[ale] Linux on UEFI mother boards

Michael Trausch mbt at naunetcorp.com
Wed Sep 25 11:42:32 EDT 2013


Yes, nearly all UEFI systems provide a BIOS emulation. That said if you need a BIOS emulation and a given UEFI system doesn't have one, you can always use a free BIOS.

As far as network booting... UEFI does network booting differently from BIOS systems. AFAIK the only UEFI systems that offer PXE also offer a real or emulated BIOS, as that is required. You can implement PXE as a UEFI application if you don't follow the local (system to option ROM) spec (e.g. Purely in software with your own drivers). Don't know why you would; just get an IP and pull down a UEFI kernel image and go. :) the prebiotic environment is really nice and it is pretty easy to script, as well. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 25, 2013, at 7:56 AM, Chris Ricker <chris.ricker at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> A lot of the currentish server-class gear from major vendors has options to select between UEFI and legacy BIOS modes. I've got Dell and Cisco servers that offer that, and have seen that on HP
> 
> The legacy BIOS mode is also useful because it (or a relatively simple patch) is needed to manage the servers from cobbler due to UEFI changing the VCI presented during PXE boot



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