Thread Subject: Re: Information regarding access to BIOS

Note

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From: Gregg Vanderheiden
Date: Mon, Feb 05 2007 11:45 PM

I think the BIOS question came from systems that have bios level passwords
or where the ONLY way of setting things like boot order etc was from bios
routines.
I think you can set most of these from software (for implementation at next
boot).

Only problem would be if a company required boot time bios level passwords.

Anyone have any more info on this?


Gregg
-- ------------------------------
Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D.



> -----Original Message-----
> From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of
> Robinson, Norman B - Washington, DC
> Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 3:24 PM
> To: TEITAC desktop/portable (hardware) subcommittee
> Subject: Re: [teitac-hardware] Information regarding access to BIOS
>
>
> 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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