6. UEFI = Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
A fundamentally different BIOS stack from legacy BIOS with new
capabilities and features
Platform Initialization (PI)
Interfaces produced & consumed by firmware only
Promote interoperability between firmware components
Latest PI specification version is 1.4 (April 2015)
UEFI
Pre-OS (and limited runtime program interfaces) between UEFI
Applications (incl. OSes) / UEFI Drivers and system firmware
Latest UEFI specification version is 2.5 (Apr 2015)
Latest UEFI Shell specification version is 2.1 (July 2014)
Cf: http://www.uefi.org
UEFI Technology
7. Processor architecture agnostic
EFI System Table
EFI_ACPI_20_TABLE_GUID
RSDP
XsdtAddress
Entry
XSDT
Header
RsdtAddress
Header
MADT
contents
Header
CSRT
contents
Header
DBG2
contents
Header
BGRT
contents
Header
FPDT
contents
Header
DSDT
Differentiated Definition
Block
Header
SPCR
contents
Header
GTDT
contents
FACS
Header
FACP
a.k.a. FADT
FIRMWARE_CTRL
DSDT (0-4GB)
X_FIRMWARE_CTRL
X_DSDT
ARM_BOOT_ARCH
…
Entry
Entry
Entry
Entry
Entry
Entry
Entry
Entry
Header
SSDT
Definition Block
XXXX
Tables defined by ACPI
Tables reserved by ACPI
XXXX
Header
SSDT
Definition Block
Entry
…n
Header
SRAT
contents
Header
SPMI
contents Header
SLIT
contents
Header
PMTT
contents
Entry
ACPI = Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
Static tables and primary runtime interprested control
methods provided by system firmware to the OS for system
configuration, power management and error handling
ACPI
Interfaces consumed by the OS
Processor architecture agnostic
Latest specification version is 6.0 (April 2015)
Cf: http://www.uefi.org/acpi
ACPI Technology