OpenFirmware
Last edit March 3, 2011
http://www.openfirmware.org/
Open Firmware is essentially a specification for a largely machine-independent BIOS based on the
AnsForth
standard that is capable of probing and initializing plug-in cards that have on-board IEEE-1275 compliant Fcode in their ROMs. It was invented by
MitchBradley
to aid in debugging recalcitrant hardware at Sun. It is found in Sun, IBM,
PowerMacintosh
, and
OneLaptopPerChild
systems.
Sun has now made their implementation
OpenSource
:
OpenBoot
.
An effort to create an
OpenSource
open firmware exists: the OpenBIOS project -
http://www.openbios.org/
. While not being completely done, it has successfully booted Linux and MacOS (9 and X).
It also has a theme song (sung by the inventor of
OpenFirmware
,
MitchBradley
):
http://playground.sun.com/1275/misc/ofwsong.au
See also: Writing Fcode 2.0 at [
BrokenLink
]
http://docs.sun.com/ab2/@LegacyTocView?&toc=SUNWab_157_1%3A%2Fsafedir%2Fspace3%2Fcoll1%2FSUNWabdds%2F%2Ftoc%2FFCODE%3AFCODE%3Aclose;bt=Writing+FCode+2.x+Programs&Ab2Lang=C&Ab2Enc=iso-8859-1
[
BrokenLink
]
ForthLanguage
code moved to
ExampleForthCode
As of 2006, the new Intel (x86-64)-based
AppleMacintosh
es use Intel's
ExtendedFirmwareInterface
rather than Open Firmware. One was able to give a
PowerMacintosh
owner a harmless but most amusing scare by holding down Command-Option-O-F when booting his computer... (see
http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/osx/arch_boot.html
).
Mar 2011 --
"The IEEE-1275 Open Firmware standard was not reaffirmed by the OFWG and has been officially withdrawn by IEEE."
Does this mean the project is essentially dead?
CategoryForth