIOS in part refers to the firmware code run by a PC when first powered on, which is a type of boot loader. The primary function of the BIOS is to identify and initialize system component hardware (such as the video display card, hard disk, and floppy). This is to prepare the machine into a known low capability state, so other software programs stored on various media can load, execute, and assume control of the PC.[3] This process is known as booting, or booting up, which is short for bootstrapping. Among other classes of computers, the generic terms boot monitor, boot loader or boot ROM were commonly used. Some Sun and Macintosh PowerPC computers used Open Firmware for this purpose. There are a few alternatives for Legacy BIOS in the x86 world: Extensible Firmware Interface, Open Firmware (used on the OLPC XO-1) and coreboot.

Source: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS)

other great electronics sites:ee toolbox site

• • bios
    • In computing, the BIOS (pronounced /'ba?o?s/) is an initialism stands for the Basic Input/Output System according to the IBM Personal Computer Technical Reference manual[1] [2] or the punctuational variants Basic Input Output System, or Basic Input-Output System.

      BIOS in part refers to the firmware code run by a PC when first powered on, which is a type of boot loader. The primary function of the BIOS is to identify and initialize system component hardware (such as the video display card, hard disk, and floppy). This is to prepare the machine into a known low capability state, so other software programs stored on various media can load, execute, and assume control of the PC.[3] This process is known as booting, or booting up, which is short for bootstrapping. Among other classes of computers, the generic terms boot monitor, boot loader or boot ROM were commonly used. Some Sun and Macintosh PowerPC computers used Open Firmware for this purpose. There are a few alternatives for Legacy BIOS in the x86 world: Extensible Firmware Interface, Open Firmware (used on the OLPC XO-1) and coreboot.

      Source: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS)

      (Note: The Electronic Engineers Toolbox provides an alternative set of featured links for this word at http://www.cera2.com/bios.htm)

      Featured Links:

      Open Bios Project

      OpenBIOS is a free portable firmware implementation. The goal is to implement a 100% IEEE 1275-1994 (Referred to as Open Firmware) compliant firmware. Among it's features, Open Firmware provides an instruction set independent device interface which can be used to boot the operating system from expansion cards without native initialization code.
      http://www.openbios.info/

      Design Services: Consultants, Design Co's, Programmers

      Looking for engineers or designers? eg3.com's new "eg3 connect" service puts people who NEED TALENT in touch with people who HAVE TALENT. So if you are looking for an outside consultant or design company to help you get your project done quickly and under budget, check out this new online resource. Free.
      http://www.eg3.com/connect/

      Beyond BIOS: Implementing the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface with Intel's Framework

      Beyond BIOS: Implementing the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface with Intel¿s Framework describes a set of robust architectural interfaces, implemented in C, that has been designed to enable the BIOS industry and Intel customers to accelerate the evolution of innovative, differentiated, computer platform designs. The Framework is Intel's recommended implementation of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) specification for computer...
      http://www.amazon.com

      VLX for NI Supporting Texas Instruments™ DSP Processors

      VirtualLogix™ VLX for Network Infrastructure supporting Texas Instruments' Digital Signal Processors (DSP) provides a virtualization solution for telecommunications equipment vendors who wish to add general purpose functionality to their signal processing blades with minimal effort and maximum performance. VLX enables vendors to develop new network elements integrating digital signaling functions at a minimal cost.
      http://www.virtuallogix.com

      The BIOS Web

      A source for PC ROM BIOS There is more to it then meets the eye! This site is provided as a complement to my books and CD-ROM: 'Het BIOS boekje' published by Uitgeverij Pim Oets, Amsterdam 'Het BIOS-boek' published by Addison-Wesley, Amsterdam 'Das BIOS-Buch' published by Franzis Verlag, Poing 'Die BIOS CD-ROM' published by Franzis Verlag, Poing
      http://www.matrix-bios.nl/

      EtherBoot

      Etherboot is a software package for creating ROM images that can download code over an Ethernet network to be executed on an x86 computer. Many network adapters have a socket where a ROM chip can be installed.
      http://www.etherboot.org/

      LinuxBIOS Project

      LinuxBIOS is an Open Source project aimed at replacing the normal BIOS with a little bit of hardware initialization and a compressed Linux kernel that can be booted from a cold start. The project was started as part of clustering research work in the Cluster Reseach Lab at the Advanced Computing Laboratory at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
      http://www.linuxbios.org/

      Phoenix Technologies Incorporates Framework Support Into Its Core Systems Software (BIOS) Offerings

      Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTEC), today announced support for the Intel Platform Innovation Framework (codename Tiano) in its primary core systems software offerings (BIOS products). The introduction of AwardCore Tiano and SecureCore Tiano assures Phoenix's OEM and ODM customers that Phoenix can meet their needs at every point in their transition from legacy BIOS implementations and drivers to more efficient...
      http://investor.phoenix.com

      General Software Announces Support For The New Intel® Ep80579 Integrated Processor Product Line

      General Software is now supporting through its Embedded BIOS® with StrongFrame® Technology the new Intel® EP80579 Integrated Processor product line. It is the first in a family of enterprise-class complete system-on-a-chip (SOC) products combining an x86 CPU, a memory controller and an I/O controller into a single chip. This specialized Intel® Architecture processor is an integral part of new platform solutions targeted for several market ...
      http://www.gensw.com/documents/pr080724.pdf

      EFI and Framework Open Source Community

      Community surrounding the open source components of Intel's implementation of EFI, officially called the Platform Innovation Framework referred to as 'the Framework'. (To learn more about EFI, please click here.) These components comprise the main projects hosted here at the website (www.tianocore.org ). The EFI and Framework open source community is growing by the day and could use more help in driving and developing the Framework and its...
      https://www.tianocore.org/

      Explanation: these links are provided as part of our EE glossary project, which seeks to identify the most prominent keywords in embedded systems, embedded software, realtime and rtos, dsp (digital signal processing), system-on-a-chip, microprocessors and microcontrollers, and other constituent elements for embedded systems. While we seek to keep most of the links up-to-date, the user is refered to other primary electronic-based search sites such as: cera2.com, embedded.com, or EDN Magazine. If you have any suggestions of links or definitions, please email!

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