gentoocar

Hello everybody,

I have a couple goodies to give out...

First, I have modded the via m10000 bios (1.18) so that it does not enter text mode (it keeps the fullscreen logo until windows/linux changes it). This removes text like "Verifying DMI pool data..." as well.

Second, I made a patch to lilo so that if it detects the new bios, it stays in graphics mode and boots the first entry. Otherwise, it displays a menu so you can choose your boot target.

Finally, I made a patch to the linux kernel's setup function so it doesn't printout "Decompressing kernel...", etc.

So the intended use is to have a bios savior in your machine, giving you a switch to choose normal or modded bios. With the switch in one position (let's call it "development") you get a normal bios, menu to choose boot targets, etc. You can boot up your read/write linux environment. With the switch in the other position (call it "production") the machine does a graphical boot into your carpc target, which you can set up to be read-only, have a stripped kernel, etc.

So, I'm not quite sure where to put this stuff, since the bios can be used with windows or linux, but the grub/kernel stuff is linux-specific.

Finally, can anybody clue me in on the rules here regarding reverse engineered bioses? Is that allowed on these forums? I don't want anybody getting mad

MP3Car.com

 

LagunaICE

tread sign-up.

Gentoocar anything but warez is allowed. BTW are you able to mod also M10K BIOS that VIA has released with 840x480 video mode support (special rev. of 1.17)? I have made several modifications to the BIN file with MODBIN to unhide hidded setup options to this version and I am also very interested to make your mod on it too.

gentoocar

Excellent!


I'm sure my mod would work with your bios, but I can't test that since I don't have a screen that will do that resolution But the mod itself is pretty easy, it's just a few byte replacements. So if you don't mind a little trial-and-error, I'm sure we can get it working.

Out of curiosity, does your bios output an 840x480 splash screen? Or just 640x480 centered?

LagunaICE

No no no... 800x480 mentioned is actually modelline in vBIOS support for OS to display this resolution, I am in fact not talking about splash screen this time. There is no change to splashscreen resolution, its still shown in 640x480.
I am time to time available on MSN, I can PM you MSN account privatelly, if you are interested to talk.

gentoocar

Oh. So, in this special bios version, is the only difference in the video bios? If so, that's perfect, because my mods don't even touch the vid bios, just the system bios and the xgroup code.

So yeah, PM me your MSN name or email, I'd be willing to flash your bios to my board and try the mods out on it.

timekiller

I would also be interested in this bios patch. I found the bios LagunaICE was talking about, and plan to add my own splash screen to it. I also created a bootsplash so linux shows a booting progess bar. Everything I am doing makes the carpc look that much more "factory", so i would love to erase all signs this is actually a custom job.

Please let me know what needs to be done for this bios patch.

Thanks.

jaserlet

Were these patches ever posted anywhere I could download them? They would be awesome! I would love to give this a try on my M1000 board, I am sick to death of verifying dmi pool data flash on my boot screen!

timekiller

After MUCH searching, I was able to find the latest bios update from Via for the m10k board. I wrote my own bios splash image (a mazda logo), and use gensplash (a boot splash) to display a boot progress bar. The bios bin i used does not display the "verifying dmi..." So My boot process goes straight from Mazda logo to mazda logo with progress bar, no text in between. The bios even supports the native res of my lilliput (7").

I don't have the Via link for the bios handy, but I saved a copy of it on my server: https://www.timekiller.org/carpc/files/I0100116.bin

Hope someone finds it useful.

MP3Car.com

 

gentoocar

That's interesting, I0100116 is the bios that I modified, and I did get the verifying dmi pool data. I'll have to download yours and see what the difference is.

For everybody wanting my patch, I apologize for taking so long. I moved, and just as I got settled in my hard drive died (I blame it on static). A new one should arrive today, I hope to be able to post some stuff within the next few days.

gentoocar

Wow sorry that took so long everybody. I wrote up a little page with the bios & patches and some instructions. Enjoy

http://www.sporkchop.com/CarComputer/

MP3Car.com