On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 04:22:49PM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
When the PC clones first appeared, the universal OS was DOS. That's what they used as a platform for firmware updates. Only later did Windows come along and eventually motherboard manufacturers had to run the update tools under Windows. Many support both but some require Windows. Many document this poorly.
I like the ones that have firmware update support built in to the firmware itself.
There is some effort to support firmware update under Linux. I'm not likely to try it because I judge the ratio of risk to reward to be unfavourable.
(The first time I bought a motherboard that came with a Windows firmware update, I tried it and it bricked the board. The manufacturer said it was my fault. Luckily I had captured a screen shot of their web page where they had briefly admitted culpability, so they did end up covering it under warranty.)
Ouch. -- Len Sorensen