Yup. This is exactly what I was thinking, except you're a good one or two steps ahead having a better understanding of EFI/UEFI structure than I.
I was thinking, booting into a stripped down or minimal Linux kernel, and if required runit environment, then into qemu. With the NesUEFI method likely being optimal due to bare minimum maintenance. If EFI/UEFI is so much better than CSM Legacy BIOS, EFI/UEFI should provide far more options than the legacy BIOS; but so far has not been evident. I would still be using legacy BIOS if it were not for replacing an nVidia graphics card with an open source Intel Arc graphics card requiring explicit UEFI. Roger > On Wed, Oct 30, 2024 at 02:48:40PM +0100, Roderick Klein HTML email via > Freedos-user wrote: >I modified the subject of the thread. First of all I am not a software >developer. I started out using MS-DOS >and later moved to OS/2. I still use ArcaOS an my main OS these days (OS/2 >version). It runs on bare metal with UEFI support. >A small company called Arca Noae LLC has developed a UEFI loader for ArcaOS. >They way I understand this is possible as the UEFI simply switches the Intel >CPU to well 4 GB protect mode (legacy mode). >But with OS/2 this is easier then DOS as it does not lean that hard on the >BIOS after the OS has started. With DOS and Freedos this is most likely more >complex as it is more depended on the BIOS. > >I have never liked virtualization from a "fun" perspective. I like it when an >OS runs bare metal. I do not want to start a full blown Linux Desktop then >start Virtualbox and run ArcaOS or MS-DOS. >I like the OS to be really lean where possible. With the current X86S project >coming up this is bad news for FreeDOS as this would also possibly kill >hardware virtualisation in for example Virtualbox. > >QEMU can do full CPU instruction I understand and you can run this way >FreeDOS also on an ARM CPU. But the question is how close can you bring >FreeDOS to the hardware. >I have always wondered if you can not stick QEMU directly in a UEFI loader. >But how would QEMU then work for Freedos ? >Well the crucial idea is that the UEFI loader never makes the call >ExitFromBootServices(). Instead QEMU uses the disc and USB services offered >by the UEFI firmware. >QEMU becomes native UEFI app. > >When comes to being direct the video output is send directly the UEFI GOP >frame buffer. QEMU then uses the UEFI disc services to read/write the FAT 32 >volume on disc. >You would still have a VM but its as close to the hardware as possible :-) >This sollution might even work then on ARM CPU's and systems with X86S. As >the UEFI loader would provide the X86 instruction chipset. >I have also read that you can use multiple CPU's cores in EFI apps. I do not >know if this can help speed up the performance somehow. > >Again I am not a developer, the whole idea was inspired by this project: >https://github.com/shadlyd15/NesUEFI > >As NES emulator build inside a UEFI loader and it does not even use any other >OS it uses the UEFI services. > >Effectively UEFI is as system BIOS from my perspective. The big difference >with a legacy BIOS is the "ExitFromBootServices". As UEFI expects the OS to >tale over. > >Your thoughs and comments are welcome. > >Roderick >_______________________________________________ >Freedos-user mailing list >Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net >https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
