[OT] But important to me. Appropiate Mailing Lists ??

[Mike McCarty]

William Case wrote:
> Thanks James.  That fixes things.  Everything that I had read about BIOS
> including the Intel Data Sheets left me with the impression that the
> BIOS (Firmware Hub) was like a minor CPU that fired up everything else.

For a little history, the term originated with CP/M (Control Program/
Microprocessor), which was a floppy disc based OS used extensively
in the late '70s and early '80s. It is an acronym derived from
Basic Input/Output System. Simply stated, it is just the first program
to be given control during boot. Its job, so to speak, is simply
to take the processor from its initial state after reset, and
prepare it for OS load, then load the OS, and hand off control to
that. It provides a number of I/O routines for disc, serial port,
etc. which are used during initial boot, hence the name.

> I went back to my manuals and re-read them with the idea that the main
> processor is empowered first (as it were) and is the guy that does all
> the work.  BIOS is just and only a separate memoray location for
> specific startup instructions in a guaranteed location that the main CPU
> can use to get the computer started.  All the manuals make sense on that
> basis.

That's a succinct and reasonably accurate summary.

> Thanks for your time James.
> 
> Regards Bill
> 


-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!