Coreboot.org released an almost-final 0.90 version of open source BIOS flashing firmware it says was nine years in the making. Flashrom offers Linux and UNIX users a BIOS flashing mechanism they can call their own, with support for 150 flash-chip families and 75 chipsets, Coreboot.org says.

By its very nature, BIOS firmware is operating system-independent, since it loads before a computer's OS in order to identify, test, and initialize the device's processor, memory, graphics card, and peripherals. But, updating a BIOS to incorporate bug fixes and other improvements requires booting a computer into an operating system, then using the latter to run BIOS flashing software.

All too often, Linux users have been forced to update their BIOSes via MS-DOS boot disks loaded with DOS BIOS flashing utilities. But now, they no longer need suffer that indignity, thanks to a BIOS flasher that runs under Linux. According to Coreboot.org, Flashrom offers a command-line interface, can operate remotely through SSH, and can even re-flash multiple machines simultaneously.

Claimed by Coreboot to be faster than most vendor flash tools, Flashrom supports Linux, FreeBSD, DragonFly BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X, and other UNIX-like OSes. It's said that on some motherboards, the tool also enables hot-flashing, in which a BIOS chip is physically replaced while the system is running.

According to Coreboot, Flashrom features include:

• Supports parallel, LPC, FWH, and SPI flash interfaces
• Supports more than 150 flash chip families and half a dozen variants per family
• Agnostic to flash chips, with support verified for DIP32, PLCC32, DIP8, SO8/SOIC8, TSOP32, TSOP40, and more
• Supports more than 75 chipsets, some with multiple flash controllers
• Mainboard enabling code offered for dozens of nonstandard mainboards
• No physical access needed; root access is sufficient
• No bootable floppy disk, bootable CD-ROM, or other media required
• Reflash remotely via SSH
• Reflashes ROM in a running system; no instant reboot needed
• Cross-flashing and hot-flashing possible on compatible systems
• Scriptable, enabling reflash of multiple identical machines simultaneously

Availability

Flashrom 0.90 is available now as a free download. More information may be found at Coreboot.org, here.

 
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