| Flashrom enables BIOS flashing via Linux |
May 07, 2009
 Coreboot.org released an almost-final 0.90 version of open source BIOS flashing firmware it says was nine years in the making. Flashrom offers Linux and UNIX users a BIOS flashing mechanism they can call their own, with support for 150 flash-chip families and 75 chipsets, Coreboot.org says.
By its very nature, BIOS firmware is operating system-independent, since it loads before a computer's OS in order to identify, test, and initialize the device's processor, memory, graphics card, and peripherals. But, updating a BIOS to incorporate bug fixes and other improvements requires booting a computer into an operating system, then using the latter to run BIOS flashing software.
All too often, Linux users have been forced to update their BIOSes via MS-DOS boot disks loaded with DOS BIOS flashing utilities. But now, they no longer need suffer that indignity, thanks to a BIOS flasher that runs under Linux. According to Coreboot.org, Flashrom offers a command-line interface, can operate remotely through SSH, and can even re-flash multiple machines simultaneously.
Claimed by Coreboot to be faster than most vendor flash tools, Flashrom supports Linux, FreeBSD, DragonFly BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X, and other UNIX-like OSes. It's said that on some motherboards, the tool also enables hot-flashing, in which a BIOS chip is physically replaced while the system is running.
According to Coreboot, Flashrom features include:- Supports parallel, LPC, FWH, and SPI flash interfaces
- Supports more than 150 flash chip families and half a dozen variants per family
- Agnostic to flash chips, with support verified for DIP32, PLCC32, DIP8, SO8/SOIC8, TSOP32, TSOP40, and more
- Supports more than 75 chipsets, some with multiple flash controllers
- Mainboard enabling code offered for dozens of nonstandard mainboards
- No physical access needed; root access is sufficient
- No bootable floppy disk, bootable CD-ROM, or other media required
- Reflash remotely via SSH
- Reflashes ROM in a running system; no instant reboot needed
- Cross-flashing and hot-flashing possible on compatible systems
- Scriptable, enabling reflash of multiple identical machines simultaneously
Availability
Flashrom 0.90 is available now as a free download. More information may be found at Coreboot.org, here.
-- Eric Brown
Do you have comments on this story?
Talkback here
NOTE: Please post your comments regarding our articles using the above link. Be sure to use this article's title as the "Subject" in your posts. Before you create a new thread, please check to see if a discussion thread is already running on the article you plan to comment on. Thanks!
Related Stories:
(Click here for further information)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
