I have an ibm thinkcentre desktop and opensuse 11 is running fine on it.
I found there are bios updates, downloaded them and when I try to open the .exe file nothing happens.
So what is the trick to get either a flash bios update or a floppy diskette update to run in opensuse 11?
.exe files are not for opening, but for executing. Probably you deal with a Windows executable.
Often, the BIOS update should be accomplished from within Windows or DOS. What do you instructions tell?
So I took the plunge into opensuse to find that I need to re install windows to do bios updates?
What is the point of having linux?
The bios updates are windows files.
A lot of vendors only supply an .exe that creates a floppy or a CD when run. It’s tricky to run them under Unix/Linux. If you can find a Windows computer to run it on and make the bootable floppy, that might be the easiest way. I wish manufacturers would just provide a CD iso instead of .exes or floppy images. Those .exe bios programs need to go the way of the dinosaur.
I have a windows laptop and a usb floppy, how do I make the floppy bootable?
Thank god IBM had a .iso bios update file- I downloaded it, burned it to a cd and updated the bios ok.
Thanks for the input!
That’s why some people keep a dual boot on laptops. But seriously you should blame the hardware mfr for requiring a non-free OS to do the update.
However sometimes those exes are just either DOS exes, in which case you can use a FreeDOS floppy or CD to update, or self-extracting zips or lhas, in which case you can unpack them on Linux.
I created this how-to:
Boot DOS without Floppy - openSUSE
Its intended for case where the BIOS update requires a boot floppy. It does NOT work where the BIOS update requires MS Windows.
Thank You.