Norwood, Massachusetts-based Phoenix Technologies Ltd has announced the Phoenix NoteBIOS 4.0, which it says is the first object-oriented firmware designed for portable personal computers. Phoenix describes it as an evolution of BIOS firmware that will enable technologies such as Plug & Play, Peripheral Component Interconnect and Smart Battery to be deployed quickly by portable personal computer manufacturers because they will not have to rewrite features and functions for core logic. Phoenix claims that it has virtualised the core logic into objects such that the code all looks the same; in a way it has made the core logic generic. The objects communicate with each other through a proprietary standard, according to the company. Phoenix NoteBIOS 4.0 includes compression so more features and functionality can be squeezed into in the same ROM size as previous designs; object-oriented power management software enables precise power management control of devices to be implemented in software; and the Phoenix BIOScope debugging tool resides partly in the NoteBIOS 4.0 code and partly on a host machine, says the company. Other features are the PowerPanel, Plug & Play Support and Save to Disk. PowerPanel is described as a floating toolbar that enables the user to access power management actions, such as Suspend and Save To Disk, so that the user can alter the power management behaviour of the machine by using the mouse. The Plug & Play support offers software support for hot and warm docking of notebooks. Save To Disk saves the whole status of the machine to the hard disk when the user wants to switch off, enabling the application to be restarted from the same point about 10 seconds after the machine is switched back on. NoteBIOS 4.0 will also provide support for the emerging Smart Battery standard, including SM BIOS support and SM Bus support through the Phoenix MultiKey product. PCMCIA plug in peripheral card support is included in PhoenixCard Manager Plus. A future enhancement of PowerPanel will provide increased compatibility and improved ease of use while extending battery life, says the firm. NoteBIOS 4.0 is available now, worldwide, through Phoenix’s engineering service centres but no prices were given. The first notebooks to use Phoenix’s NoteBIOS 4.0 should be ready this quarter.
