I contacted Intel about supporting a free and open source BIOS. Here is there
reply:
Thank you for your email.
Writing BIOS code is not like writing an OS device driver. Chipset
specifications can vary not just between chipset models, but between
steppings of the same chipset. Problems in chipset hardware and problems in
BIOS code are hard to distinguish without specific hardware instrumentation.
End user BIOS replacement with a third-party BIOS (whether free or not) on a
commercial motherboard is not allowed by nearly all hardware vendors because
of the potential for BIOS viruses and the risk of rendering the hardware
useless through ill-advised modifications.
BIOS is a part of the reliability and performance promise of the hardware.
Chipset specifications at the level being discussed are commonly considered
proprietary by all silicon vendors, not just Intel.
The open source firmware work that Intel *is* sponsoring could lead to a
solution where proprietary low-level chipset initialization code from silicon
vendors is made compatible with open source higher-level platform
initialization and pre-boot management.
If you are interested, we invite you to participate at the EFI and Framework
Open Source Community Web site**: www.tianocore.org
