Thread Subject: Information regarding access to BIOS

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From: Thomas Albin
Date: Mon, Feb 05 2007 7:02 AM

Hi All,
I had an opportunity to discuss the practicality of developer access
to, and modification of, the BIOS for a device with some
knowledgeable Computer Scientists who are outside of the
manufacturing community. The substance of the response was that they
thought manufacturers would be reluctant to do this.

They thought that the most likely concern would be that altering the
BIOS would unintentionally change the functioning of some other part
of the device. Their advice was that this is exactly why drivers
were developed.

Second, although I was not able to well-articulate the need for
access to the BIOS, the suggestion was that AT devices might need
access to other parts of the system, e.g. the video display card.

Finally, it was pointed out that many manufacturers do not develop or
write their own BIOS; instead they license it from a vendor such as
Phoenix. Consequently they are at least one step removed from direct
access to and knowledge of the BIOS.

Best regards,
Tom Albin

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