But that's exactly what Intel's Extensible Firmware Interface http://www.intel.com/ technology/efi/ (EFI) project aims to do.

The Extensible Firmware Interface
The EFI is a tiny, secure operating system that sits between the hardware of a PC--or any computing device--and the high-level operating system (like Windows or Linux) that humans normally interact with. Although the EFI can emulate a traditional BIOS, it also can do much more. For example, it can provide a full mouse-driven graphical interface for controlling the low-level hardware functions that today can only be controlled by hitting a special key at startup and entering a limited, arcane, and text-only "BIOS Setup" routine.

But that's only the beginning, because EFI is really a kind of blank slate that will allow a total rethinking of how computers start up. For example, a traditional BIOS is space-limited, so most are programmed in compact, low-level "machine language," which is notoriously difficult to do well--in fact, very few engineers are proficient in machine language. In contrast, EFI is written in C, the world's most popular high-end programming language, and EFI isn't space-constrained because its data resides in a special reserved area of the hard drive. This means that far more engineers will be able to do more creative things with PC hardware than is now possible. There's no telling where EFI will lead, but it almost surely will initially result in new forms of system maintenance, repair, and recovery tools; new ways to install operating systems and peripherals; and more.

For example, at last year's Intel Developer Forum, Intel's Yosi Govezensky reeled off several likely EFI near-term spin-offs:

• Portable, operating-system-neutral disk-management and boot-management tools
• Remote configuration and installation options
• Platform management utilities outside the operating system, such as a bootable flash update CD without DOS, customer-support utilities, and country (regionalization) kits.

Intel's EFI project began in 2000, and many companies, including Adaptec, AMI, ATI, Hewlett-Packard, LSI, Microsoft, and PowerQuest, are working with Intel to make EFI a production reality. EFI is steadily gathering momentum and is definitely a technology to watch. More info is available at http://www.intel.com/ technology/efi/efi.htm .

Ports
The original base model IBM PC had only a keyboard port, a cassette port, a TV (yes--a TV, not a monitor), and a printer port as standard equipment, although you could add monitor, game, and serial communication ports as options. Over time, these became standard gear and part of the load of "legacy" hardware.

Mice were rare on early PCs, because those PCs mostly ran in DOS text mode. When mice appeared, they usually connected to an existing serial port or to a special proprietary mouse port built into a graphics adapter card.