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| title | description | published | date | tags | editor | dateCreated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firmware | true | 2022-01-25T16:19:07.886Z | markdown | 2022-01-25T14:50:10.751Z |
Platform firmware
Firmware are software that are tightly integrated with the hardware. Almost every devices are shipping with some kind of firmware associated to it. For instance, motherboards include such programs, which in their case is tasked to properly boot hardware devices such as RAM modules, check their state and make them ready-to-use by an operating system.
Virtual devices, including virtual motherboards, are also shipping with firmware, or platform firmware.
Available platform firmware for virtual machines
SeaBIOS
SeaBIOS is an implementation of a x86 BIOS which relies on Coreboot and can be used to boot virtual machines. It is not compatible with UEFI but, as a result, is simpler.
OVMF
OVMF, which stands for Open Virtual Machine Firmware, is a UEFI compatible firmware. It is part of the larger TianoCore project, which provides an open-source implementation of a platform firmware that follows UEFI specifications. It is the default method to boot UEFI-based operating systems.
Rust Hypervisor Firmware
The Rust Hypervisor Firmware (RHF) is a UEFI compatible firmware. It is focused on simplicity and performance and is designed for virtual workloads. It ships by default alongside the Cloud Hypervisor.
Comparaison
| SeaBIOS | OVMF | RHF | |
|---|---|---|---|
| BIOS | Yes | No | No |
| UEFI | No | Yes | Yes |
| Secureboot | No | Yes | Yes |
| Chipset support | i440fx Q35 |
i440fx Q35 |
Q35? virt |
| Guest support | Linux / Windows | Linux / Darwin / Windows | Windows / Linux |
| Virtual Function I/O | No | Yes | Yes |