03-10-2010, 05:51 PM
BIOS to be replaced, UEFI moving in?
This apparent "upgrade" will supposedly spell the end for the 25 year old BIOS, invented by IBM. The BIOS is the first code run by a PC when powered on, the primary function of the BIOS is to load and start an operating system.
Acronyms
- BIOS: Basic Input/Output System.
- UEFI: Unified Extensible Firmware Interface.
Quote:"Conventional BIOS is up there with some of the physical pieces of the chip set that have been kicking around the PC since 1979."
A member of AMI's technical team said:
Quote:The age of the Bios was starting to hamper development as 64-bit computing became more common and machines mutated beyond basic desktops and laptops.
UEFI frees any computer from being based around the blueprint and specifications of the original PCs. For instance, it does not specify that a keyboard will only connect via a specific port. Under UEFI, it will be much easier for that input to come a soft keyboard, gestures on a touchscreen or any future input device.
He added that UEFI started life as an Intel-only specification known as EFI. It changed in to a general standard when it became recognised that the BIOS needed to be replaced.
Some of the first people to see the benefits of swapping over to UEFI have been system administrators, the people that have to oversee hundreds or thousands of PCs in data centres or in offices around the world.
For consumers, the biggest benefit of having a machine running UEFI would be the speed of which it starts up.
Some PC, laptop and embedded computer makers are already using UEFI. The UEFI inventor is hoping that motherboard manufacturers make the daring move.