Thread Subject: Re: BIOS Accessibility(TETIAC) - from within Windows- HP solution

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From: Gregg Vanderheiden
Date: Fri, Jul 13 2007 2:40 PM

I am extremely familiar with BIOSs.

Yes - I was playing loose with the term BIOS and VISTA.

And you describe it correctly below. More to the point though is how we
handle the interface it presents.

I think we should take the tack you posted in your other email - and see if
it is covered by the provisions we have.


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



> -----Original Message-----
> From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf
> Of Peter Korn
> Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 2:50 PM
> To: TEITAC General Interface Accessibility Subcommittee
> Cc: 'TEITAC desktop/portable (hardware) subcommittee';
> 'TEITAC Web/Software Subcommittee'
> Subject: Re: [teitac-websoftware] [teitac-general] BIOS
> Accessibility(TETIAC) - from within Windows- HP solution
>
> Gregg,
>
> You are asking the wrong question. The BIOS isn't in Vista.
> The BIOS is in the firmware of the chips on an x86 computer.
> My Sun Opteron workstation (using AMD's Operaton processor
> that uses the Intel x86 instruction set) contains a BIOS.
> And there is no Windows anywhere near it (the closest Windows
> is several feet away, on another desk).
>
> In the case of Dell, HP, Lenovo, it appears there is a
> program that will run on Windows (XP, Vista, what-have-you)
> that presents a user interface for making BIOS settings
> changes. That program may (or may not) be accessible. The
> user interface that the BIOS itself presents - code running
> from the firmware before any OS is loaded - faces huge
> challenges in being fully accessible due to the nature of the
> computing system at the time that that user interface is running.
>
> Perhaps next week I can give a quick demo of this to you (and
> anyone else interested) in DC over lunch...
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Peter Korn
> Accessibility Architect,
> Sun Microsystems, Inc.
>
>
> > Hmmmmm.
> >
> > Is there a BIOS in Vista?
> >
> > If there is, then there is a BIOS in 90-95% of the computer
> workstations in
> > the US gov (cause there is on all other Windows).
> >
> > That seems pretty significant.
> >
> > The question though is " Is the BIOS a user setting or not"
> . and is it
> > covered by our other provisions or not.
> >
> > This may not be such a problem depending. But we should look at it
> > functionally and not treat is all as one type of issue or
> paint it all in or
> > all out.
> >
> >
> > Gregg
> > -- ------------------------------
> > Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> >> [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf
> >> Of Peter Korn
> >> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 3:47 PM
> >> To: TEITAC General Interface Accessibility Subcommittee
> >> Cc: TEITAC desktop/portable (hardware) subcommittee; TEITAC
> >> Web/Software Subcommittee
> >> Subject: Re: [teitac-websoftware] [teitac-general] BIOS
> >> Accessibility(TETIAC) - from within Windows- HP solution
> >>
> >> Hi Allen, guys,
> >>
> >> Please remember that the BIOS issues we are discussing are an
> >> implementation detail of x86 PC-based systems. There is no
> >> exposed BIOS user-interface for almost every other computing
> >> architecture and device.
> >> Not on Macintosh, not on SPARC, not on cell phones, not on
> >> copiers, not on MP3 players.
> >>
> >> The exposed BIOS user interface is a program running in a
> >> limited environment - there is no OS yet, there is no
> >> platform-defined set of themes or color/contrast, etc.
> >>
> >> I believe strongly that it would be wrong for us to write
> >> BIOS recommendations in TEITAC.
> >>
> >> We should treat the user interaction functionality provided
> >> by BIOS configuration programs as we would anything else. If
> >> the system is a "closed" system at the time the BIOS is
> >> running (no way to run AT), then those provisions should
> >> apply. If there are no system-define color and contrast
> >> settings that the BIOS config UI can draw from, then we have
> >> other rules that apply. Etc.
> >>
> >> We can also ask the question of whether BIOS re-configuration
> >> that one can do from a running system (as we're seeing are
> >> available from laptops from HP, Dell, and Lenovo) is
> >> sufficient. Since making changes to these settings during the
> >> boot process is something you only *have* to do at that time
> >> when the system is failing to boot, I suggest that the "fix a
> >> system when it is broken" situation is largely outside of the
> >> scope of most of the 508 technical standards. Based on that,
> >> I suggest that BIOS re-configuration programs that you can
> >> use on a running system should suffice, so long as they are
> >> of course accessible.
> >>
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> Peter Korn
> >> Accessibility Architect,
> >> Sun Microsystems, Inc.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> One more follow up.
> >>> now that we do know that some BIOS(s) are updateable from
> >>>
> >> post-boot,
> >>
> >>> as i recalled, can we require that, for example and
> >>>
> >> discussions sake:
> >>
> >>> Desktop and portable computers hardware configuration options
> >>> available at pre-boot time, must also be configurable after boot.
> >>> This seems broad enough to allow various solutions to meet this
> >>> requirement.
> >>> I'd think this requirement would go in "hardware".
> >>>
> >>> Allen Hoffman -- = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ; v: 202-447-0303
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>> --
> >>> *From:* = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> >>> [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] *On Behalf
> >>>
> >> Of *Gregg
> >>
> >>> Vanderheiden
> >>> *Sent:* Thursday, July 12, 2007 10:28 AM
> >>> *To:* 'TEITAC General Interface Accessibility
> >>>
> >> Subcommittee'; 'TEITAC
> >>
> >>> Web/Software Subcommittee'; 'TEITAC desktop/portable (hardware)
> >>> subcommittee'
> >>> *Subject:* [teitac-general] BIOS Accessibility (TETIAC) -
> >>>
> >> from within
> >>
> >>> Windows- HP solution
> >>>
> >>> We talked about having an application in Windows that
> would set the
> >>> BIOS values. HP does this as a standard provision in their current
> >>> laptops.
> >>>
> >>> The BIOS provides WMI (Windows Management Interface) for
> >>>
> >> exploring and
> >>
> >>> changing BIOS configuration settings under Windows.
> >>>
> >>> The GUI is provided through HP ProtectTools and the plug-in
> >>>
> >> is called
> >>
> >>> BIOS Configuration.
> >>>
> >>> The ProtectTools utility is under the START menu in a
> >>>
> >> folder labeled
> >>
> >>> "HP". A screen shot of the utility is provided below
> >>>
> >>> Thanks Michael for the pointer and for doing things like
> this at HP.
> >>>
> >>> (Picture courtesy of my own laptop)
> >>>
> >>> Gregg
> >>>
> >>> -- ------------------------------
> >>>
> >>> Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>> --
> >>>
> >>>

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