132 lines
4.7 KiB
Text
132 lines
4.7 KiB
Text
Welcome to OpenBIOS
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-------------------
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OpenBIOS is a free, portable implementation of IEEE 1275-1994
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(Open Firmware). Find detailed information about OpenBIOS at
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http://www.openbios.org/
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What is OpenBIOS?
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-----------------
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OpenBIOS can replace your system firmware (BIOS) partly or completely. It
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can also be used as a bootloader to create an Open Firmware compatible
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interface between legacy firmware and an operating system.
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This is achieved by a modular concept that consists of a portable Forth
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kernel and three interfaces for user interaction, device initialization
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and client (operating system) control.
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While far not all possible applications of OpenBIOS are implemented yet,
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a lot of functionality is already there. OpenBIOS can be used to enhance
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LinuxBIOS (http://www.linuxbios.org), or be booted from any multiboot
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capable bootloader to bring Open Firmware to your machine. OpenBIOS can
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also be used when an operating system is already running. It provides
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the needed OpenFirmware functionality to MOL (MacOnLinux) to boot MacOS
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9 and X on PPC machines, as well as Linux (all supported platforms)
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OpenBIOS build options
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---------------------
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config/scripts/switch-arch <platform> - build for specified platform
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Look in config/example for
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platforms.
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make - build all configured binaries
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make run - run unix example.
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How OpenBIOS works
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------------------
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The OpenBIOS forth core is split into a forth kernel written in portable
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C and a forth dictionary which operated on by the kernel.
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When building the forth core, you get different versions of
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the forth kernel:
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* a unix executable program
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- to execute a forth dictionary from a file. This can be used for
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easily testing and developing OpenBIOS on a unix host.
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- to create a dictionary file. Such a dictionary file sets up
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all of the forth language. Primitives are indexed to save relocations.
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The default is to create a forth dictionary forth.dict from
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forth/start.fs. This file includes all of the basic forth language
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constructs from forth/bootstrap.fs and starts the interpreter.
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To achieve this, the hosted unix version contains a basic set of
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forth words coded in C that allow creating a full dictionary.
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* a varying number of target specific binaries. On x86 you can start
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openbios for example from GRUB or LinuxBIOS. They are all based on
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the same forth engine consisting of a dictionary scheduler, primitive
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words needed to build the forth environment, 2 stacks and a simple
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set of console functions. These binaries can not be started directly
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in the unix host environment.
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Requirements
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------------
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* gcc
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* gnu make
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* OpenBIOS FCode Utils
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Download with svn co svn://openbios.org/openbios/fcode-utils
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* grub or any other multiboot loader to run the multiboot
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binary "openbios.multiboot" with it's module "openbios-<platform>.dict"
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* xsltproc
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Building & Usage
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----------------
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* make
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this builds "openbios.multiboot", the standalone image and "openbios-unix",
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the hosted image. Additionally it creates a forth dictionary
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file from forth/start.fs. All generated files are written to
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the absolute directory held by the variable BUILDDIR, which defaults
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to obj-[platform]. Some compile time parameters can be tweaked in
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include/config.h
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* use "openbios-unix" to create a forth dictionary on your own:
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$ obj-x86/openbios-unix -Iforth start.fs
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creates the file forth.dict from forth source forth/start.fs.
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* use "openbios-unix" to run a created dictionary:
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$ obj-x86/openbios-unix obj-x86/openbios-unix.dict
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This is useful for testing
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* booting openbios
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You can boot openbios i.e. in grub. Add the following lines to
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your menu.lst:
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title openbios
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kernel (hd0,2)/boot/openbios.multiboot
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module (hd0,2)/boot/openbios-x86.dict
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Note: change (hd0,2) to the partition you copied the openbios image and
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openbios-x86.dict to.
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To boot OpenBIOS from LinuxBIOS/etherboot, you can either use
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"openbios-plain.elf" or "openbios-builtin.elf":
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- openbios-plain.elf is the pure kernel that loads the dictionary from a
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hardcoded address in flash memory (0xfffe0000)
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- openbios-builtin.elf also includes the dictionary directly so that it
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can be easily used from etherboot or the LinuxBIOS builtin ELF
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loader without taking care of the dictionary
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CREDITS
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-------
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OpenBIOS was developed by Stefan Reinauer, Samuel Rydh and Patrick Mauritz.
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The OpenBIOS IDE driver was written by Jens Axboe.
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For license details on this piece of software, see the file COPYING.
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If you have patches, questions, comments, feel free to contact the OpenBIOS
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mailinglist.
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Regards,
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the OpenBIOS team
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