Case study

GLaBIOS: a scratch-built 8K ROM BIOS

A scratch-built open ROM BIOS for vintage PC, XT, and 8088-class machines. The shipped assembly source src/GLABIOS.ASM is the build input; src/MAKE.BAT runs MASM and LINK, then GLA2ROM writes GLABIOS.ROM, which the GLA2ROM readme calls an 8KiB ROM image.

Targets: Firmware
Category: Independent reconstruction cases
Relationship: Independent reconstruction project
Sources reviewed: 2026-11-03

Stars: 384
Last commit: 2026-07-23
Language: Assembly
License (GitHub): GPL-3.0

GitHub data as of 2026-11-09

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Requirements & limits

Prerequisites: src/GLABIOS.ASM is in the tree. src/MAKE.BAT runs MASM GLABIOS, LINK GLABIOS, and then GLA2ROM on GLABIOS.EXE to write GLABIOS.ROM. src/gla2rom/README.md says that command produces an 8KiB ROM image and must run under DOS or a DOS emulator.
Scope: The README describes an 8K PC-compatible BIOS for vintage PC, XT, and 8088 machines; its pinned commit is v0.4.2 and also describes a Version 0.8b preview.
License: LICENSE is the GNU GPL version 3 text, and the README identifies the project as GPLv3.

Cite

BibTeX

@misc{glabios-rom-bios-case,
  title = {{GLaBIOS: a scratch-built 8K ROM BIOS}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://github.com/640-KB/GLaBIOS}},
  url = {https://github.com/640-KB/GLaBIOS},
  urldate = {2026-11-03},
  note = {Awesome REA entry: \url{https://awesomerea.org/resources/glabios-rom-bios-case/}}
}

Plain text

GLaBIOS: a scratch-built 8K ROM BIOS. https://github.com/640-KB/GLaBIOS (accessed 2026-11-03). Awesome REA entry: https://awesomerea.org/resources/glabios-rom-bios-case/

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About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.

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Primary sources

README.md GitHub · 640-KB/GLaBIOS · Revision b98b0fe
src/GLABIOS.ASM GitHub · 640-KB/GLaBIOS · Revision b98b0fe
src/MAKE.BAT GitHub · 640-KB/GLaBIOS · Revision b98b0fe
src/gla2rom/README.md GitHub · 640-KB/GLaBIOS · Revision b98b0fe
LICENSE GitHub · 640-KB/GLaBIOS · Revision b98b0fe