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BIOS ACPI
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface - ACPI
BIOS's/Firmware Implementation of ACPI would consist of two (three) elements:
a) Configuration Tables
b) Interpreted Executable Function Interface (Control Methods)
c) Motherboard Device enumeration and Configuration
(It does not quite count for our purposes as it is not an "interface" per se but more like setup-time routines to be used when machine is powered on)
ACPI's web site : http://www.acpi.info
Overview of ACPI : http://www.acpi.info/papers/ACPI_Overview.pdf
ACPI Specification : http://www.acpi.info/DOWNLOADS/ACPIspec-2-0a.pdf
Some information about ACPI is being returned via Int 15/AX=E820 - Query System Address Map interrupt call.
ACPI's usage by Windows, and Windows' dependency on BIOS's support of ACPI has not been investigated at the present time. However, in general just like with PNPBIOS and BIOS32, it is highly unlikely Windows would *require* ACPI in order to boot, and it is more likely a "useful", but nevertheless optional component.
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