Linux EFI?

[Steve Litt]

On Sat, 11 Mar 2017 15:30:38 -0700
Eric Oyen <eric.oyen at icloud.com> wrote:

> Steve, the wiki article does explain a lot, but there is no real
> support for blind IT personnel in it, let alone any support for those
> of us who are just plain computer users with some advanced skills.

You still didn't answer what EFI is: Is it the boot method, or is it
something completely different, like Enhanced Fortified Interface?

> 
> It's a nice command line interface that has a lot of the usual basic
> linux/unix utilities and programs, but no speech or braille support.

What's a nice command line interface? Far as I know, the UEFI I've seen
acts pretty much like the old BIOS interface acted.

> 
> Right now, I am composing a letter to the UEFI forum members in hopes
> that someone over there might listen and do some research. I am even
> offering some suggestions on how this can be done (given my
> experience with Ubuntu and Vinux respectively, it can be done). My
> only difficulty is that I am not a coder

I don't know how expensive text to speech interfaces are. Given that
they existed on CPM machines in the 1980's, I imagine they're cheap
enough to put into a computer's pre-boot firmware.

> 
> Now, the wiki doesn't specifically stipulate what OS the UEFI is
> based on (and yes, its a bit more than a bios and less than a real
> full blown OS). what I do know is that it has a kernel, some basic
> utilities and a user interface. As far as I am concerned, thats a
> basic OS if there ever was one.
> 
> so, this is what I want to do and it's the reason behind my original
> question. Making the UEFI accessible to those of us who are blind and
> working in the tech sector would certainly improve our capabilities
> as employees. It would be built-in accommodation without adding a lot
> of expense to the hardware.

Assuming you're speaking of the configuration that happens when you hit
that special key combo pre-boot, I agree with you, although I have no
idea of the expense or cheapness. Other than text to speech being on
CPM computers in the 1980's :-)
> 
> So, with that being said, would it be possible? Given all the
> technology available, I say yes. So, what about the rest of you?

Yes, but I'm still confused, because as far as I can see this thread has
nothing to do with Linux and everything to do with stuff that happens
before the initramfs begins to run. I'm not getting huffy and calling
it offtopic, I was just confused because I assumed it was about Linux,
which made the whole thing hard to understand.

By the way, when you're talking to the UEFI guys, could you ask them to
have a special way to install a failsafe UEFI in case something
somebody does to their /proc/efi or whatever bricks their hardware?
This OS access to the firmware boot creates the first time since the
Chyrnobyl Virus around 2001 that software stuff can brick a mobo. I've
heard cases of people who, for whatever reason, did rm -rf /proc
assuming it would only affect their hard disk or RAM, and it nailed the
internal UEFI storage. Or these defective programs that fill up UEFI
storage to the point where the computer won't run well enough to delete
it, bricking the mobo. Seriously, it shouldn't be possible for a user
to destroy his hardware without a hammer.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
February 2017 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/thrive