From: muta...@gmail.com   
      
   On Sunday, July 11, 2021 at 2:07:59 AM UTC+10, Scott Lurndal wrote:   
      
   > "muta...@gmail.com"  writes:   
   > >What is the reason that drivers for various bits of   
   > >hardware are being put into the operating system,   
   > >usually only the very latest version of Windows,   
   > >instead of being flashed onto the firmware with   
   > >an API that is available (via BIOS or UEFI) to all   
      
   > Do recall that for many years, the BIOS was in   
   > ROM or EPROM (and later EEPROM). It's only recently   
   > that Flash devices have been used.   
   >   
   > In any case, why put all that cruft (do you know just   
   > how many Windows (and Linux, and Wind River, and QNX   
   > et alia) device drivers exist in the world? They   
   > wouldn't all fit in the firmware.   
      
   Ok, then how about the BIOS/UEFI has access to   
   both the hard disk (as it already does with BOOTX64.EFI)   
   and a reserved area of RAM (it is already responsible   
   for providing a memory map). It could even secure this   
   memory in another ring.   
      
   > And besides, the BIOS "int" interface is fairly useless   
   > for modern operating systems and has been obsolete for decades.   
      
   I said "or UEFI" above. It's just the principle of abstracting   
   the hardware.   
      
   In actual fact, can the Windows driver interface be used   
   as-is for the purpose I describe? However ReactOS is   
   doing things - move all that code into UEFI.   
      
   Thanks. Paul.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)