Case 6:21-cv-00735-ADA Document 32-11 Filed 01/27/22 Page 1 of 7
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`Exhibit 8
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`Case 6:21-cv-00735-ADA Document 32-11 Filed 01/27/22 Page 2 of 7
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`Computing Basics
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`Computing Basics
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`July 1994 • Vol.5 Issue 7
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`What Is The BIOS?
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` Click To Print
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`If you've ever lain awake in the middle of the night, pondering this great unknown, worry no more.
`Here is the straight scoop on BIOS, that mysterious creature at the heart of a computer.
`
`BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System. It's a set of software instructions that performs
`necessary functions for the PC. More precisely, the BIOS is "firmware," says James Deutch, field
`applications engineer at Phoenix Technologies Ltd. It's software that's inside the hardware,
`encoded on a chip.
`
`Most often, BIOS comes on a ROM (read-only memory) chip seated on a PC's motherboard, or
`main circuit card. The chip may be an EPROM (erasable, programmable, read-only memory) or
`other kind of chip. The chip "looks like any other chip," says Dick Holmberg, software engineer at
`American Megatrends Inc. (AMI), "and usually holds 64KB of programs and data" (although 128KB
`and 256KB chips are becoming common).
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` Three Major Responsibilities
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`The BIOS chip's read-only nature means it's permanent; it doesn't go away when you turn off the
`computer. It's also there when you turn on (boot) the computer, which points to BIOS' first function.
`"When the power is first applied to the machine," says Holmberg, "the BIOS essentially enables
`and turns on and configures all the hardware, all the chips inside the computer.
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`"The second responsibility is to run tests to insure that everything's operating correctly."
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`The BIOS literally may test a hundred things, including the memory chips, the keyboard, the video
`display, the disk drives and other peripherals, and internal components such as the timer and
`controllers.
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`With its "Testing memory" message, the BIOS at work is what you first see when you boot your
`PC. It checks each component to "make sure it's there," says Deutch, "and make sure it's
`working." For instance, the BIOS sends the keyboard a command and looks for an
`acknowledgment, then asks it for an ID and looks for a response. The ID tells the BIOS whether
`you have a regular or extended keyboard so it can interpret your keystrokes correctly.
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`Together, the startup and test functions make up the POST (Power On Self Test) services. Once
`they're complete, the PC is ready to run.
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`But the BIOS' work isn't over. It also supplies run -time services while the computer is working.
`Now the BIOS acts as the interface, the "traffic cop," between you and the operating system (DOS
`or OS/2 or Unix).
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`For instance, when you type dir on a DOS machine, says Holmberg, "the BIOS provides a service
`to read and write information from the hard drives and floppy drives." DOS doesn't need to know
`what type of equipment is installed physically on the computer. It can just ask the BIOS to retrieve
`a piece of information, and it will.
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`Case 6:21-cv-00735-ADA Document 32-11 Filed 01/27/22 Page 3 of 7
`"Likewise," says Holmberg, "the BIOS provides a set of services for displaying text on the monitor.
`DOS doesn't have to understand or know whether the system has a VGA card or an older CGA
`card or a monochrome card. DOS can simply give the BIOS something to display on the screen
`and the BIOS will do it."
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`In short, says Deutch, input goes from "the keyboard, to the BIOS, to the operating system." And
`output goes from "the operating system to the BIOS to whatever the device is." The operating
`system doesn't have to know the peculiarities of every chip set, hard drive, or video adapter
`because they're all programmed into the BIOS. Therefore, concludes Deutch, "everybody's
`application will work on everybody's hardware."
`
`The BIOS doesn't handle all input/ output—only the "basic" variety, as its name implies. Windows
`and Windows applications that use fancier graphics do the processing themselves. The BIOS also
`doesn't handle devices such as SCSI ("scuzzy") hard drives or CD-ROM drives, which is why
`these come with their own BIOSes.
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` From the Ground Up
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`Although other computers had their versions of BIOS, IBM developed the first PC BIOS in 1979.
`According to Ray Bridenbaugh, marketing manager at AMI, this BIOS was the controlling program
`in the IBM PC that made it "PC-compatible." Because IBM kept it proprietary, building a
`comparable machine was difficult.
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`Some companies (Compaq, for one) wrote their own BIOSes, but few matched IBM's. The
`computers suffered compatibility problems and the compatible market remained small. But in
`1984, says Alan Painter, a Phoenix sales representative, "Phoenix provided the first commercially
`available PC-XT BIOS." Companies such as AMI followed suit, Painter says, "and that's when the
`PC-compatible market was created."
