View Source: BIOS - Waikato Linux Users Group

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An [Acronym] for __B__asic [I/O] __S__ystem.

The [BIOS] is the first piece of code executed at powerup of a [PC], used to load and execute an OperatingSystem. It does things like update [CPU] microcode, set up the [PCI] and [ISA] busses, initialize the [IDE] and keyboard controllers, etc.

There are also [BIOS] services provided to programmers to do things like access the disk and display things on the screen, but those aren't really used much outside of [DOS].

If you are interested in programming using services provided by the [BIOS], you may want to look for Ralph Brown's Interrupt list.

The [BIOS] usually has a built in utility for configuring features of the motherboard chipset.  This would include things like setting the time, telling it which IDE devices you want to enable (and possibly what they are), whether or not you have a floppy drive, access timings for [RAM] and [Bus]ses, etc...

See also: OpenFirmware

Last edited on Tuesday, November 2, 2004 12:12:51 pm by AristotlePagaltzis

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