What is Digg?182 Comments
- DeviateSeptum, on 10/11/2007, -6/+137I run a hospital with hundreds of people on life support. Our computers that run the resporators and such are very slow to boot. I think I will install OpenBIOS on them tommorow.
- inactive, on 11/01/2007, -7/+136I would try this on an older computer, but not on my modern pc, it seems like an accident waiting to happen.
- aldenhg, on 10/15/2007, -4/+124Until someone with my EXACT configuration has success with flashing to an open BIOS there's no way I'm doing this on a mission critical machine. Boot time isn't a big enough deal to risk bricking my mobo.
- Cyber_Akuma, on 10/10/2007, -0/+55LifeSupport.exe has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.
- skyshock1, on 10/15/2007, -5/+54Who really cares about boot time? My Linux box hasn't had to be rebooted in almost a year. What I care about is desktop responsiveness and program speeds AFTER the Kernel and GUI have been loaded.
- dougmc, on 11/01/2007, -0/+43How?
- nathangl, on 10/10/2007, -4/+46Rebooting and Linux... You don't see those two words in the same sentance often. Hence, the lack of need to ***** with your bios...
- sirhomer, on 11/01/2007, -1/+39I got LinuxBIOS preinstalled on my MSI 7260. It literally takes three seconds to boot into X. Don't ***** ask me how.
- nonokiaboy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+36In before "Give me linux or give me death"
- carpespasm, on 10/10/2007, -1/+35In other news, nearly 100 people who were one life support at a local hospital have died due to what hospital staff refer to as a "stupid f**king bios error"
- frontporsche, on 10/27/2007, -1/+35the computer I'm typing on right now belongs in the dumpster.
- SodaForJones, on 10/10/2007, -1/+32the computer I'm typing on right now came out of a dumpster
- schestowitz, on 10/10/2007, -5/+35free != open. You already have Sun's GPLed processors though. We're getting there.
- SocialPoison, on 10/15/2007, -2/+31I loled
- Toffeeapple, on 10/10/2007, -1/+27call me if you get stuck
- Fryguy8, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18This article DOES have a pretty reasonable point though. The x86 spec is getting a bit long in the tooth, and there's lots of legacy stuff just laying around that isn't used by anything anymore, but is slowing things down, whether it's boot time or other time.
I've got some spare parts laying around and might actually consider playing with this, but since it's unrecoverable, it's certainly not getting done on my main machine. If I hose my OS, fine re-install, if I hose a BIOS, well yah that sucks. - thcobbs, on 10/10/2007, -1/+18That's why you only buy mobo's with removable BIOS ROMs.
- xerox, on 11/01/2007, -5/+21Someone seems scared of technology.
- geminitojanus, on 10/10/2007, -2/+18It would work /better/ on a modern PC because the BIOS ROM is larger and the number of chipsets has dwindled from 10+ manufacturers with dozens of models to 3-4 most common manufacturers with only a few models each. Targeting the smaller number of boards and chipsets makes it much easier. With a little bit of planning and correct purchasing you can buy a board that will work with any firmware you want (there's a compatibility list over at http://linuxbios.org/index.php/Supported_Motherboa ... ).
- vertinox, on 10/10/2007, -2/+18You know. I'm pretty sure life support systems run on BSD.
- JonForTheWin, on 10/10/2007, -1/+16My friend's windows machine is a dumpster
- thewump, on 10/10/2007, -3/+18This appeals to me and scares the crap out of me at the same time. My new HP Desktop can ONLY do BIOS updates from windows.. so I"m stuck with what I"ve got unless I try something risky like this, or risky like creating the boot disk CD bios solutions which seem equally risky.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -3/+18that would be free as in beer, not free as in freedom...
If you want free as in freedom, you would manufacture all the parts yourself and assemble them based on a gpl'd guide on the internet. - riverspiv, on 10/10/2007, -2/+16I don't understand why people keep throwing the "linux never needs to reboot" card out there. Am I the only one that conserves power and saves on electric bills by turning off their PC during the day while at work, and at night while sleeping? My computer is on about 5-6 hours a day while I am off and on using it at night after work. Why should I waste all that electricity when I have no possibility of using it? I seriously doubt all the people here run public servers at home for general access 24-7-365.
