Quick Boot: A Guide for Embedded Firmware Developers

428 Pages·2018·20.806 MB·English

by  Pete Dice

Pete Dice
Quick Boot

ISBN 978-1-5015-1538-5
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-1-5015-0681-9
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-1-5015-0672-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of
Congress.
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet
at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2018 Pete Dice
Published by Walter de Gruyter Inc., Boston/Berlin
www.degruyter.com
Acknowledgments
The studies, data, results, and guidelines compiled in the book are the result
of many talented engineers at Intel who have a strong passion for BIOS and
firmware. The contributions they have made and the time they have spent,
much of it outside their normal duties, deserve to be acknowledged.
For significant contributions to this book for analyses, cases studies, and
written content, I’d like to thank these talented engineers:
–Jim Pelner—who crafted the original white paper that echoes the main
themes of this book and for contributing to several chapters early
on.
–Jaben Carsey—who wrote the shell chapter in the book above and
beyond his many contributions to the UEFI shells in general.
–Sam Fleming—who created Appendix A and has been one of my
mentors in BIOS from the beginning.
–Mike Rothman, Anton Cheng, Linda Weyhing, Rob Gough, Siddharth
Shah, and Chee Keong Sim—for their exquisite multiyear
collaboration around the fast boot concept and multiple case studies
over the year.
–BIOS vendor Insyde Software for donating feedback and volunteering
for the foreword.
Thanks to my program manager, Stuart Douglas, for getting me through the
writing phase and then on to the finish line (are we there yet?).
Reviewer comments and suggestions were extremely valuable for both
editions of this work. I deeply appreciate those who took the time to provide
indispensable feedback, including Drew Jensen, Mark Doran, Jeff Griffen,
John Mitkowski, and Dong Wei and at my publisher, Jeff Pepper, Megan
Lester, Mark Watanabe and Angie MacAllister for her work on fixing the art
and tables.
I would also like to acknowledge my peers in the BIOS/FW engineering
and architecture teams within the computer industry for their drive to make
this technology an ever more valuable (and less obtrusive) part of people’s
everyday lives. Lastly, I want to thank my wife, Anita, for her patience and
everything she’s done to allow me time to complete this.
Contents
Chapter 1: System Firmware’s Missing Link
Start by Gathering Data
Initialization Roles and Responsibilities
System Firmware
OS Loader
Operating System
Legacy BIOS Interface, UEFI, and the Conversion
Tiano Benefits
Previous UEFI Challenges
Persistence of Change
The Next Generation
Commercial BIOS Business
Award
General Software
Phoenix Technologies Limited
American Megatrends Inc.
Insyde Software
ByoSoft
Value of BIOS
Proprietary Solutions
Making a Decision on Boot Firmware
Consider Using a BIOS Vendor
Consider Open-Source Alternatives
Consider Creating Something from Scratch
Consider a Native Boot Loader for Intel ® Architecture
Just Add Silicon Initialization
Summary
Chapter 2: Intel Architecture Basics
The Big Blocks of Intel Architecture
The CPU
The Front Side Bus
The North Bridge, PCIset, AGPset, MCH, Uncore, System Agent
The Transparent Link (Hublink, DMI, ESI)
The South Bridge, Also Known as the PIIX, I/O Controller Hub (ICH),
I/O Hub (IOH), Enterprise South Bridge (ESB), and Platform
Controller Hub (PCH)
Data Movement Is Fundamental
It’s a Multiprocessing System Architecture
The Memory Map
I/O Address Range
The Operating System
Summary
Chapter 3: System Firmware Terms and Concepts
Typical PC/Intel® Architecture Overview
Memory Types
Processor Cache
System Memory
Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)
System BIOS Flash Memory (NVRAM, FWH, or SPI)
Real-Time Clock (RTC)
System Memory Map
Legacy Address Range
Main Memory Address Range
PCI Memory Address Range
Splash Screen
Status and Error Messages
Display Messages
Beep Codes
POST Codes
Master Boot Record
GUID Partition Table
Real Mode
Protected Mode