[1.4/1.5] Computer-specific BIOS/Shell modification

[left]I would like to request the ability to change the BIOS/Shell on a specific computer. On a simpler level, the ability to modify the shell on a specific computer would allow disabling disc booting, as well as allowing for more precise tuning of the OS. Modifying the BIOS would allow for more effective security programs and sandboxing by allowing the modification and limitation or extension of the Lua front-end for the os API. And yes, the lowercase "os" there was intentional as I'm indexing the API, not the acronym for Operating System. There are some vulnerabilities that come with this approach, however if the same precautions used in real-world computers are used by the player, there should be no problem. These precautions include regularly backing up the files on the computer to a floppy and not running dubious programs. The benefits of this ability out way it's risks. Not only that but the benefits can prevent the risks. I hope that this request is reasonable enough to get accepted, and if not please let me know.[/left]

[left]Also, can whoever is reading this please reply with their thoughts on the matter? I noticed on my last post that there were over ten times more views than replies. I'm pretty sure that very few of the people reading this are completely indifferent to the matter at hand. Even if the only thing you can post is criticism, I would still appreciate your reply.[/left]

It could require physical modification to the computer (similar to replacing the BIOS ROM chip with a flash-RAM chip) so that by default no programs can do this (including viruses).
Of course if you add the modification then any program can edit the BIOS (including viruses).

immibis, on 25 August 2012 - 08:05 AM said:

It could require physical modification to the computer (similar to replacing the BIOS ROM chip with a flash-RAM chip) so that by default no programs can do this (including viruses).
Of course if you add the modification then any program can edit the BIOS (including viruses).

You could always make a new storage system, like you said a chip, that you can save a single file to, like a floppy, and then it can be attached to the computer. If there is a chip, the file on it completely overrides the BIOS.

dimitriye98, on 25 August 2012 - 10:21 AM said:

You could always make a new storage system, like you said a chip, that you can save a single file to, like a floppy, and then it can be attached to the computer. If there is a chip, the file on it completely overrides the BIOS.

Except for the string metatable part, of course.

of cource if you would have editable rom then it would have to save the rom for all of the computers apart, many people think.
the solution:
see what files are changed and just put them on the computer itself instead of the whole rom.
why so usefull solution:
because if you did it with the whole rom it would take up much more memory and a server would LAG badly!
with this you only have to keep the edited files in memory for the computer and the rest of the rom for every computer

i was also thinking of a system that you could boot the computer in recovery mode(DFU) so that you could edit the rom from the remote computer
explanation:

Spoiler

when you put a computer next to a comuter( A and B ) then computer a can call the folowing:

local remote = peripheral.wrap("right")
remote.turnOn()

to turn pc B remotely on
but what if you did this:

remote.bootDFU()

and then you could do something like this:

fs.copy("anti-virus","computer/rom/")

to copy files into the ROM of computer B
and then just call remote.shutdown() to close dfu mode
next time you boot the pc you canot edit the rom anymore

Insert a Computer/Turtle into a Drive instead of Disk to be able to read/write(shadow) "rom" directory.
Read command get files from Dan200's ROM. Write creates local files which Computer will read instead of real ROM. Delete to use originals.
Half a joke but why not? Want a new rom? Reprogram yourself.