Firmware & BIOS; x86 vs ARM etc. (rambling; curious)

[Haraldur]

Again: You are right: little modularity --> no strict NEED for even EFI much less for "PC BIOS". But tradeoff is: you need really smooth communication with all parties providing you HW (if only Intel does, great... but....) and you need time to roll your own. It just does not work that way.

Heck, yes, you could even cut out ACPI assuming manufacturers were happy to provide you with some pretty lowlevel details of their systems... That, however, is pretty much spot on why ACPI was nightmared up in the first place... they aren't: hello ACPI.

It's just that because it is easier to grab ready made things, this is not often done!

But for ARM devices, there is no BIOS, we are told.

I feel that I may be confusing myself. Are any of these statements wrong?:

The Linux kernel, through drivers, directly accesses all hardware (though Direct Memory Access?) without relying on any other software simultaneously running on the CPU.

Other software/firmware may run on other chips (on SSDs, GPUs, motherboard sound cards etc.).

BIOS/EFI does not run after the OS has taken over the CPU. It is only involved with booting.

Also: correct me since I'm wrong, but hasn't Windows itself been bootable with EFI since 7? Not even need for "legacy BIOS" support from motherboard? Or do you feel EFI=BIOS enough?

My current desktop is the only computer I have owned with UEFI rather than BIOS. Microsoft Windows has never touched it (excepting VMs), so I cannot say.

Wine cares not what it runs on. BIOS is just 4 letters to Wine. But you knew that.

If you want a dependable system to natively BOOT your Windows XP, 2000, 98, 95: Then you need a BIOS and a damn robust one at that. This was what most of the hulabaloo threads always ended up to - those ole things would rock if they ran.

But really: get a new PC from Walmart, insert your XP install disc... dissappointment ahoy. The mythical Intel-Pyra would have been no different from those new Acers. I know I got an Acer that cannot boot into XP, though it does have a BIOS!

It seems to me that the set of software that cannot run on either WINE or Windows 7-or-later would be rather small. I can think of two items that frustrate me: Grim Fandango and Discworld Noir (never played either), and they fail on XP too.

 

[TrashyMG]

If you want to play Grim Fandango on other platforms I suggest Residual, it even works phenomenally well on the Pandora.