[gentoo-user] BIOS or what

[gentoo-user] BIOS or what

[alain.didierjean]

I'm starting to think about my next development desktop. One question haunts me:
is the BIOS still a fatality? Is there a known and tested alternative available
UEFI? Open Firmware? coreboot? other? Experience welcome

Re: [gentoo-user] BIOS or what

[Florian Philipp]

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Am 01.03.2011 11:23, schrieb alain.didierjean@free.fr:
> 
> 
> I'm starting to think about my next development desktop. One question haunts me:
> is the BIOS still a fatality? Is there a known and tested alternative available
> UEFI? Open Firmware? coreboot? other? Experience welcome
> 

UEFI allows you to boot from disks larger than 2.2 TB because it
supports the GPT partition scheme.

If you consider using a smaller SDD as your system drive and larger HDDs
only for bulk data, this might not be an issue for you, even in the long
run.

The 64 bit versions of Windows Vista and newer are the only ones capable
of booting from GPT in case you want to dual-boot.

Disclaimer: No personal experience.

Hope this helps,
Florian Philipp


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[gentoo-user] Re: BIOS or what

[James]

 <alain.didierjean <at> free.fr> writes:


> I'm starting to think about my next development desktop. One 
> question haunts me:is the BIOS still a fatality? Is there a 
> known and tested  alternative available
> UEFI? Open Firmware? coreboot? other? Experience welcome

Well, I've been researching my next mobo too and 
I think that GigaByte (some boards) allow
for 2 bios copies to be stored on the mobo.
That would mean a bios failure is not catastrophic?

Surely someone on the list has some experience in this,
maybe playing with Gigabyte's "core unlock" feature
to get a X3 running as a quad core?

James

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: BIOS or what

[Mark Knecht]

On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 7:55 AM, James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
>  <alain.didierjean <at> free.fr> writes:
>
>
>> I'm starting to think about my next development desktop. One
>> question haunts me:is the BIOS still a fatality? Is there a
>> known and tested  alternative available
>> UEFI? Open Firmware? coreboot? other? Experience welcome
>
> Well, I've been researching my next mobo too and
> I think that GigaByte (some boards) allow
> for 2 bios copies to be stored on the mobo.
> That would mean a bios failure is not catastrophic?
>
> Surely someone on the list has some experience in this,
> maybe playing with Gigabyte's "core unlock" feature
> to get a X3 running as a quad core?
>
> James

One of my Asus boards (Rampage II Extreme) allows two BIOS copies.
Everything about the board has been reliable over the year I've owned
it so I haven't needed to use it other than a single BIOS update right
after I got the board.

- Mark