An old-style PC BIOS served the function of a bootloader in loading the operating system kernel, and of an API in providing a set of standard system calls through which software could interact with the hardware. Though it as been long-ago superseded by operating system level calls and UEFI bootloaders, it was a simple and easy-to-understand firmware for the PCs of the day.
Microcontrollers usually don’t have anything quite like a BIOS because their software is more often compiled as-is without the need for one. But here’s [Rompass] who has bucked that trend, with a BIOS for the ESP32-C6.
Of course this isn’t the PC BIOS we all know, and you’ll not be running DOS on it. Instead it’s a subsystem that serves the purposes outlined above and provides an environment for dynamically loaded executables from RAM rather than an operating system kernel. The executables are compiled in the normal way for the ESP32, and can be loaded over the network if necessary.
We don’t know how popular a firmware like this one will become, but for us it’s symptomatic of how the line between a microcontroller and a microprocessor is becoming blurred. The next few years are going to continue this trend, as inexpensive microcontroller application processors such as the C6’s P4 bigger brother move into the mainstream.
Header image: Popolon, CC BY-SA 4.0.
