Merced: How do you boot Linux fast on a Merced?

Intel Developer Forum Maybe some of our readers were wondering exactly how you boot Linux fast on a big Merced beastie without an x.86 style BIOS. Here is Mindy Murdock's answer. Mindy is Intel's ISV programme manager and at the track last week it seemed to have a lot of suggestions. Never forget that Intel is OS agnostic, despite the fact it has undoubted software skill, for example building many answers into Microsoft Windows 98, as reported here earlier this year. Mindy Murdock reckoned there will be a tailored BIOS boot solution for Linux. As you all no doubt know there out in LinuxLand, a BIOS (basic input output system) is very often used in x.86 based embedded systems. Mindy reckoned in its presentation that the INIT currently being developed is not a BIOS. But Linux developers will need to work harder. A tailored boot solution will require software wizards to create a ROM region, a shadow ROM region, and also enable the serial port to allow the bootloader to re-direct boot messages to a dummy terminal. That was Mindy's message. Mork did not speak. ®