Know-How: UEFI - Only graphical BIOS or more?
Category : Tutorials
Published by Marc Büchel on 19.10.11
With UEFI we see one of the most important and at the same time most underrated changes the computer industry has seen within the past years. UEFI is replacing the good old BIOS these days and it sets the standard for a whole lot of future developments. 
It hasn't been a long time ago that the BIOS used to be the oldest part of any PC that was sold. More than 30 years ago the the Basic Input/Output System made it's way into the computer world. And it lasted for an astonishingly long time. With it's 1'024 Kilobyte of execution space it has even benn able to succeed in a time where Gigabytes and Terabytes are being transferred.
| Page 1 - Introduction |
| Page 2 - Usability |
| Page 3 - Thought and Outlook |
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Usability
With the past 35 years the BIOS got extended by more and more functions. Looking at the intital BIOS which has been shipped with the first IBM PCs nobody would have guessed that sometimes enthusiasts and overclockers might adjust CPU or memory frequencies themselves. But ultimately, the introduction of 64 bit computer architecture showed where finally the borders of BIOS have been. More and more patchwork was needed in order to make the system for example compatible to hard drives bigger than 2.2 Terabyte, which is one of the reasons why companies like Intel put their heads together to develop a new standard. And this new standard is called Extrensible Firmware Architecture (EFI or UEFI).UEFI in general is a specifications. Over the old BIOS it for example has the huge advantage that it is much more safe. Therefore it is not possible to attack it via Bootkit Attacks. Furthermore UEFI isn't bound to one specific CPU architecture. Like the "U" in its name says it's universally adoptable. It can also replace a BIOS or it can run on top of a BIOS.
Another goal of the developers was that UEFI would be easier to use for endusers than it's predecessors. This for example is why it's now possible to access UEFI not only using a keyboard you can also navigate it using your mouse. Developers are now also able to work together with their companies graphical department for which ASUS is a very good example these days. They really have created som very good looking user interfaces which on the front page are very easy to use. There also is an advanced mode which basically gives you all the functionality you might know from the old Award or AMI BIOS.
| Page 1 - Introduction |
| Page 2 - Usability |
| Page 3 - Thought and Outlook |
Discuss this article in the forums.
Thought and Outlook
UEFI offers a whole lot of new possibilities. Put into words easily UEFI is like a small operating system which is located between your computers hardware and the operating system. UEFI is able to communitcate with USB peripherals and it can host much more drives simpley because it's not as limited as the old BIOS was. In future it could be possible that manufacturers like MSI, Gigabyte or ASUS implement small app that can even communicate with the outside world. Another thing that would be quite feasable is a browser that is integrated in the Firmware interface.Even Windows 8 will use a lot of the funcionts UEFI has to offer. In this context a new "Deep-Sleep-Mode" is planned. The advantage is that the computer is in a sleep like state where it takes only a few seconds to wake it up but still it does not need significantly more power than it does when it's been shut down completely.
What is very important for the entire computer industry too is, that they can get rid of some barriers which made it difficult for unexperienced end users to understand what's actuall going on in a BIOS. They first had to read manuals or google for hours until they knew what they can manipulate and what they should leave untouched. UEFI makes things like this much easier beacause there now exists a possibility to arrange things graphically which in the end makes stuff easier to understand when it's done right.
We can be very curious what the future will bring and it is for sure that UEFI is one of the improvements we'd have to wait for more than a decade.
| Page 1 - Introduction |
| Page 2 - Usability |
| Page 3 - Thought and Outlook |
Discuss this article in the forums.