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UEFI

UEFI is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware. It is a replacement for the older BIOS firmware interface present in all IBM PC-compatiblepersonal computers. The UEFI spec is being developed by the unified EFI forum, an industry-wide organization.

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Prashant Sajeendran
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180 views1 page

UEFI

UEFI is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware. It is a replacement for the older BIOS firmware interface present in all IBM PC-compatiblepersonal computers. The UEFI spec is being developed by the unified EFI forum, an industry-wide organization.

Uploaded by

Prashant Sajeendran
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UEFI

By Prashant Sajeendran, 227


The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware. UEFI is a replacement for the older BIOS firmware interface present in all IBM PC-compatiblepersonal computers. The original EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) specification was developed by Intel. From 2005 development of the EFI specification ceased in favour of UEFI, which was evolved from EFI 1.10. The UEFI spec is being developed by the Unified EFI Forum, an industry-wide organization. Computer literature commonly uses "EFI" to refer to "UEFI". UEFI is not restricted to any specific processor architecture, and can run on top of or instead of traditional BIOS implementations. The interface defined by the EFI specification includes data tables that contain platform information, and boot and runtime services that are available to the OS loader and OS. UEFI firmware provides several technical advantages:[8]
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Ability to boot from large disks (over 2 TB) Faster boot-up CPU-independent architecture CPU-independent drivers Flexible pre-OS environment, including networking support Modular design

Some existing enhancements to PC BIOS, such as the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) and System Management BIOS (SMBIOS), are also present in EFI, as they do not rely on a 16-bit runtime interface. In addition to standard architecture-specific device drivers, the EFI specification provides for a processor-independent device driver environment, called EFI Byte Code or EBC. System firmware is required by the UEFI specification to carry an interpreter for any EBC images that reside in or are loaded into the environment. In that sense, EBC is similar to Open Firmware, the hardware-independent firmware used in PowerPC-based Apple Macintosh and Sun MicrosystemsSPARC computers, amongst others. Some architecture-specific (non-EBC) EFI device driver types can have interfaces for use from the operating system. This allows the OS to rely on EFI for basic graphics and network support until OS specific drivers are loaded.

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