In this day and age, "going green" isn't just about using low power consumption electronics, but also turning things off when you aren't using them. Would you leave your TV on all day long while you are not at home? I know someone out there is going to say "I don't want to wait for my computer to boot". Are you seriously that impatient that you can't wait less than a minute? What has this world come to... - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -2/+16*fantasy of mine*
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....................$nerdGASM - cozmoz365, on 11/01/2007, -0/+14Funny thing is I can imagine some kids doing this and then complaining on YouTube that their computer is broken and its all Linux's fault somehow
- Archon810, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13My dumpster is actually a computer.
- Jugalator, on 10/15/2007, -0/+13Is this just about the time spent in BIOS? It sure sounds like it because it's about the time period (quoting article): "BEFORE bootstrapping the OS."
In that case, 200% may be true, but also kind of misleading into believing there's some huge different in the absolute, total, boot up speed. I mean, 4 secs spent in BIOS due to trying to detect/initialize legacy DOS stuff turning into something like 1.5 is.. well, a save of 2.5 seconds, but still... Is there a big reason to even bother? Tell me again when large solid state memory become cheap. ;-) - ArthurSucks, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12Stealing hardware from behind CompUSA and celebrating with $5 dollar pizzas. Ah, to be young again.
- geminitojanus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11Anyone who is insensitive to downtime. There have been great successes using an OpenFirmware/OpenBIOS/LinuxBIOS to boot cluster computers to insure that the downtime while replacing any piece of hardware is minimal. I've heard somewhere that even Google runs an OpenFirmware of somekind on a great deal of their hardware for this reason but I can't seem to find the source at this moment.
- Xtopherous, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11"Somebody find out what 4 short beeps and a long beep means! Hurry!"
- sgoogle, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Or be an expert solderer :p
- sgoogle, on 11/01/2007, -3/+13Creeps you out? Why?
- dacomputerfreak, on 10/10/2007, -3/+13I assume you haven't been to a hospital lately...
- mtekk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Or one of those Gigabyte boards with Dual Bios ROMs ;).
- Tenoq, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Yes, it's a common feature on Gigabyte boards and high-end boards in other brands (consumer, not server). If you haven't heard of it you've been living under a rock and/or you should stop buying PCs from the large OEMs. :p
- lpmusix, on 10/10/2007, -3/+13No, because BSD is more reliable :)
- Ademan, on 11/01/2007, -1/+11"No one really cares how long your stupid Desktop PC has gone without a reboot." buried for bein a jerk.
But on the other hand power consumption is a real concern, I think that rather significant amounts of money can be saved by keeping your computers off, or at least keeping them off at night. - lolhax, on 11/01/2007, -0/+10Did you buy your house to burn it down? retard.
- theholycow, on 10/10/2007, -4/+13$5 dollar pizzas...from the Department of Redundancy Department.
- maybeway36, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I still use FreeDOS...
- centran, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8I had a mobo that had 2 BIOSs. One was the active one and the other was a backup/safety. It was meant to protect against viruses.
However, if mobo manufactures start making this common practice then it could be very useful for people who want to flash their own BIOS or heck even do the Linux BIOS idea that is coming out. Imagine being able to set a jumper to put you mobo back to the defaults AND original BIOS.
It would be a modders dream since you can screw with your BIOS as much as you like knowing that you can always reset it if you screw up.
This is a good idea... Anyone have ~250 million dollars and want to start up a motherboard company with me? - happycat, on 11/01/2007, -7/+14No one really cares how long your stupid Desktop PC has gone without a reboot. Turn it off at night and save a few dollars each month.
- Anonymous3, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9Not if they overcharged by $4...
- mbthompson, on 10/10/2007, -16/+23Gee what a great idea! Go ahead kids, screw around with your BIOS, then go stick your finger in an electrical socket, and don't forget to wear black play in traffic at night while you're at it.
- Cyber_Akuma, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Don't most modern motherboards contain a second unflashable BIOS you can boot to to attempt a reflash of the original in case something goes wrong?
- skyshock1, on 10/17/2007, -0/+7I can't sleep unless I hear the steady whine of my PC's case fans. :P
- whataboutdave, on 10/10/2007, -11/+18Is it wrong that this creeps me out a bit? I'd be really reluctant to try and open BIOS for quite some time.
- Herolint, on 10/15/2007, -0/+7What does 200% faster mean? Do you mean twice as fast? Do you mean 200 times as fast? I'm puzzled by the improbable measurement of 200%.
- mucnix, on 10/10/2007, -4/+10You fail...
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