A Java BIOS
Linux is a very strange choice for a bootstrap kernel:
- its very big
- its got lots of unnecessary features
- its unlikely to ever be secure
By comparison Java would seem to present an excellent alternative:
- it can run with very few resources
- doesn't require virtual memory support
- space efficient bytecode
- its easy to customise the features
- its designed to be securable
I suspect that a substantial subset of GRUB could be implemented in the Java-BIOS
The JOS project is about developing a Java based OS.
I believe a Java based BIOS would be a very good intermediate goal:
- it has to be small
- it should have a very simple user interface (serial port for servers)
- it has to access all the critical hardware
- it does not have to get close to a full Java environment
- single (bios ! :-) security context simplifies much of the code
It would make a useful demonstration/contribution before a full environment does.
One problem is that most of the available BIOS code on which to build is full GPL, and the full GPL is a problem with Java because everything is linked into one executable.
Copyright by JonT, November 2001.
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