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2026-04-28.log
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<aggi>seems recent coreboot versions are tied to modern gcc/g++ versions <aggi>currently patching coreboot 4.18 for the board i got here to pass with <=gcc-4.7 at least <aggi>there's no way around the circular dependency graphs for firmware development anyway <aggi>atop of that, UEFI/tianocore blew up the size of the dependency graph further, at least i can skip that and stick to SeaBIOS <aggi>in theory, all the BIOS/firmware components belonged into the realm of stage0-posix seeds, which is not feasible in practice nowadays <aggi>besides coreboot, seabios payload blows up dependency graph further with python <aggi>just as said, in this regard UEFI/tianocore are no different then traditional BIOS, UEFI is even worse <aggi>given this i remember some little Motorola 68k hacking at Telekom from 20years ago <aggi>which didn't need any "BIOS" firmware to get it up and running <aggi>it has been only a few bits to be flipped inside registers for address layout <aggi>but even this required some giant micros~1 windows PC and utilities to do it <aggi>simplified speaking, modern computers - even simplest ones - cannot be powered on and started _WITHOUT_ another computer running before <aggi>which reminds me of another piece, that was the LC80 learning computer, a former GDR z80 clone design for teaching <aggi>this one was equipped with some HEX-keyboard to manually type into all code needed <aggi>it's the only known design to me which filled that gap <aggi>there's a little history attached to that thing too <aggi>officially GDR was sanctioned by COCOM (i think, and 1984 semiconductor chip protection act SCPA) at that time <aggi>which prohibited exports into GDR by western companies <aggi>a twisted perspective i think, because it was GDR who exported the LC80 to western "capitalist class enemy", UK at that time <aggi>i got no other sources nowadays to backtrack x86/z80 development history, because the entire scientific complex and industry was abandoned in 1990s <aggi>and i've not seen LC80 learning computers anywhere nowadays <aggi>of cause, there's Z80 boards available, but those miss the HEX keyboard for example and the documentation <aggi>then again, such 16bit systems which BIOS boot relies upon until today, those cannot bridge the gap towards modern computers anyway <aggi>and the entire industry remains trapped in a gigantic circular dependency