--- James Simmons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- Brandon W. Howard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi, > > > > The GIGABYTE M57SLI-S4 [1] is the first-ever desktop motherboard > > supported by a Free & Open Source BIOS, thanks to AMD engineer > > Yinghai > > Lu who released GPL-licensed code last month. This state-of-the-art > > motherboard is based on the NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI chipset and AMD's > > latest Socket AM2. It contains tons of advanced features such as: > > > > Support for AMD Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 FX and Athlon 64 processors > > 2X PCI Express x16 slots > > 3X PCI Express x1 slots > > 2X PCI slots > > 3X 1394a (FireWire) ports > > 10X USB 2.0 > > 16GB maximum memory > > SATA RAID > > 6X SATA 3Gb/s slots. > > > > This motherboard can be obtained today from many retail and online > > stores [2] and the source code for the BIOS can be downloaded from > > the > > LinuxBIOS SVN server [3]. > > > > This is a huge victory in the quest for a completely Free & Open > > Source general-purpose computer that enables users to have full > > control over their own hardware. The Free Software Foundation has > > made > > the campaign for a Free BIOS a top priority because it is a key > > component in the software stack of personal computers [4]. The need > > for a Free BIOS is even more pressing since DRM and Treacherous > > Computing have found their way into some proprietary BIOSes and EFI. > > From a practical perspective, LinuxBIOS removes the need for ugly > > hacks and workarounds in the kernel that compensate for buggy BIOSes > > > > we can now fix the BIOS ourselves. > > > > I encourage everyone upgrading their desktop computers to consider > > getting this motherboard or another one that is supported by > > LinuxBIOS. > > > > -Brandon > > [1] > > http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2287 > > [2] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128014
> > [3] http://linuxbios.org/Download_LinuxBIOS > > [4] http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/free-bios.html > > Quick question. Can this board initialize more than one graphics > card? The motherboard has plenty of expansion slots and is SLI-enabled, so the hardware should support multiple graphics cards. I personally havent tried this, but perhaps someone on the LinuxBIOS mailinglist (CCed) has had experience with such a setup. BTW: An OpenGraphics card (http://OpenGraphics.org , http://TraversalTech.com) will be released pretty soon that will be fully documented and that will come with an open-source VGA video BIOS. -Brandon ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for earth-friendly autos? Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ 8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time with the Yahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#news - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
