Topic: Too Damn Late
It's roughly 12:00 AM CDT & it's time once again for Too Damn Late!
WARNING: Too Damn Late is not written in front of a live studio audience. Since it's written after midnight, the contents in here are uncensored by anybody as an act of first ammendment rights. Therefore, if you are easily offended by swear words or outrageous thoughts, STOP READING THIS BLOG ENTRY NOW!!! I don't want to hear any complaints from anybody because you read this with ample warning. I don't writing these warnings, but I do so to protect myself here. By reading beyond this warning, you hereby consent to such adult content. VIEWER DESCRETION IS ADVISED!
In Episode 11.0, I mentioned what Nintendo SHOULD do & learn from the Homebrewers. However, Nintendo modified the boot section of the Wii with Wii Menu System 4.2 & started causing problems themselves. While Nintendo is trying to prevent the modders (& homebrewers) from hacking the Wii, but Nintendo should put in some safeguards to prevent themselves from fucking up their own product. Even the computer motherboard makers put in some safeguards when dealing with BIOS upgrades so if something bad should happen (like a power outage), there's an emergency recovery option so your little screw up doesn't turn your multi-thousand dollar baby of a computer into a goddamn large & expensive paperweight.
Here's how Nintendo SHOULD handle their boot section on the Wii. I will warn you that this does contain some programming pseudo-code, so don't go bitching to me if you can't understand this!
- System ON
- Launch Boot #0 [Read Only, Write Protected]
- Launch Boot #1 [Mostly Protected, only Checksum is modifiable]
- Do Checksum check on Boot #2
- Compare Checksum with Checksum stored in Boot #1
- Is Boot #2 Checksum OK?
- If Yes, Launch Boot #2
- If No, Launch Boot Recovery [Read Only, Write Protected]
Under this set-up, there's only 2 places in the Boot Sector that can be modified. Boot #2 & the checksum in Boot #1. Boot #0 & Boot Recovery are protected & cannot be modified. The main reason is that if the main boot sector (Boot #2) gets corrupted in some way, there's an emergency back-up system (Boot Recovery) to keep the system running. However, the Recovery system would be more bare bones & set up to fix (or reinstall) Boot #2 as soon as possible. If the system can't immediately do a recovery for some reason, the Recovery system should keep the system partially operational. You may not be able to do everything you want under the back-up system, but it should at least keep you from bitching out Customer Support to fix your system due to THEIR mistake.
While I don't have the exact "Technical Details" for implimentation, but it's a bare-bones idea that somebody could build on... Before any legal assholes bitch "We can't do this because you could sue us." excuse, here's a few things to consider.
First of all, this idea is a bit too general to hold water in a court of law. Second, I'm not patenting this idea because the US patent office is a bit too sluggish to capitalize on the idea & it's likely covered by some other patent (which I'm not going to bother researching). Third, if I did take any credit for this idea, I'd like use a Creative Commons "By Attribution" license so anybody can use it & charge for it (as they're doing the core work) as long as they give me credit for the work... but I wouldn't be too offended if they forget.
I'm taking a small page out of the computer's boot system. Under most computer BIOS, the order of execution is:
- Optical Drive (CD / DVD / Blu-Ray Drive)
- Primary Hard Drive
- Primary OS (or Bootloader)
- Secondary OS
- Trimary OS, ect.
- Secondary Hard Drive
- External USB Storage
- Floppy Drive
While this isn't THE EXACT boot order, as most computer BIOSes can be reordered to a personal tastes & some options may not be available due to BIOS offerings or physical limitations (as Floppy Drives have been retired for quite some time now & External USB Storage is still a bit new as an option), but it permits multiple layers of back-up options should something go wrong. By including removable storage options (optical drive, USB, floppies), should the hard drives die on you for whatever goddamn reason may be, you'll still have a way to recover some functionality of your computer without having to bitch out some outsourced Customer Service idiot. The repairs may cost more than just time (like $100-$250 for a new hard drive & possibly $200-$300 for a new copy of Windows, if you choose to use it), but you don't have to cough up a fucking lung for a brand new computer... if you don't want to.
What I propose if a bit more protected than a PC, it allows Nintendo to modify the boot sector of the Wii without all the risks of turning their game system into a brick & pissing off everybody that's affected, including the Stickenbaums. I know it won't fully prevent modders from hacking the Wii, but it can make it harder for them.
That's all I have for tonight. It's about 2:00 AM & I'm heading to bed.