`
`How does a BIOS come about? A PC manufacturer such as IBM, Samsung, or NEC will go to a
`BIOS developer and give it a set of requirements. The nature of the BIOS will depend on such
`variables as the chip set and basic features of the motherboard. "Realize that the BIOS is not just
`one product," says Bridenbaugh. "We have probably a couple hundred different versions," each
`optimized for a particular hardware configuration.
`
`With specifications in hand, the developer creates BIOS routines. Phoenix, for one, employs more
`than 150 engineers writing BIOSes in a "clean room environment." This means the engineers
`developing an IBM-style BIOS "have never seen the IBM BIOS software," says Painter. "Engineers
`that have seen the IBM BIOS software are termed dirty engineers. They're no longer clean."
`
`Since these engineers can reveal trade secrets, even inadvertently, Phoenix won't hire them for
`the job. "We have a very, very strict recruiting phase that these guys go through," says Painter.
`"And then we have an auditing firm that audits by phone calls and so on. It's really something
`that's strictly enforced."
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`Developers generally don't design BIOSes from scratch anymore. Instead, they build them in
`modules. They'll take a core program and then add blocks of code, depending on whether the
`BIOS is for a desktop or notebook PC, a 486 chip or the new Pentium chip, and so forth. "That's
`one reason a lot of OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] really like our BIOS," says AMI's
`Bridenbaugh. "We can adapt it very quickly and maintain compatibility."
`
`As the BIOS is being developed, it goes through comprehensive testing, both simulated and live.
`It's run on all the popular operating systems and on the ones in progress. The developer also tests
`the BIOS with a variety of applications, from spreadsheets to Flight Simulator.
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` Fitting It All In
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`Once a BIOS is finished, the developer generates a "rommable image." This means a BIOS that
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`will fit inside and run from an EPROM or other chip. Using a mechanism called an EPROM
`Case 6:21-cv-00735-ADA Document 32-11 Filed 01/27/22 Page 4 of 7
`programmer, the developer loads the rommable image onto chips supplied by a company such as
`Intel. "Then on the manufacturing line," says Painter, the PC producers can "just stuff the boards
`with this rommable image."
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`Considering the hundreds of POST and run -time services a BIOS may perform, how do
`developers fit all the code into a mere 64KB chip? With great difficulty.
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`PC manufacturers continue to demand functionality, says Painter, so "we have to get more and
`more creative on how we can add new features into this finite amount of space." One way is with
`compression and shadowing.
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`Rather than load the BIOS code straight into a ROM chip, developers compress it first. Then,
`when the POST executes, the BIOS is copied to RAM (random-access memory) and expanded.
`The RAM is "volatile" (it exists only while the computer is on), but there is much more of it than
`ROM, so more commands can be executed. Not only that, but processes in RAM run faster
`because the PC doesn't have to read the chip constantly.
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`Once the POST is done, that portion of the BIOS is no longer needed. Phoenix has pioneered the
`technique of reducing the BIOS' "footprint," or amount of code left in memory. "We're able to
`dispose of the code that is specific to the Power On Self Test," says Deutch, the code "that is not
`used by the run-time services."
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`As much as 40KB of the 64KB BIOS is discarded, leaving only a 24KB "shadow BIOS"— "so we
`can minimize the amount of space that we take in the BIOS area itself," says Deutch, "and we're
`actually able to free up some space."
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` Whither BIOS?
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`Techniques such as shadowing are necessary because of all the features being crammed into
`BIOS. And with the continuing growth in the PC world, that need is only going to increase. To keep
`abreast of the latest trends, BIOS developers meet constantly with such industry leaders as Intel
`and Microsoft. Together they plot the future of the PC.
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`One development is the PC's bus, which is the internal component that shuttles data back and
`forth between the central processing unit and the disks, printer, and other devices. The newest bus
`is the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect), which is replacing the old EISA standard.
`
`PCI is "a very high-performance, very high-speed 32-bit (and 64-bit eventually) bus," says
`Holmberg. "It is the standard now and you're going to see more and more of it. Even Apple is
`building it into several Macintosh machines."
`
`A PCI committee meets regularly to "test compatibility of different boards on different platforms,"
`says Painter. "On one side you've got the card manufacturers, and on the other side you've got the
`platform OEMs like NEC and DEC and IBM." The BIOS developers are involved too, because as
`the bus changes, so must the BIOS to communicate with it.
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`Another trend, one facilitated by PCI, is plug-and-play.
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`"That's where you can basically open your system," says Bridenbaugh, "plug in a peripheral card
`like a video card, close the system, and you don't have to do any configuration software or any
`kind of jumper settings" to set it up. Adds Painter, "the computer reconfigures itself completely on
`the fly, transparent to the user."
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`Plug-and-play is "done in cooperation between the operating system and the BIOS," says
`Bridenbaugh, "so the BIOS is extremely active in the plug-and-play environment."
