Asus to embed Linux into all motherboards • Hacker News Board

Re: Asus to embed Linux into all motherboards

#11

Post by SwellJoe » Fri, May 16, 2008, 8:40 PM UTC

wmf wrote: post #7

SwellJoe wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article doesn't really make it clear, but I suspect (hope) they are entirely replacing the old BIOS with Linux (see http://www.coreboot.org/ ), which means something far more important than merely having a micro-Linux available "instantly". It also means that the BIOS boot time is reduced dramatically. Going from zero to running a full OS (whether it's Windows or a full-blown Linux) will be faster...possibly sha…

Dream on. I have dealt with the BIOS world, and if it ain't completely broken they won't touch it. They aren't even willing to adopt EFI.

I'm not sure I'm convinced of this, in the case of Asus (or Gigabyte or Intel, who have sponsored some LinuxBIOS/Coreboot projects in the past). Asus, with their Eee PC, are striking out into delightfully new territory, and an instant on feature would be a pretty killer thing. Traditional BIOS makes that impossible, because it's so damned slow and changing it is, as you note, practically impossible.

But just because the BIOS software companies (who are, on the whole, separate from the motherboard manufactures) don't want to rewrite their software, it doesn't mean some motherboard manufacturer won't jump ship one day. In fact, I would argue that it's inevitable, if the BIOS manufacturers don't get their act together fast--people are beginning to expect a completely different experience from their devices. The iPhone and similar devices are training people that real computers can turn on instantly and be ready for work in seconds. No reason PCs can't be similarly fast to boot.

Re: Asus to embed Linux into all motherboards

#12

Post by soundsop » Sat, May 17, 2008, 3:22 AM UTC

An OS in ROM? The Amiga 500 memories come flooding back.

I guess Linux is stored in re-writable nonvolatile memory so that it can be updated when the inevitable security bugs are found.

If I remember correctly, on the Amiga, you had to boot from floppy disk (not everything was in ROM), and the ROM code was transferred from ROM to RAM and any patches on the floppy disk were then applied.

Re: Asus to embed Linux into all motherboards

#13

Post by AndyKelley » Sat, May 17, 2008, 8:04 AM UTC

ComputerGuru wrote: post #2

This is a stupid PR stunt. Linux is great and all (using it now), but everything has its place. Just as it doesn't make sense to bundle 31 Cents ice cream with all Nike shoes, it doesn't make sense to stuff Linux down all motherboards. There's a time and a place for everything; and adding features we don't need to products is just going to drive their price up, increase their complexity (and vulnerability). Oh, and t…

Just think of all the things you can do if you only have a web browser today. Now think of all the things you can probably do if you only have a web browser is 5 years. Not such a bad idea, eh? Goes along with this: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/09/18.html