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"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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Wordle 400 4/6*
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I was going to post this as an article since someone might be searching for UEFI information, but it is not about code so I placed it here. If someone would like to make this an article, then that is fine. Thank you.
It started out as an answer or comment to https://www.codeproject.com/Questions/316940/Coding-an-OS-for-a-specific-system
https://www.codeproject.com/Questions/316940/Coding-an-OS-for-a-specific-system
So, now the title is The wonderful world of UEFI [or not].
I know this is an old disucssion, but someone might be searching for UEFI information and how to write a UEFI loader, or write to UEFI, or how to read UEFI, or how to remove UEFI, or how to edit UEFI.
Specifically, what this person is asking can be done with the UEFI.
UEFI is commonly written and installed by various hardware manufacturers.
It is a part of some motherboards: Many times on a UEFI containing chip that is burned into the chip making it changeable only by replacing that chip. Some times it is in changeable memory on the motherboard.
The same can be said of UEFI with video cards, and sound cards, and network cards, which include those that come with the system and those that are sold separately via retail. They can be burned into a chip or in memory on those cards.
You said, Quote: it turns out, that UEFI is 'merely' a layer on top of the BIOS, a pseudo OS, to make OS's more portable.
No that assumption is wrong. It is not a layer on top of BIOS: It is ment to be a replacement to BIOS. I can be attached to older systems BIOS where the BIOS has irrevocable control, but UEFI is meant to be a replacement for BIOS completely.
You said, Quote: , to make OS's more portable.
That is specifically wrong. UEFI was originally designed to work on, or with, or in extension of, or to contol non-server operating systems, specifically to allow a remote entity to completely control the non-server operating system. Notice that was for a "remote entity", which means that with it anyone that had the login sequence may have (at UEFI's first introduction) been able to use and control and override and change any software part of the operating system and the files on it to furthermore include all of that for the mouse, the keyboard, the monitor, the microphone, the camera, etc. either the same as or similar to if that operating system was a business class server (running a "server" operating system). Now it is different.
Now UEFI is replacing BIOS with the excuse of [whatever]. So, if a hacker wanted to get into a De** computer via UEFI, that hacker might get a job or bribe someone at De** for the login sequence to De**'s version of UEFI which they install on their computers-for-sale, and then all (I said, "all") of the De** computers that have that version of UEFI are then (every last one of them) open to that hacker entering (hacking into) those computers with almost (OK there is an limit) any operating sytem running on those systems. Wndos or Makentoch or Lynyx (spelling changed to avoid whatever) probably 100% penetrable. Unikx (again the spelling thing) as used by banks and other intensely secure businesses probably not so penetrable. This is nothing new. I am not revealing anything that is not already widely known. If you did know of this, then la-de-dah, pay attention the world around you.
There is more. If a hacker gets into a UEFI based system then most likely that hacker can change the entire UEFI code/program to their own version of UEFI and then lock out almost (again, βalmostβ) every other remote entity. So, if a user gets a Mec Book or a Wndgoes system and gets hacked by that entity, then they might replace the existing UEFI for their own version of UEFI and then when that user contacts Mec or Wndgos and asks for help, the Mec or Wndgos remote personnel can probably not even see that userβs system.
Again, this is nothing new. This has been going on for years.
A user sitting at their computer scratching their [somethings] being recorded and then being sent a copy of that video demanding bribe. You knew this was possible. Do not do or say anything near to your computer that you do not want recorded. You knew that.
Now, how to stop or at least interrupt that stuff:
Every time you turn off your computer, OOPS it is not really off since it has UEFI on it and since that works like an almost non-stop back-door remote control which is common to business server systems, then unplug the power to the computer, and if it has a battery like laptops commonly do then take out that battery. Now it is (again with the βalmostβ) almost really off: If the CMOS battery is powerful enough or if there are other βsupposedlyβ CMOS-like batteries on the motherboard or other cards or etc., then you have to consider those. This is nothing new. It just has to be reiterated every few years by someone so that the newer generations will not be so incompetent about UEFI.
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You could post it as a tip
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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It seemed like a bad idea.
Viva La Basic Input Output System.
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I am not quite certain what you mean by that reply.
If someone watches the input/output of a system from within that system and thinks to catch the UEFI remote control activity, they might be surprised to note that the UEFI can be an entirely different and fully operational independent operating system, with activity not easily viewable from what a common user thinks is them viewing all.
It is not always that way, but under certain circumstances it can be. It looks like beginning with service pack [*] of Winsnos (spelling again) [*] that might have been a future goal: to lock the user from detecting UEFI activity including blocking the user from detecting the UEFI's remote communications.
This site should have a dedicated discussion group for UEFI. I do not have enough points at this time to create that.
