B.I.O.S. to lock out non-Windows code ?

[Robert Brockway]

On Mon, 6 Oct 2003, Henry Spencer wrote:

> On Mon, 6 Oct 2003, Justin Zygmont wrote:
> > why not assembly?  I thought most bioses were written in that.
>
> The problem with assembler is that it is very processor-specific.  This is
> particularly problematic for peripherals that have their own BIOS ROMs --
> which CPU type should their BIOS modules be coded for?  (No, the whole
> world isn't x86s.)  Using some sort of interpreted format solves that.

That's right, and Forth is chosen because some "BIOS" equivalents are
already written in it (the PROM on Sun boxes and maybe others).

Rob

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Robert Brockway B.Sc. email: robert-5LEc/6Zm6xCUd8a0hrldnti2O/JbrIOy at public.gmane.org, zzbrock at uqconnect.net
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