Test and certify GLaBIOS as an open-source BIOS to ship with the NuXT?

[volkertb]

GLaBIOS is an open-source BIOS for IBM PCs and clones wih 8088 and V20 CPUs. It also explicitly supports so-called "turbo" clones that have software-switchable clock speeds. At first glance, It would seem like an ideal fit for the NuXT. Has anybody tried testing compatibility yet?

[skiselev]

NuXT will likely boot with GLaBIOS without any modifications.
It will have several limitations:

• GLaBIOS does not support turbo mode switching for FE2010A chipset
• GLaBIOS does not support high-density floppy drives (1.2MB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB), so the on-board FDC would be underutilized

There are other, less relevant limitations too, like a lack of RTC support, or a BIOS configuration utility.

Other than that, NuXT already ships with another open source BIOS :)

[640-KB]

NuXT will likely boot with GLaBIOS without any modifications. It will have several limitations:

• GLaBIOS does not support turbo mode switching for FE2010A chipset
• GLaBIOS does not support high-density floppy drives (1.2MB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB), so the on-board FDC would be underutilized

There are other, less relevant limitations too, like a lack of RTC support, or a BIOS configuration utility.

Other than that, NuXT already ships with another open source BIOS :)

Absolutely correct about the RTC, high-density floppy and BIOS configuration utility (though it does support turbo switching on the FE2010A), so no it's not a drop-in replacement for Sergey's excellent 8088_bios here. :)

[640-KB]

Here's an update on this. Over the past few months GLaBIOS has been tested on NuXT/micro_8088 hardware and appears stable.

The RTC is now supported and included in the build images which also include the standard NuXT XUB and Multi-Floppy BIOS for high-density floppy drive support.

Currently not fully supported is NuXT/micro_8088 BIOS configuration at POST and full Enhanced keyboard support via AT to XT converter (this is a roadmap item).

Builds:
https://github.com/640-KB/GLaBIOS/releases

Thanks!