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Quick one,

The bios32 sd (found with '_32_') only provides 32bit interface, no 64bit correct... so in which case is there anything I would need from it specifically in a 64bit kernel? or would this be 100% superseded by ACPI?
Same goes for PnP bios ('$PnP' lookup) ... this can at least be used in real mode for a while before switching to the kernel, but once again would this be obsolete with acpi/pci mmio etc?

John

while on the subject.. what about the apm bios?

My boot code locates it under all the emulators, bochs/qemu etc.. and connects it's 32bit interface and all the rest.. but once again this is no use from a 64bit kernel.. and in fact on testing on real h/w.. the 4 machines I've tested (fairly new'ish pcs) don't even find an apm bios.. once again supercede by acpi ?

AFAIK they are pretty much obsolete in newer computers. You may want to support APM, PNP, and BIOS32 if you're worried about older computers, but thats not really useful for a 64-bit operating system because all x86-64 systems have ACPI because Windows requires it.

So start working on an AML interpreter

JohnnyTheDon wrote:So start working on an AML interpreter :)

Or better yet, use Intel's ACPICA.


JAL