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`New memory cards based on the PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International
`Association) standards are driving BIOS changes. Originally there was just one type of PCMCIA
`card, but now "there are three sizes and there's a fourth on the horizon," says Painter. "Type 1 are
`the memory cards, Type 2 are a little fatter, so those could be memory cards, or they could also be
`LAN cards and FAX cards, and then Type 3 is rotating media. So companies like Seagate and
`Western Digital are putting out hard drives in PCMCIA format."
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`With increasing environmental concerns, power management is becoming important, too. Any part
`of the computer not in use is just generating excess heat and wasting energy.
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`This is especially true with notebook computers. With their limited battery power, conserving
`energy wherever possible is critical. APM (Advanced Power Management) BIOSes can put a
`component "to sleep" until it's needed, making smaller and smaller notebooks possible.
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`New chips. New buses. New input and output devices. As long as PCs exist, BIOSes will continue
`evolving to keep them working.
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`by Robert Schmidt
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`Read-Only Or Not?
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`Since an EPROM chip is "read-only," a PC can't overwrite the BIOS code on it.
`But, as its name suggests, the chip can be erased and reprogrammed. To do this,
`a professional must remove it and place it in a special "eraser," which bathes it in
`ultraviolet light for an hour.
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`Instead of EPROM chips, BIOS developers are starting to use something called
`Flash BIOS. "A flash BIOS," says Dick Holmberg, a software engineer at
`American Megatrends Inc., "is a slightly different type of chip that can be erased
`and reprogrammed without removing it from the computer. It allows an end-user
`to get a new BIOS or an updated and improved BIOS on a diskette or download it
`using a modem."
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`Circuitry on the motherboard erases the flash BIOS electrically, leaving the PC
`"mindless" for a few seconds. Then the circuitry loads the BIOS replacement from
`the outside source, and operations resume.
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`Biased About BIOS
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`Since the PC market has burgeoned, the basic
`BIOS functions have become standardized. "We
`all bring up the keyboard, we all bring up a
`video," and so forth, says Alan Painter of
`Phoenix. But American Megatrends Inc. (AMI)
`and Phoenix, the largest independent BIOS
`developers, do offer different features and
`emphasize different qualities.
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`One factor AMI stresses heavily is the
`compatibility of its BIOSes. When AMI first
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`learned that most Silicon Valley manufacturers
`Case 6:21-cv-00735-ADA Document 32-11 Filed 01/27/22 Page 6 of 7
`were making their BIOSes in-house, the firm
`went to Taiwan, which was just starting its PC
`industry. Taiwan "adopted our BIOS very early
`on," says Ray Bridenbaugh of AMI, and the
`country has "grown up to be the dominant
`manufacturing center for our industry."
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`The AMI BIOS is now found on about 75% of
`the compatible machines, says Bridenbaugh.
`"We're by far the standard for desktop PCs," he
`says. Maintaining compatibility with such a broad
`array of equipment is a goal AMI strives to meet,
`he says.
`
`Another area AMI emphasizes is ease of use.
`"One of the big areas that's very advantageous to
`our product is its simple user setup," says AMI's
`Dick Holmberg, a software engineer. During the
`POST, a user can hit <del> for setup, which lets
`the person change the drive settings and other
`system parameters.
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`Yet another priority is speed. "Whenever a new
`processor like the Pentium comes out," says
`Holmberg, "we find that there may be hundreds
`of little ways that we can make improvements to
`the speed, and we spend a lot of time doing that."
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`While AMI's BIOS is cheap, fast, and reliable,
`the Phoenix BIOS is the state of the art. "Where
`we focus ourselves on is leading-edge
`computing," says Painter, "which requires
`extensive testing to make sure that everything is
`up and working."
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`Painter touts the "firsts" Phoenix has achieved,
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`such as the first commercially available BIOSes
`Case 6:21-cv-00735-ADA Document 32-11 Filed 01/27/22 Page 7 of 7
`compatible with the AT and the 386. The
`company has agreements with most major
`manufacturers and sits on all the standards
`committees. It often writes the specifications that
`the industry later adopts.
`
`Phoenix is still leading the pack with such
`innovations as the first Advanced Power
`Management BIOS, which makes notebook
`computing feasible; a BIOS for pen-based
`computing, which must recognize various
`digitizers; and a 32-bit BIOS to aid CD-ROM
`applications.
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`The keen competition, says Painter's colleague
`James Deutch, drives Phoenix to seek "a new
`feature, a new idea, a new concept to develop so
`that the OEMs who come to us have an
`advantage." Adds Painter, "That's exactly the
`Phoenix story, to provide the differentiation for
`our OEMs so that they're fastest to market."
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`Copyright © by Sandhills Publishing Company 2012. All rights reserved.
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