On 8 Mar 2023 at 2:15, Ben Hutchinson wrote: > > My current laptop computer is a Dell Inspiron 7559. It has this cool > feature where it lets you go into the firmware settings at bootup > with F2. Then you can disable "Secure Boot" after which you can then > enable "Legacy BIOS". This lets me boot my computer via USB stick > with a copy of DOS (whether MS-DOS or FreeDOS). This is a nice > feature, and while the computer is like almost 10 years old, I hope > most modern computers (especially the SBCs that I'm looking for) > still have a dual-firmware system like that, where you can use either > UEFI (for modern OS's) or BIOS (for legacy OS's). > Yes, 10 years ago sounds about right - at that time, UEFI was new, and the modern OS'es with UEFI support didn't have enough of a foothold to allow "wintel" to force UEFI upon you = prevent you from using older operating systems.
Today, mainstream machines no longer support legacy BIOS interfaces. They haven't for a few years. You have a better chance with industrial PC's (and embedded motherboards) - the IPC vendors have kept the legacy BIOS compatibility module (the CSM) in the UEFI much longer, exactly because this market segment is conservative. But even in the "industrial" market segment, the times they are a changin'. The "firmware modules" (binary blobs) that come from Intel to BIOS/UEFI vendors (AMI/Phoenix) are apparently increasingly hostile / preventative to including a CSM in the UEFI image. So the motherboard vendors perhaps no longer have a choice. I don't have stats / keep track, but starting from say Kaby Lake and Gemini Lake, the CSM is a rare occurrence. Speaking of small-format x86 SBC's, if I should keep promoting ICOP, take a look at this proprietary form factor: https://www.icop.com.tw/product_list/44 That's 100x66 mm. This is ICOP's smallest that allows you to plug a few break-out cables / pigtails (included in the box) and start working. There are smaller SoM's that need a custom carrier board (PCB). Frank _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
