Operation, Benefits and Disadvantages of LinuxBIOS

• Gunzips Linux out of flash (NVRAM)

  • No moving parts but the fan
  • Minimal amount of hardware initialization, Linux does the rest
  • Kernel boot times (not system start) as fast as 3 seconds

• Using a real OS rather than simple netboot or BIOS is more flexible

  • Linux can boot over Ethernet, Myrinet, Quadrics, SCI
  • Cluster nodes can be as simple as CPU + memory + network

• Boot diagnostic and maintenance over serial port

• Not all motherboards are supported

• Hardware manipulation may be involved