[U-Boot] Support for Intel i7 2nd GEneration processors

[Flash K]

Hi Graeme,

I was checking out other alternatives to BIOS. I came across EFI , a new technology that seems to replace the BIOS in the near future. However I am still not clear as to where EFI fits in the booting process. They say that EFI cannot replace the BIOS but plans to do so in the near future. 


FAQs at http://www.uefi.org/about/

Intel also says that they are providing support for some motherboards. So is UEFI meant for use with the existing BIOS or with a custom developed BIOS from Uboot/Coreboot? Some information online also says that UEFI can be used as a payload for Coreboot. The entire thing is a little confusing. I am not able to understand where UEFI fits in with the BIOIS? 


Could you please help?

Regards,
Flash





________________________________
From: Graeme Russ <graeme.russ at gmail.com>
To: Flash K <bootloader99 at yahoo.com>
Cc: "u-boot at lists.denx.de" <u-boot at lists.denx.de>
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 11:57:00 AM
Subject: Re: [U-Boot] Support for Intel i7 2nd GEneration processors

Hi Flash

On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 4:10 PM, Flash K <bootloader99 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Thanks Graeme,
> Okay, so that means that U boot is a combination of Primary and Secondary
> bootloaders, ie loading the MBR and then loading the Kernel image.

U-Boot (like coreboot) sits at the lowest level - It starts executing
from the 'Reset Vector' when the CPU is powered-up or reset

> So is U Boot along the lines of Syslinux, Lilo, GRUB etc. I mean does it
> work in conjunction with a  BIOS?  I thought that U Boot was a combination
> of BIOS + Bootloaders. But thanks for clearing the doubt.

BIOS is a (somewhat standard) set of low-level functions which are
accessed via software interrupts. Linux does not need BIOS (well,
technically it still does for ACPI and possibly some PCI stuff)
because it's drivers are written to control the hardware directly, so
to run the Linux kernel, U-Boot does not have to implement a complete
BIOS. U-Boot implements a very basic set which Linux needs early on to
detect memory - It is just enough to fool Linux into booting after
U-Boot has loaded the kernel image into memory (typically from a Flash
memory devices, but some boards also support SATA interfaces and
various file systems)

Regards,

Graeme

>
> Will check out Coreboot.
>
> Regards,
> Flash
>
> ________________________________
> From: Graeme Russ <graeme.russ at gmail.com>
> To: Flash K <bootloader99 at yahoo.com>
> Cc: "u-boot at lists.denx.de" <u-boot at lists.denx.de>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 10:54:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [U-Boot] Support for Intel i7 2nd GEneration processors
>
> Hi Flash,
>
> On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 3:38 PM, Flash K <bootloader99 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I would like to know if U boot supports the Intel 2nd generation core i7
>> processors.
>
> No it doesn't (at least not yet)
>
> Be aware that U-Boot is a boot-loader for embedded devices (phones,
> routers, set-top boxes, TV's etc) and not a general purpose BIOS for a
> PC. You might want to have a look at coreboot (www.coreboot.org) if
> you are looking for a FOSS implementation of a PC BIOS - They may have
> i7 support.
>
> Regards,
>
> Graeme
>
>
>