5 ms·
GPL-3.0 licensed BIOS for Intel 8088 based computers
- wannacboatmovie 3y agoFinally, Richard Stallman can have a laptop that's GPL down to the CPU. Will an 8088 run emacs?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- userbinator 3y agoThis is just the BIOS, not the CPU nor the rest of the hardware. For a GPL BIOS, Coreboot/Libreboot has already existed for a while.
- mjg59 3y agoEh kind of? Coreboot effectively provides the hardware initialisation layer - if you want runtime firmware you're going to need a payload like SeaBIOS (which is GPLed, but which isn't really intended to bring up real hardware from scratch)
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y agoI won't say what it was intended for per se, but IIRC coreboot+seabios boots a lot of chromebooks just fine.
- mjg59 3y agoYes, Coreboot does the hardware bringup and then hands off to SeaBIOS. SeaBIOS can't do that on its own.
- kjs3 3y agoFor a GPL BIOS, Coreboot/Libreboot has already existed for a while. For, what, a handful of old laptops? It's not a general solution for libre booting.
- codys 3y agoEvery single modern x86 chromebook has coreboot support. That said: most if not all of them require some proprietary bits to initialize ram timings and to run the security coprocessors (Amd PSP, Intel ME). Older intel based systems (like the Lenovo x200) have coreboot support that can work without the ME firmware (but still requiring the EC firmware). A list of many of the google devices with coreboot support (note: they're all codenames, not marketing names): https://doc.coreboot.org/security/vboot/list_vboot.html#google https://doc.coreboot.org/security/vboot/list_vboot.html#goog...
- kjs3 3y agoSo that means, what, 0.1% of machines, not 0.001% of machines have coreboot support? Well that makes all the difference in the world...
- codys 3y agoI don't know what the percent of existing machines are chromebooks. But that wasn't the question posed, it was: > For, what, a handful of old laptops? And the answer there is "no".
- kjs3 3y agoThe point (that is, the thing that matters, which admittedly you would have to actually read the thread for understanding) is that libreboot isn't available on enough platforms to be a free alternative to proprietary boot methods for most people. And that's even including all the chromebooks in the world. But Someone Is Wrong On The Internet, so I guess you can claim to have fixed that.
- m463 3y agoI thought he already had a laptop. EDIT: https://www.stallman.org/stallman-computing.html https://www.stallman.org/stallman-computing.html "As of 2022 I use a Thinkpad x200 computer..." (followed by detailed explanation)
- dehrmann 3y agoLooks like those are from 2008?
- m463 3y agoI think you're right: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_X_series#X200_and_X200s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_X_series#X200_and_X20... Wonder what he would think of: https://puri.sm https://puri.sm though honestly thinkpad keyboards are pretty nice. EDIT: hmmm... none certified: https://ryf.fsf.org/products https://ryf.fsf.org/products
- kjs3 3y agoMicroEmacs runs on DOS (and CP/M-86, I think). Not the whole GNU environment, but at least you get the keybindings.
- WalterBright 3y agoMicroEmacs doesn't include a Lisp interpreter.
- kjs3 3y agoI didn't feel the need to enumerate everything a DOS emacs doesn't have that GNU emacs does.
- rnd0 3y agoI'm sure there's an Emacs that does but the canonical emacs? I doubt that would even run on a 286, much less an 8088...
- WalterBright 3y agoIt will run MicroEmacs :-)
- iosono88 3y ago[dead]
- ok123456 3y agoDoes this rom fix the book8088 being randomly off by a column in text mode?
- LukeShu 3y agoThe stock book8088 BIOS is a ripoff (GPL violation) of this. IDK about that bug though.
- bdowling 3y agoDidn't they notify buyers of the open source bios and share the code if a buyer wanted it? That may be enough to satisfy the GPL.
