Re: [parisc-linux] Non-HP PCI cards & x86 BOOT-ROMS

[Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw@lug-owl.de>]

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On Fri, 2004-01-16 12:04:22 +0100, Ivar Orskaug <Ivar.Olav.Harstad.Orskaug@idi.ntnu.no>
wrote in message <Pine.GSO.4.58.0401161155280.15789@vier.idi.ntnu.no>:
> is it possible to run PCI card boot-roms containing x86 code with an
> emulator before loading Linux (perhaps from PALO)? Has anyone succeeded
> doing this, or is it "just not possible" for whatever reason? Anyway,
> if it was possible, it could really make PA-RISCs more usable.
> 	I've heard that this is possible on both linux-mips and linux-alpha

You can't compare with Alpha. Alpha is designed with having PC hardware
in mind. This is why it has got some kind of x86 emulator in it's
firmware, so this is a planned feature.

MIPS OTOH is a good architecture to compare with. I don't know if this
has been done before, but of course, in theory, you can execure the PC
boot ROM of PCI cards. IIRC, XFree86 has done that for VGA card's
BIOSes, but IMHO there should be a better option.

Maybe it would be a nice idea to hack bochs to initialize those cards,
but that's a lot of work, though...

MfG, JBG

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