Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/07/05/pc-bios-simulator.html
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As someone who works in IT phone support, this is actually super useful. Thanks!
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Prime example of Late Stage Tech Support.
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Hi…I looking for prog that can simulate bios, just as virtual PC can simulate full pc, i need bios simulator that will allow using bios from file .awg or other the one you download from mobo manufacturer.
Thats for purpose of looking at bios before buying board!
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Absolutely. Being able to review settings before rebooting and having to root around is very helpful. I wish they had this for all manufacturers and models.
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We need something like this for current enthusiast boards. I’m still learning my way around my ROG Strix X470-f gaming boards uefi as lately i’ve been tweeking my Ryzen 2700 (none X). I would much rather test out tweeks and overclocks in software first.
This new version of Zork sucks.
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Ironic that the GUI BIOS was a thing twenty years ago and we’ve never seen the likes again. (Or have we?)
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I’ve seen plenty of non-EFI BIOSes with a Windows-like GUI, as well as plenty of EFI BIOSes with a text interface. I think what it comes down to is “why bother” from the manufacturer.
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Was anyone else surprised by how many ideapads and such were included?
Lenovo’s actually-good documentation has historically tilted toward the ‘Think’ lines; because that’s where they inherited IBM’s actually-good(if somewhat arid) documentation.
PSREF, the Accessories and Options Compatibility Matrix, the Hardware Maintenance Manuals; and the Docks, Port Replicator, Ultrabase refrence guide; are normally not focused on their ‘idea’ and other brand stuff all that much. Maybe they’ve branched out, maybe I’ve not been paying attention…
I’m just very, very, glad that the “let’s store part of the BIOS in a special partition on the hard drive!” nonsense that some outfits(I know Compaq was one of them) used to play appears to have died.
I’m sure it saved them a nickle on flash memory or something; but one of the few reasons to be in the BIOS involved dealing with a replacement or upgrade HDD, and the special blessed recovery media were never available when needed.
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Hopefully it includes traditionally informative, in-depth help text I would be lost without in BIOS.
“PCI MLT - Turn PCI MLT on/off”
“CPU Clock Skew - Skew CPU clock”
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Hilarious if, when playing with the simulator, you’re actually modifying someone’s settings out there in the world.
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Why? Because if you’re doing tech support and trying to walk someone through something, it’s useful to have a simulator to replicate the steps and have a reference to help direct them. You’re not (typically) on the internet while in BIOS, so you can’t remote in.
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