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Exclusive: BIOS will be dead in three years
Thinq ^ | 6/8/2010

Posted on 06/08/2010 4:52:14 PM PDT by markomalley

It's the one major part of the PC that's still reminiscent of the PC's primordial, text-based beginnings, but the familiarly-clunky BIOS could soon be on its deathbed, according to MSI. The motherboard maker says it's now making a big shift towards point and click UEFI systems, and it's all going to kick off at the end of this year.

Speaking to THINQ, a spokesperson for the company in Taiwan who wished to remain anonymous said that "MSI will start to phase in UEFI starting from the end of this year, and we expect it will be widely adopted after three years."  

According to the MSI mole, the first new UEFI products will be based on Intel's Sandy Bridge chipset, spanning the whole field from entry-level boards to high-end kit. The company says that it expects the boards to be introduced towards the end of this year, and into early 2011. "We won’t consider UEFI as an expensive premium feature," said the spokesperson, "but as a must-have for everyone!"

 

MSI plans to start introducing UEFI on its Sandy Bridge motherboards later this year

UEFI (universal extensible firmware interface) is a continuation of Intel's original EFI project, which was designed to replace the BIOS with a user-friendly point-and-click interface, as well as addressing many other troublesome areas of the PC's legacy.  

MSI has previously dabbled in UEFI in 2008, when it introduced its Click BIOS on a few motherboards based on Intel's P45 chipsets. However, the move to UEFI is now starting to become much more important because of its implications for storage.

Last month, Seagate revealed to THINQ that a UEFI system would be an essential requirement in order for a PC to boot from a drive larger than 2TB.

 

MSI revealed its first UEFI Click BIOS system in 2008

MSI's spokesperson described this as a "big factor," explaining that the "default storage size for the general public is getting bigger and bigger." He predicts that "mainstream notebooks will use almost 1TB of storage next year, not to mention desktop systems, so we need to move forward to UEFI fast!"  

Implementing a UEFI system isn't an easy job for motherboard manufacturers used to working with standard BIOS technology, though. Our source explained that motherboard manufacturers had held off moving to UEFI because of the "huge resources you have to throw at it."

Continued on next page

With regards to the old BIOS, he points out that there's an attitude of "if it isn’t broken; don’t need to fix it. Unless you have a strong determination to upgrade it, most manufactures will stick to a traditional, easy and familiar old solution."

There are a lot of issues to address here, not least the fact that a standard BIOS can't simply be flashed with a new UEFI system. "A UEFI system is generally bigger than a traditional BIOS," explains the MSI insider, "and most of the onboard ROM is not that big, so you can’t just flash UEFI into a traditional BIOS board."

 

A UEFI system replaces the text-based BIOS with a user-friendly point and click system

He also points out that "UEFI doesn’t support every board; you have to use certain code with certain motherboards."

Motherboard companies spend a lot of time developing their own features and technology that distinguish their motherboards from those of the competition. If these features are designed to interface with the code in a traditional BIOS, then they may not be able to communicate with a UEFI system.  

"The main difference between a traditional BIOS and UEFI is programming," said our source, pointing out that "UEFI is written in C, rather than the assembly code used in a traditional BIOS." However, he points out that this means that there's much more flexibility with the code.  

According to MSI, there's still a lot of work to be done on developing UEFI, but the company's spokesperson says that the cost of implementing the final systems should be minor. "We think this is trend for future," he said, adding that UEFI should be a "basic feature for all end-users."  


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: bios; hitech
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To: markomalley

Will UEFI be vulnerable to virus / malware attacks?

The BIOS really operates your system the OS just relays the instructions and adds user features.


61 posted on 06/09/2010 11:14:50 AM PDT by free_life (If you ask Jesus to forgive you and to save you, He will.)
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To: markomalley

I’m building a blade server based on this right now. It’s long overdue. Now, it’s a little tough explaining to the boss why the stuff he’s used to looking at his entire career isn’t there anymore, but that’s about the only downside. It isn’t that the basic functionality addressed by BIOS has gone away, only the means of effecting it.


62 posted on 06/09/2010 11:23:06 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: holden
Let's see, do you suppose it's important for characters being placed on the screen be a fast operation?

I suppose that would depend on whether or not you've taken an Evelyn Woods speed-reading course. :=)

63 posted on 06/09/2010 11:37:25 AM PDT by Bob
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To: 2111USMC
"I can still remember my brother-in-law telling me that a 20 MB hard drive was all I would ever need."

And that prophet from Kildall's Dosville, Billius Gatekeeper said 640K is all anyone will need....LOL

64 posted on 06/09/2010 11:45:19 AM PDT by litehaus (A memory tooooo longt A)
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To: bamahead

We’ve been seeing similar stuff with many of the new machines we’ve been getting. The damn ‘BIOS’ is about as robust and useful as the Windows OS. If all you’re doing is web/email, you almost don’t need the OS. lol


65 posted on 06/09/2010 2:15:26 PM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: markomalley
UEFI=Unified Extensible Firmware Interface

Just another word for a new kind of BIOS. One that is extensible (i.e. can be infected with malware) and less efficiently coded. Out of the box, you can boot the bios in 3 seconds. Woopee. Wait until they load it up with plugins. It will take longer to boot the bios than your OS.

66 posted on 06/09/2010 7:31:15 PM PDT by beef (Who Killed Kennewick Man?)
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To: BitWielder1
It's the computer equivalent to a carburetor.

Well, they did say it's a: "... continuation of Intel's original EFI project". ;-)

Maybe my next computer will have tuned-port or even direct injection! :-P

67 posted on 06/09/2010 7:43:07 PM PDT by uglybiker (BACON!!)
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To: bamahead

which asus motherboard do you have?


68 posted on 06/09/2010 9:17:41 PM PDT by markman46 (engage brain before using keyboard!!!)
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To: markman46

I described it in post # 28:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2530497/posts?page=28#28


69 posted on 06/09/2010 9:27:07 PM PDT by bamahead (Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master. -- Sallust)
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To: bamahead

I saw that, next time I’ll read the whole thread (VBG)
thanks for the info, I am in the process of building a new duo core for a home server.


70 posted on 06/09/2010 9:43:58 PM PDT by markman46 (engage brain before using keyboard!!!)
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btrl


71 posted on 06/10/2010 10:47:38 PM PDT by Clinging Bitterly (We need to limit political office holders to two terms. One in office, and one in prison.)
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