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BAMBIOS: BIOS emulator for EFI

sHARD>>

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A few researchers from IBM are working on a new BIOS emulator for EFI based on the Boch's x86 emulator. This BIOS emulator is essentially an EFI application which serves to load and execute an emulated BIOS for older operating systems, including Windows, to use. OSNews notes, however, that this may present a few problems: complex partitioning and many updates for new Macintosh Computers. Amit Singh, a developer, elaborates on it's functionality:

 

"To EFI, our software looks like a regular EFI program which happens to be a bootloader. This bootloader contains a binary payload which is an entire BIOS, VGA BIOS, and other x86-specific glue needed to boot the machine. This binary payload is loaded into memory in the legacy BIOS space. To all software on the machine, it appears as if the machine has a traditional BIOS. An important aspect of BAMBIOS is that its goal is to be non-disruptive."

 

This could finally bridge the gap for legacy OSes, including Windows and Linux flavors.

 

Find more information at the BAMBIOS website.

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Wayland
And they (Apple & Microsoft) said bootinmg Windows on an intel mac couldn't happen! :D

 

They also said that booting a Mac OS on PC hardware natively was too, but look where we are now :whistle:

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Darwinian Dude

As another user here has already posted this:

 

The forum post: http://forum.onmac.net/showthread.php?t=64

The photo proof: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32436196@N00

 

Where does this leave this guy? Is this real? Has he made his own version of this translating boot loader? Is he using theirs? Have two people done the same thing? Who gets the $12k?

 

Who really minds as long as we can be buying Macs and running whatever OS's on there we want? (i'd be in OSX 90% of the time, but i need the other 10% too...)

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non sequitur

uh correct me if im wrong (which i have been before), but i think this is a different method. it seems to have no affliation with the BAMBIOS project and i seem to remember people talking somewhere about two methods are supposedly being evaluated by the started of the contest.

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narf2006_

<quote>

As another user here has already posted this:

 

The forum post: http://forum.onmac.net/showthread.php?t=64

The photo proof: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32436196@N00

 

Where does this leave this guy? Is this real? Has he made his own version of this translating boot loader? Is he using theirs? Have two people done the same thing? Who gets the $12k?

</quote>

 

um...we're those guys and for the record our effort has nothing to do with the osxbook guys (though they seems quite good). In fact as far as I know we posted the pictures of XP running on an iiMac before they even announced the BAMBIOS thing. Also they say they don't yet have XP running on BAMBIOS.

 

As for the contest it will hopefully soon be over :hysterical: .

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inkhead

It's real, sadly the site that all about it is down. I was gonna volunteer my macbook pro. I wsa told by another member of the forums who it was demonstrated to (not this forum) that it does indeed work and it is the IBM based software bootloader.

 

Funny how IBM the PowerPC chip company comes back to make the only way to run windows on apple's new chips. the irony!

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autoy
um...we're those guys and for the record our effort has nothing to do with the osxbook guys (though they seems quite good). In fact as far as I know we posted the pictures of XP running on an iiMac before they even announced the BAMBIOS thing. Also they say they don't yet have XP running on BAMBIOS.

 

As for the contest it will hopefully soon be over :D .

 

Hi narf, nice to see you around the OSx86 guerilla fields :) and congratulations!

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Bloggerman

Yay IBM, I knew they were clever enough to pull this off, just goes to show that when a large corporation puts it's mind to something, there's no stopping it. I guess they are a little pissed at losing it's chip monopoly with Apple. Makes sense to stab Mr Jobs with with pen they signed off with.... :):D

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foobarro

Well, one of the three guys who did this, Amit Singh, is the smart fellow who came out with those cool motion sensor apps for the OS X a year or two ago - check 'em out on his site. He (and his 2 colleagues) seem like they definitely have the chops to do this....

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sHARD>>
um...we're those guys and for the record our effort has nothing to do with the osxbook guys (though they seems quite good). In fact as far as I know we posted the pictures of XP running on an iiMac before they even announced the BAMBIOS thing. Also they say they don't yet have XP running on BAMBIOS.

 

As for the contest it will hopefully soon be over :) .

 

And we'll be quick to post it once it's verified :) Drop us a line if it is :D

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inkhead

Well why don't you have me test it for you ;-) I have two macbook pros and would nearly kill to test this out. I'd sign any contract regarding disclosure of your trade secret.

 

I'm qualified ;-) contact me on AIM:brainchild2b If you are interested. Good Luck!

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chiefsalami

Guys, realize that the 2 gents who have developed BAMBIOS (and got Linux fully booted on the iMac) happen to be from IBM, but IBM is not backing this work. In other words, it is not IBM who has come back to potentially save the day, it's just these 2 guys. Remember that...

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sHARD>>
Guys, realize that the 2 gents who have developed BAMBIOS (and got Linux fully booted on the iMac) happen to be from IBM, but IBM is not backing this work. In other words, it is not IBM who has come back to potentially save the day, it's just these 2 guys. Remember that...

 

Yes, perhaps I didn't make that clear enough :censored2: Thanks.

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bofors

Is BAMBIOS an EFI Compatibility Support Module (CSM)?

 

Or is there some distinction between what BAMBIOS is supposed to do and a true EFI-CSM?

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Pu7o
very interesting... if they get this working I'll be singing from the mountain tops with a brand new mac book pro!

I'll want video evidence of that! (you singing from the mountain tops with a macbook, that is!) :D

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abcslayer

I don't think about BamBIOS as a CSM it different a little bit. CSM capture all BIOS legacy calls and redirect it to correct EFI component.

BAMBIOS is a solution that I (and other) have thinked about: we load the full BIOS to the RAM (like shadowed BIOS) then run (execute the codes) the BIOS from there (and maybe unload the EFI from RAM?!).

Why they used Bochs BIOS? because it is the free software not the commercial BIOS and it simple, not implement any specific function that some mainboard have why other not (the customed BIOS by the manufacturer)

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Ouch

Does that meant that this effectively emulated bios will run in a lowest common denominator mode which would limit access to some of the motherboards features?

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