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Member 15078716 wrote: This site should have a dedicated discussion group for UEFI. I do not have enough points at this time to create that.
Only the admins can add or remove forums; you would need to ask them directly: Bugs and Suggestions[^] is the place to do that.
I'm not sure they will agree with you though: it's a bit of a "niche subject" that is unlikely to get much traffic on a generic development site like this.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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excellent subject. I was introduced to UEFI recently with a desktop I acquired a year or so ago, which has a UEFI and BIOS, a tweener, I guess. Did some research but not so much as you have. Thanx. BYW, I power off my desktops by removing power source. Unless their mother batteries are something special they should not be alive to accept instructions without power.
Thanx again for raising this topic for discussion.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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Excellent post.
Question: Is the UEFI or BIOS only there to initialize the system and check the signature of the OS (plus do all the other things you mentioned,) or does the OS call into the firmware to perform basic tasks?
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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The UEFI is there for the same reason that server software has had similar for years.
I was a consultant years ago and when I heard a woman (in a different office from where I was working) exclaim something in surprise; I went there and noticed that she had her hands lifted and away from her computer. I looked at the screen and the mouse cursur was moving and there was clicking on items while she did not touch the keyboard or mouse. I told her that it was probably someone in the network administration either new to the capacity of remote control or someone, probably in network adminstration, teasing her. She said that it happened often, but the other people in adjacent offices did not seem to have had that experience. I suggested to her that she go to the admin office and see who was there. That was years ago, way before UEFI.
This is nothing new.
The lies told about UEFI being just for booting and being just for large file systems and being just for 64 bit seem to be believed by the masses. UEFI on a personal computer is like a very advanced version of the remote control that has been an integral part of business server software.
Maybe some of you remember Windows NT-4, which could be made to be hacker proof? Now, the hacker proof part has and is being, at least attempted to become, changed to impossible to stop hackers.
I started in card punch input and readers where we punched in a bunch of cards then submitted them to a physical box and hoped that they were run with a result when we came back to that class the next time. I do not even remember which college I was attending at the time. I do not expect that they had remote control back then, but I do remember it later in NT4. It is not for boot loading. It is for remote control, and other things.
UEFI is just a program. It can be a complete shadow operating system running all the time if there is sufficient electrical power in the system, all the while being forcefully hidden from the average user. This site should have a publicly readable discussion group just for and dedicated to UEFI: the use of, the programming of, the monitoring of, the intricate analysis of UEFI.
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I've been working for like a week - a week on getting my I2S audio drivers working on an ESP32 using either the internal DAC or an external I2S module with its own DAC.
SFX on an ESP32 - YouTube[^]
Well, I did it. I got the hardware working, and can now stream wavs off of internal storage or an SD card, and loop them.
That's the basics - just enough for me to verify I've got the hardware devices working.
Now I can/need to implement the algorithms like resampling and filtering and such. The transport code corollary in SFX to my draw code in GFX - it does all the algorithmic operations to make it work.
This is a big friggin deal because the *only* libraries to do audio on the ESP32 I've found are licensed under the General Public Virus so creating derivative works is pretty much off the table - I won't use GPL, and the code is ugly as sin, making not creating a derivative work and using it as is pretty much off the table.
I'm not making any derivative work. I had to hit the Internet forums for arcana, count bits, and wave dead chickens. I admit there was a little bit of praying to old gods involved, and that's not usually my style.
Anyway, I'm a long way from a release I feel comfortable writing an article around, but I've cleared the first (very) major hurdle.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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wave chickens ... lol
progress is fuel for the future
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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Congrats on getting it working. 
My ESP32 is scheduled to arrive today & then I will test it to see if I it supports secure BLE pairing & bonding with my iPhone. if it does then I will test that it can support multiple (at least 2, hopefully 3 or more) securely paired/bonded iPhones.
If that all works I will definitely be using ESP32s in many projects.
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I can tell you right now it definitely will support at least one. Probably multiple as I'm pretty sure the ESP32 supports multiple connections.
βESP32 BLE Terminal on the App Store[^]
Obviously BLE is dodgy, but that's BLE (and Bluetooth)
Happy building!
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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Thanks! Always appreciate encouragement. I will try to report back on what I discover over the next few days.
I like the dodgy stuff. makes my life full of surprises & the pain reminds me Iβm still alive and kicking on the hard stuff. 
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Wordle 399 4/6
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Wordle 399 4/6*
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Wordle 399 5/6
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Wordle 399 5/6
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Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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Another deduction and new word learnt...
Wordle 399 5/6
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Wordle 399 4/6
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"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Wordle 399 5/6
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Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming βWow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Wordle 399 X/6
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Two options, chose the wrong one, ending my 19 day streak 
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