On Wed, Jun 14, 2000, H. Peter Anvin <hpa@transmeta.com> wrote:
> Johannes Erdfelt wrote:
> >
> > The only difference I see is that Intel is pushing everyone to use EFI
> > for ia64. It'll be ubiquitous for ia64 machine, but I fail to see why it
> > needs to be ubiquitous to be useful.
>
> Because otherwise you have another system you also need to support.
Things take time to phase in.
> > > I don't expect to see it on 32-bit machines any time soon
> >
> > Why don't you expect to see it anytime soon? Intel is pushing it now.
> > They are far from standards makers, but they do have some weight...
>
> Intel pushing != becoming ubiquitous. They have been trying to get rid
> of ISA for years. It isn't happening.
Following your line of reasoning, Intel should not have started
developing and pushing PCI since they cannot get rid of ISA immediately.
I for one thank Intel that they did. I'd hate having to run a modern
system off of just ISA.
> > > and it is going to be *eons* until it is ubiquitous.
> >
> > Doesn't need to be. You don't have EFI, then you don't get the cool
> > features EFI boot loaders offer to you. You continue using the older
> > style boot loaders (LILO, Syslinux, etc). They obviously still work.
> >
> > I'd hate to see people putting all of this effort into pushing the old
> > legacy style boot loading when that effort is better directed in
> > something which will become ubiquitous.
>
> The PC platform is over 20 years old, and if there is any evidence it
> isn't going to go through such a fundamental change any time soon.
> Perhaps by 2010 something will happen. I'm not holding my breath.
There's nothing fundamental about it. It's an evolutionary upgrade to
the PC platform.
No one said that this will immediately solve all our problems, but it
will be better for everyone in the long run.
The current method of booting OS' sucks. It's a hack on top of a kludge
on top of a band aid. I'm really surprised to see you so pessimistic about
fixing this.
I'm starting to get the distinct impression from you that you really
would rather see nothing change in Linux (getting rid of major/minor
number) and PC's (legacy style booting of OS'). This really surprises
me.
JE
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jun 15 2000 - 21:00:33 EST