[GTALUG] Tutorials on Linux command-line -- any interest?

Kevin Cozens kevin at ve3syb.ca
Mon Jul 31 12:32:25 EDT 2017


On 2017-07-29 10:52 AM, William Park via talk wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 05:21:14PM -0400, Kevin Cozens via talk wrote:
>>
>> There are some motherboards that are including the ability to update the
>> firmware from the motherboard firmware without the need to boot to an
>> operating system. The ASUS motherboard I have includes such a feature. It
>> makes doing firmware updates a lot easier.
> 
> I thought it was always like that.  I don't remember booting to Windows
> to upgrade BIOS of motherboard.

No, it wasn't always like that. AFAICR the ability to flash the BIOS from a 
memory stick is a more recent thing. Until this latest hardware upgrade I 
had not seen a motherboard that had the ability to reprogram itself without 
the need of some special program which would only run under either DOS or 
Windows.

In the very early days flashing a BIOS meant pulling the memory chip out of 
the board and replacing it, or using a UV light to erase the EPROM 
containing the BIOS and reprogram it using a device for programming EPROMs. 
That was a very different time.

-- 
Cheers!

Kevin.

http://www.ve3syb.ca/           |"Nerds make the shiny things that distract
Owner of Elecraft K2 #2172      | the mouth-breathers, and that's why we're
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