| Uwe Hermann | 10d55b4 | 2006-10-20 21:50:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 2 | LinuxBIOS README |
| 3 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 4 | |
| 5 | LinuxBIOS is a Free Software project aimed at replacing the proprietary |
| 6 | BIOS you can find in most of today's computers. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | It performs just a little bit of hardware initialization and then executes |
| 9 | one of many possible payloads, e.g. a Linux kernel. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Payloads |
| 13 | -------- |
| 14 | |
| 15 | After the basic initialization of the hardware has been performed, any |
| 16 | desired "payload" can be started by LinuxBIOS. Examples include: |
| 17 | |
| 18 | * A Linux kernel |
| 19 | * FILO (a simple bootloader with filesystem support) |
| Uwe Hermann | 72e8706 | 2007-02-26 13:52:42 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 20 | * GRUB2 (a free bootloader; support is in development) |
| Uwe Hermann | 10d55b4 | 2006-10-20 21:50:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 21 | * OpenBIOS (a free IEEE1275-1994 Open Firmware implementation) |
| Uwe Hermann | 72e8706 | 2007-02-26 13:52:42 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 22 | * Open Firmware (a free IEEE1275-1994 Open Firmware implementation) |
| 23 | * SmartFirmware (a free IEEE1275-1994 Open Firmware implementation) |
| 24 | * GNUFI (a free, UEFI-compatible firmware) |
| Uwe Hermann | 10d55b4 | 2006-10-20 21:50:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 25 | * Etherboot (for network booting and booting from raw IDE or FILO) |
| 26 | * ADLO (for booting Windows 2000 or OpenBSD) |
| 27 | * Plan 9 (a distributed operating system) |
| 28 | * memtest86 (for testing your RAM) |
| 29 | |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Supported Hardware |
| 32 | ------------------ |
| 33 | |
| 34 | LinuxBIOS supports a wide range of chipsets, devices, and mainboards. |
| 35 | |
| 36 | For details please consult: |
| 37 | |
| 38 | * http://www.linuxbios.org/Supported_Motherboards |
| 39 | * http://www.linuxbios.org/Supported_Chipsets_and_Devices |
| 40 | |
| 41 | |
| 42 | Website and Mailing List |
| 43 | ------------------------ |
| 44 | |
| 45 | Further details on the project, a FAQ, many HOWTOs, news, development |
| 46 | guidelines and more can be found on the LinuxBIOS website: |
| 47 | |
| 48 | http://www.linuxbios.org |
| 49 | |
| 50 | You can contact us directly on the LinuxBIOS mailing list: |
| 51 | |
| 52 | http://www.linuxbios.org/Mailinglist |
| 53 | |
| 54 | |
| 55 | Copyright and License |
| 56 | --------------------- |
| 57 | |
| 58 | The copyright on LinuxBIOS is owned by quite a large number of individual |
| 59 | developers and companies. Please check the individual source files for details. |
| 60 | |
| 61 | LinuxBIOS is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). |
| 62 | Some files are licensed under the "GPL (version 2, or any later version)", |
| 63 | and some files (mostly those derived from the Linux kernel) are licensed under |
| 64 | the "GPL, version 2". For some parts, which were derived from other projects, |
| 65 | other (GPL-compatible) licenses may apply. Please check the individual |
| 66 | source files for details. |
| 67 | |
| Uwe Hermann | 3f5411c | 2007-02-27 22:21:59 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 68 | This makes the resulting LinuxBIOS images licensed under the GPL, version 2. |
| 69 | |