Thread Subject: Re: Information regarding access to BIOS

From: Robinson, Norman B - Washington, DC
Date: Mon, Feb 05 2007 7:04 AM

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Tom,

Thanks again. I would agree with that approach, as that is what
Linux does too - all it really wants is to start and it doesn't matter
if the BIOS provides configuration of hardware devices if the software
drivers can ignore the BIOS and provide access.

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 4:21 PM
To: TEITAC desktop/portable (hardware) subcommittee
Subject: Re: [teitac-hardware] Information regarding access to BIOS


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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