Thread Subject: Re: Information regarding access to BIOS

Note

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From: Thomas Albin
Date: Mon, Feb 05 2007 7:04 AM

Hi Norman,
I'm not sure what the original interest in access to the BIOS is or
was. It seemed to be a technical question for which we didn't have
any ready resource, so when an opportunity to ask presented itself, I
took it. Regardless of the source of the BIOS, the opinion that I
got was that it seemed to make more sense to use drivers rather than
to attempt to gain access to the BIOS.
Best regards,
Tom

On Feb 2, 2007, at 3:13 PM, Robinson, Norman B - Washington, DC wrote:

> Tom,
>
> Thanks. I find it interesting in that you would think the
> commercial providers of the BIOS (Phoenix, etc.) would use a standard
> such as IEEE Std 1275-1994 to which the OpenBIOS project tries to
> meet.
>
> So what would be the potential benefit we are looking for in
> access to the BIOS as it relates to Section 508 and accessibility?
>
> Regards,
>
>
> Norman B. Robinson
> Section 508 Coordinator
> IT Governance, US Postal Service
> phone: 202.268.8246
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Thomas
> Albin
> Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 3:48 PM
> To: TEITAC desktop/portable (hardware) subcommittee
> Subject: Re: [teitac-hardware] Information regarding access to BIOS
>
>
> Hi Norman,
> It did come up in my discussion with the computer scientists.
> However, their opinion was that they didn't think it too likely to be
> used. I don't know exactly why, my personal guess would be whether
> or not it would be considered as proven or reliable. However, please
> note that that is my guess!
> Best regards,
> Tom
>
> On Feb 2, 2007, at 1:38 PM, Robinson, Norman B - Washington, DC wrote:
>
>> Tom,
>>
>> I don't know exactly the origin of this conversation, but I'm
>> hoping OpenBIOS might be worth reading in content of your below
>> message.
>> http://openbios.info/Project_Statement
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>>
>> Norman B. Robinson
>> Section 508 Coordinator
>> IT Governance, US Postal Service
>> phone: 202.268.8246
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>> [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Thomas
>> Albin
>> Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 12:03 PM
>> To: TEITAC desktop/portable (hardware) subcommittee
>> Subject: [teitac-hardware] Information regarding access to BIOS
>>
>>
>> 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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