AMIBIOS 07.00.10: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:00, 29 July 2023

AMIBIOS 7, also known as 07.00.10, is a release of AMIBIOS that is usually known with the subcore date of "040201" (April 2, 2001). Unlike other AMIBIOS 07.00.xx code bases, 07.00.10 was most likely based on the existing AMIBIOS 6 (071595 and other sub-core dates) code instead of the entire new codebase other AMIBIOS 7 cores used, although with some new features. These features include bigger size storage support (from 32 GB to 2 TB), a built-in boot menu and a built-in option ROM for network boot (although it was still possible to perform a network boot on earlier cores with unofficial option ROMs).

POST screen

AMIBIOS 7 can mostly be seen with new (640x480 for both POST and setup) and old (640x350 for POST, 720x400 for setup utility) screen resolutions, although some rare instances using new resolution for POST and old for the setup utility also do exist. The new resolution version includes a bigger, more colourful and detailed EPA (Energy Star logo), while the old resolution version used the older EPA from later AMIBIOS 6 versions.

A VGA AMIBIOS 7 compiled for the Acrosser AR-B1479 Single Board Computer
An EGA AMIBIOS 7 compiled for the ECS K7S5A motherboard

Setup Utility

AMIBIOS 7 has introduced updated versions of most of the older setup utilities found in AMIBIOS 6 (except for WinBIOS Setup Utility, which was discontinued by the time and was still in use only by some code forks of AMIBIOS 6). Although some versions of AMIBIOS 7 could be seen with the older 720x400 resolution version of the Hi-Flex and Simple Setup utilities which were introduced with AMIBIOS 6.

In fact, it is possible to directly port setup utilities from AMIBIOS 6 to AMIBIOS 7 by swapping the setup client module with AMIBCP 7, however the setup utility being ported must be in the older 720x400 resolution and the BIOS being modified must also only use the older resolution for setup. Attempting to port an old res. setup utility to new res. AMIBIOS or vice versa will cause the setup utility to not to be displayed correctly or not work at all (only a black screen will be seen when attempting to enter setup). Also, even with proper setup client and BIOS version, swapping the setup utility can cause other issues such as non-working features or menus in setup.

The gallery below contains images of known setup utilities introduced with AMIBIOS 7. Please note that old resolution version of Hi-Flex and Simple Setup are not included in the gallery as they're exactly the same as the versions used on AMIBIOS 6.

AMIBIOS 7's Hi-Flex Setup Utility in VGA resolution
AMIBIOS 7's Simple Setup Utility in VGA resolution
AMIBIOS 7's Easy Setup Utility in VGA (Version 3.31a)
AMIBIOS 7 Easy Setup Utility VGA (Version 2.01a) as seen in a documentation for the Gigabyte GS-SR222E-N storage server.
AMIBIOS 7's Easy Setup Utility in EGA resolution often seen in early-2000s ASRock motherboards