- LukeShu 3y agoIDK what notices they provide, but: The copyright statement that prints on boot and indicates that it is licensed under the GPL has been stripped, violating section 4 and 5.d (now claims to be "Copyright (C) 2022 CYCLE Logic" with no mention of "Copyright (C) 2010 - 2020 Sergey Kiselev", and with no mention of the GPL). If you do request the source code from them, to their credit they do give it to you, but they code the give you has all (edit: most) of the copyright header-comments removed (violation of section 5.b). And generally, in neither the binary nor the source code indicate that it's based on book8088 (violation of section 5.a).
- snvzz 3y agoThat's so silly. They'd definitely sell more, not less, of these book8088s if they credited the bios and used upstream's source. Particularly now that upstream directly supports the device.
- rasz 3y agoNo :) Its Chinese open source, Bunnie calls it Gongkai https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=4297 https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=4297 You copy, rip out attribution, add some optional modifications and sell it as your own.
- mrlonglong 3y agoThis chap has also built a 8088 PC clone. I'm just wondering why not a 8086?
- colejohnson66 3y agoThe original IBM 5150 used the 8088, as did all the clones. So, assuming the author got ideas from old schematics, they would probably use the same chip.
- LukeShu 3y agoThere wasn't really an important 8086 box. The first IBM PC (1981) used the 8088. The first 8086 PCs were the discount models in the PS/2 line (April 1987), 3 years after the 80286 in the PC/AT (1984); so the 8086 was already obsolete by the time it was in a PC. And later that year (August 1987) it would be even more obsolete when an 80386DX PS/2 came out.
- MenhirMike 3y agoThe one truly important 8086-based machine I can think of is the Japanese NEC PC-9801, so it would make some sense for someone to clone a machine like that. Though I'm not sure if I'd clone the original 9801 that kicked off the entire line or rather go for the much improved NEC V30 chip instead. (Which also powered Irem's M72 Arcade Board, which ran R-Type, and the latter M82/M84 boards that gave us R-Type II - though arguably, arcade boards aren't in the same category as home computers)
- kjs3 3y agoIf you think the only 'important' thing in computing at that time was the IBM PC, then maybe you think there were no 'important' 8086 boxes. There was a lot more going on at the time if you were actually there working at the time.
- pwg 3y ago> The first 8086 PCs were the discount models in the PS/2 line (April 1987) You missed two earlier ones. The Olivetti M24 (also sold as the AT&T 6300 in the US) was released in 1983 and used the 8086 CPU. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivetti_M24 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivetti_M24
- molticrystal 3y agoI guess it isn't so simple [0] msg_no_basic db 'No ROM BASIC', 0Dh, 0Ah, 0 ;========================================================================= ; int_18 - execute ROM BASIC ; Note: ; Prints an error message since we don't have ROM BASIC ;------------------------------------------------------------------------- int_18: mov si,msg_no_basic call print .1: hlt jmp .1 [0] https://github.com/skiselev/8088_bios/blob/dfff4fddc8ea73c8ac27435238449fb09b9ef252/src/bios.asm#L1211= https://github.com/skiselev/8088_bios/blob/dfff4fddc8ea73c8a...
- deaddodo 3y agoIt was common for later BIOSes to not include the BASIC ROM: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS_interrupt_call https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS_interrupt_call Not ideal, but not a deal breaker. And it might go against Microsoft's IP (not sure, personally).
- WalterBright 3y agoIt's not that hard to write a BASIC interpreter.
- snvzz 3y agoYou're welcome to do it.
- WalterBright 3y agoI've actually thought of doing it. But I'm pretty committed as CEO of the DLF.
- nicman23 3y agoi love people that shitpost here can be C level execs in massive corps
- cable2600 3y agoReminds me of ERSO BIOS. NASA still uses IBM PC and XT systems for some of their work as they haven't converted the programs to newer hardware.
- ceving 3y agoWhat would you do with 4.77 MHz nowadays?
- rasz 3y agoOverclock it to ~7MHz using Doug Severson's 1985 PC-Sprint https://github.com/reeshub/pc-sprint https://github.com/reeshub/pc-sprint :) Epictronics: Overclocking IBM PCjr, 5150 PC, 5160 XT, 5155 Portable. Introducing the Skinny Sprint! + PCjr repair https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v46DFLBlxzw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v46DFLBlxzw