I want to update the boot firmware used by an "ancient" ISA bus PC that I'm trying to reactivate. Kevin O'C. told me to use SeaBIOS, I need to use Coreboot. So, here I am.
FWIW, I'm a retired IBM mainframe system programmer, with more than 45 years of experience. Please be very gentle with me. What is "old hat" to me doesn't necessarily map onto x86 hardware. The machine in question uses the 3 IC (386DX) version of VTI's "Topcat" chipset. From the day I acquired it, a 486-33DX has been in situ. Part of the reactivation scheme includes the installation of an already on hand IBM/Cyrix 3X clock multiplying 586 CPU. If I read the chipset reference (URL follows immediately) correctly, as much as 64 MB of RAM can be employed. https://ia800603.us.archive.org/0/items/bitsavers_vtiVTITOPCTChipsetOct90_14572924/VTI_TOPCAT_VL82C286_82C386_PC_AT_Chipset_Oct90.pdf I have several reasons for wanting to upgrade the firmware: a Y2K date handling flaw, PIO IDE (PATA) limited to 5nn MB (no LBA) plus no optical drive support, no support of the 586's performance features, and a possible inability to deal with 64 MB of RAM. If the chipset can do it, I want to do it. BTW, an Adaptec AHA1542 SCSI controller will handle the HDD, but full PATA capability, if needed, can't be bad. No EEPROM here. (E)PROM burning will have to be done. While Win 98 as the OS would not be disastrous, I BADLY want to use Linux. Candidate distros seem to be TinyCore and Gentoo. Gentoo has been done on similar hardware and that project's URL follows. http://yeokhengmeng.com/2018/01/make-the-486-great-again/ TIA for your responses. Eli D.
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