On Mon, 27 Aug 2001 13:42:36 -0500, Eric Seppanen wrote:
>gag.
>
>I used their stuff before switching to linuxbios, and you guys have
>_nothing_ to worry about.
>
That's what we are currently using on 2 of our customers products.
>Their product is heaps of confusing assembler, crammed with #ifdefs,
>loaded with bugs, and in many cases totally broken. It's badly
>documented and their build system looks like a VB app built by a six
>year old.
Amen brother. I really don't like that config app... it sucks big
time. Funny thing is the support folk at GS don't like it either.
Must have been an evil marketing requirement.
I have finally gotten where I don't have to use the config app much
now though. I can speak a lot of thier #define language from the
include files.
On the bonus side I've learned lots of x86 assembly over the last
half year.
What bugs did you find? Anything related to a Celeron and a 440bx
chipset? So far I haven't been bit by anything.
> I think they've essentially quit developing the product (I
>found glaring bugs in files with 4-year old timestamps), and they're
>just going to try to milk whatever revenue they can from it before
>16-bit BIOSes vanish forever.
Nope... they are alive and well. EB2k is thier upcomming product
scheduled for release the first of next year. I guess they are
working on it rather than fixing bugs. *grin* It includes support for
all that nasty BIOS stuff Intel and MS are shoveling out and this
special state saving thing mentioned in the slashdot article.
The current project I am messing with is looking at using EB2k (a
pre-release with some special mods) so I'll wait and pass judgement
then.
Dosen't seem to me that the BIOS is going anywhere anytime soon. At
least not until Intel starts putting a pin on the processors that
lets them boot into protected mode from power up.
Although thier build system is weak and the mounds of assembly can be
daunting, I will say that thier support staff is quite good. The
guys I have talked to about my issues are quite sharp and very
knowledgeable about thier product. Guess you have to be to support a
BIOS product.
--
Richard A. Smith Bitworks, Inc.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 501.846.5777
Sr. Design Engineer http://www.bitworks.com