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-AMIBIOS 7, also known as 07.00.10, is a release of AMIBIOS that is usually known with the subcore date of "040201" (April 2, 2001). Unlike other [[AMIBIOS 07.00.xx]] code bases, 07.00.10 was most likely based on the existing [[AMIBIOS 6]] (071595 and it's sub-core dates) code instead of the entire new codebase other AMIBIOS 7 cores used, although with some new features. These features include bigger size storage support (from 32 GB to 2 TB), a built-in boot menu and a built-in option ROM for network boot (although it was still possible to perform a network boot on earlier cores with unofficial option ROMs).
+AMIBIOS 7, also known as 07.00.10, is a release of AMIBIOS that is usually known with the subcore date of "040201" (April 2, 2001). Unlike other [[AMIBIOS 07.00.xx]] code bases, 07.00.10 was most likely based on the existing [[AMIBIOS 6]] (071595 and other sub-core dates) code instead of the entire new codebase other AMIBIOS 7 cores used, although with some new features. These features include bigger size storage support (from 32 GB to 2 TB), a built-in boot menu and a built-in option ROM for network boot (although it was still possible to perform a network boot on earlier cores with unofficial option ROMs).
-AMIBIOS 7 was quickly replaced by [[AMIBIOS 8]] in around 2003 for most commercial computers. Therefore, it's one of the most uncommon versions of AMIBIOS.
 == POST screen ==
-AMIBIOS 7 was available in both VGA (640x480) and EGA (640x350) resolutions, although in most cases it was in VGA. The VGA version includes a bigger, more colourful and detailed EPA (Energy Star logo), while the EGA version used the older EPA from later AMIBIOS 6 versions.<gallery>
+AMIBIOS 7 can mostly be seen with new (640x480 for both POST and setup) and old (640x350 for POST, 720x400 for setup utility) screen resolutions, although some rare instances using new resolution for POST and old for the setup utility also do exist. The new resolution version includes a bigger, more colourful and detailed EPA (Energy Star logo), while the old resolution version used the older EPA from later AMIBIOS 6 versions.<gallery>
 File:AMIBIOS 07.00.10 POST.png|A VGA AMIBIOS 7 compiled for the Acrosser AR-B1479 Single Board Computer
 File:AMIBIOS 7 EGA for ECS K7S5A.png|An EGA AMIBIOS 7 compiled for the ECS K7S5A motherboard
 </gallery>
 == Setup Utility ==
-Like AMIBIOS 6, AMIBIOS 7 had a couple of different setup utilities, one resembling the later Hi-Flex setup utility of AMIBIOS 6 (seen in VGA or EGA), another resembling the later Simple Setup utility, again from AMIBIOS 6, and "Easy Setup Utility" resembling the 1994 and onwards PhoenixBIOS setup utility and most likely based on the AMIBIOS 6's Easy Setup Utility. The VGA versions of these setup utilities with the version number "3.31a" were all dubbed "New Setup Utility" (Except for VGA Easy Setup Version 2.01a which calls itself "Easy Setup Utility"), but the EGA versions were all directly ported from AMIBIOS 6, therefore they kept their original names. The Easy Setup Utility was also seen in EGA and under the name "AMIBIOS SETUP UTILITY", however all known instances of this were on ASRock motherboards, therefore it's believed to be a customization made by ASRock.
+AMIBIOS 7 has introduced updated versions of most of the older setup utilities found in [[AMIBIOS 6]] (except for WinBIOS Setup Utility, which was discontinued by the time and was still in use only by some code forks of AMIBIOS 6). Although some versions of AMIBIOS 7 could be seen with the older 720x400 resolution version of the Hi-Flex and Simple Setup utilities which were introduced with AMIBIOS 6.
+In fact, it is possible to directly port setup utilities from AMIBIOS 6 to AMIBIOS 7 by swapping the setup client module with AMIBCP 7, however the setup utility being ported must be in the older 720x400 resolution and the BIOS being modified must also only use the older resolution for setup. Attempting to port an old res. setup utility to new res. AMIBIOS or vice versa will cause the setup utility to not to be displayed correctly or not work at all (only a black screen will be seen when attempting to enter setup). Also, even with proper setup client and BIOS version, swapping the setup utility can cause other issues such as non-working features or menus in setup.
-Please note that EGA versions of Hi-Flex and Simple Setup were directly forked from [[AMIBIOS 6]] and look exactly like their AMIBIOS 6 versions, therefore they have not been included in the gallery below.<gallery>
+The gallery below contains images of known setup utilities introduced with AMIBIOS 7. Please note that old resolution version of Hi-Flex and Simple Setup are not included in the gallery as they're exactly the same as the versions used on AMIBIOS 6.<gallery>
 File:AMIBIOS 7 Hi-Flex Setup Utility (VGA).png|AMIBIOS 7's Hi-Flex Setup Utility in VGA resolution
 File:AMIBIOS 7 Simple Setup Utility (VGA).png|AMIBIOS 7's Simple Setup Utility in VGA resolution