[LinuxBIOS] ECS top hat flash - dual-bios-circuit useable elsewhere ?

[Peter Stuge]

On Sun, Apr 29, 2007 at 11:39:01PM +0200, Quux wrote:
> Those two pdf's just show photo's,

Oh. :(


> I guess it is pretty much established, that it's all about two plcc
> in parallel with #CE activated individually. not that difficult
> after all.

Definately. This goes for any flash. I made
http://stuge.se/ceswitch.png when discussing this with Anton Borisov.

(Note only one switch should be closed at a time. I had no better
symbol at hand.)


> using a flip over socket avoids cutting the #CE line on the mobo if
> there is no chipset output driving those 2 #CE signals.

True, but there usually is.. Right? This is especially true on buses
where more than one device is attached. E.g. LPC, with both the flash
and a superio.


> the Gigabyte patent also includes the firmware procedure to verify
> flash content and to automatically select a valid chip without user
> intervention.

Yeah, it was using a watchdog that had to be disabled by the first
BIOS software tried within a certain time. If not, the system would
reset and try the other BIOS.


> maybe one day they ship M57's with full dual bios : one legacy and
> the other LinuxBIOS activated by default   YEAH !    :-)   --Q

The big money win is when LinuxBIOS is the default and the other one
is blank, then the board will cost $10-$15 less. (License fee
Gigabyte pays for the Phoenix BIOS.)

Having the full dual BIOS circuit populated would be nice, but I'm
not sure all their customers would want to pay even $3 extra for it,
since they would never use it.

It's already very cool that it's so simple to add the manual switch
to the board!


//Peter