X-Git-Url: http://wien.tomnetworks.com/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=README;h=2c25bef8a8fac2f995da4cada648693f3a4fdf13;hb=563b38efe2089e1699ff7f7166b365f69bd3434c;hp=94c95a26e069e7b453dbc342a5ee4da1214b1767;hpb=f8ee1806ac524bc782c93eccc59ee3c929abddb9;p=coreboot.git

diff --git a/README b/README
index 94c95a26e..2c25bef8a 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,37 +1,36 @@
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Coreboot README
+coreboot README
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-Coreboot is a Free Software project aimed at replacing the proprietary
-BIOS you can find in most of today's computers.
+coreboot is a Free Software project aimed at replacing the proprietary BIOS
+(firmware) found in most computers.  coreboot performs a little bit of
+hardware initialization and then executes additional boot logic, called a
+payload.
 
-It performs just a little bit of hardware initialization and then executes
-one of many possible payloads, e.g. a Linux kernel.
+With the separation of hardware initialization and later boot logic,
+coreboot can scale from specialized applications that run directly
+firmware, run operating systems in flash, load custom
+bootloaders, or implement firmware standards, like PC BIOS services or
+UEFI. This allows for systems to only include the features necessary
+in the target application, reducing the amount of code and flash space
+required.
+
+coreboot was formerly known as LinuxBIOS.
 
 
 Payloads
 --------
 
 After the basic initialization of the hardware has been performed, any
-desired "payload" can be started by coreboot. Examples include:
+desired "payload" can be started by coreboot.
 
- * A Linux kernel
- * FILO (a simple bootloader with filesystem support)
- * GRUB2 (a free bootloader; support is in development)
- * OpenBIOS (a free IEEE1275-1994 Open Firmware implementation)
- * Open Firmware (a free IEEE1275-1994 Open Firmware implementation)
- * SmartFirmware (a free IEEE1275-1994 Open Firmware implementation)
- * GNUFI (a free, UEFI-compatible firmware)
- * Etherboot (for network booting and booting from raw IDE or FILO)
- * ADLO (for booting Windows 2000 or OpenBSD)
- * Plan 9 (a distributed operating system)
- * memtest86 (for testing your RAM)
+See http://www.coreboot.org/Payloads for a list of supported payloads.
 
 
 Supported Hardware
 ------------------
 
-Coreboot supports a wide range of chipsets, devices, and mainboards.
+coreboot supports a wide range of chipsets, devices, and mainboards.
 
 For details please consult:
 
@@ -39,6 +38,37 @@ For details please consult:
  * http://www.coreboot.org/Supported_Chipsets_and_Devices
 
 
+Build Requirements
+------------------
+
+ * gcc / g++
+ * make
+
+Optional:
+
+ * doxygen (for generating/viewing documentation)
+ * iasl (for targets with ACPI support)
+ * gdb (for better debugging facilities on some targets)
+ * ncurses (for 'make menuconfig')
+ * flex and bison (for regenerating parsers)
+
+
+Building coreboot
+-----------------
+
+Please consult http://www.coreboot.org/Build_HOWTO for details.
+
+
+Testing coreboot Without Modifying Your Hardware
+------------------------------------------------
+
+If you want to test coreboot without any risks before you really decide
+to use it on your hardware, you can use the QEMU system emulator to run
+coreboot virtually in QEMU.
+
+Please see http://www.coreboot.org/QEMU for details.
+
+
 Website and Mailing List
 ------------------------
 
@@ -58,12 +88,11 @@ Copyright and License
 The copyright on coreboot is owned by quite a large number of individual
 developers and companies. Please check the individual source files for details.
 
-Coreboot is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
+coreboot is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
 Some files are licensed under the "GPL (version 2, or any later version)",
-and some files (mostly those derived from the Linux kernel) are licensed under
-the "GPL, version 2". For some parts, which were derived from other projects,
-other (GPL-compatible) licenses may apply. Please check the individual
-source files for details.
+and some files are licensed under the "GPL, version 2". For some parts, which
+were derived from other projects, other (GPL-compatible) licenses may apply.
+Please check the individual source files for details.
 
 This makes the resulting coreboot images licensed under the GPL, version 2.