Re: Is there a way to use Linux on the E450 ?

In article <slrnego9mr.deo.avenger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Andre van Eyssen <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 2006-09-16, Josh McKee <jtmckee@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

Please note that I am not questioning the feature set of the OBP over
the PC BIOS. I'm just wondering how useful all those features are. The
systems that I've been exposed to are used to run applications within an
operating system. For these systems getting from power on to booting the
OS is about the extent of the OBP benefit. I would think that this
situation applies to the majority of systems.

Alright, we'll cough up some honesty: The OBP is more pleasant to deal
with than a PC BIOS. 99% of the time it gets used to specify boot device
and do a "probe-scsi-all" to find devices. It provides a predictable,
sane interface and is piss-easy to use. On usability alone, nothing else
comes close. Also, the sane network booting is damn useful.

I only wish Sun provided OBP for their x86 hosts - it'd get rid of the
pure nastiness that is grub.

Why? You just said that 99% of the time the OBP is used to specify boot
device and do a "probe-scsi-all" to find devices. What limitation are
you running into with the BIOS?

Josh
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Is there a way to use Linux on the E450 ?
    ... OS is about the extent of the OBP benefit. ... interested in having OBP instead of a BIOS. ... On failure, I can switch of the machine using the lom, switch into ... I need a serial console switch port for 50 Euro for each machine. ...
    (comp.sys.sun.hardware)
  • Re: Is there a way to use Linux on the E450 ?
    ... OS is about the extent of the OBP benefit. ... interested in having OBP instead of a BIOS. ... On failure, I can switch of the machine using the lom, switch into ...
    (comp.sys.sun.hardware)
  • Re: Is there a way to use Linux on the E450 ?
    ... OS is about the extent of the OBP benefit. ... with than a PC BIOS. ... pure nastiness that is grub. ... shining perfect example of why the OBP is a fantastic icon of perfection ...
    (comp.sys.sun.hardware)
  • Re: Is there a way to use Linux on the E450 ?
    ... them over the simpler PC BIOS. ... imagine the other features being overly useful. ... This is more a limitation of the x86 processor than the BIOS. ... Regardless it was a limitation imposed by the OBP just as the BIOS used ...
    (comp.sys.sun.hardware)