Using Python to investigate EFI and ACPI

Posted Sep 3, 2015 3:35 UTC (Thu) by josh (subscriber, #17465)
Parent article: Using Python to investigate EFI and ACPI

Thanks for a great summary, Jake!

Using Python to investigate EFI and ACPI

Posted Sep 3, 2015 20:41 UTC (Thu) by pbonzini (subscriber, #60935) [Link] (1 responses)

Great summary indeed! Just one nit: COM1 is not the magic name that the OS looks for. Instead, COM1 has a "_HID" method that is "PNP0501", and that is what the OS looks for. When it finds "PNP0501", it knows it's a 8250-like serial port.

Using Python to investigate EFI and ACPI

Posted Sep 3, 2015 20:48 UTC (Thu) by josh (subscriber, #17465) [Link]

True; I was trying not to nitpick that. :)

COM1 is what it happened to be called on this version of the qemu firmware; in past versions I've seen it called UAR1 (for a UART). The PNP ID or magic number in the _HID is what says "I'm a plug-and-play serial port".

Using Python to investigate EFI and ACPI

Posted Sep 4, 2015 12:57 UTC (Fri) by rbrito (guest, #66188) [Link] (2 responses)

Were the presentations recorded?

I'd love to see this after having seen your PyCon video, Josh. I also have some questions, but they are so basic that I would be embarrassed to list them publicly. :)

Thanks. :)

Using Python to investigate EFI and ACPI

Posted Sep 4, 2015 14:21 UTC (Fri) by josh (subscriber, #17465) [Link] (1 responses)

Unfortunately no; LinuxCon and Plumbers don't currently record their sessions.

There aren't many basic questions about EFI and ACPI. :) And I really don't mind answering basic questions. But if you don't want to post them here, feel free to ask via private email.

Using Python to investigate EFI and ACPI

Posted Sep 17, 2015 3:14 UTC (Thu) by voltagex (guest, #86296) [Link]

How difficult would it be to turn BITS into a bootloader? e.g. Python hits a web service, retreives a kernel image and boots it. I can think of various cool uses for this - watch out iPXE!