Linuxbios

The coreboot project (formerly known as LinuxBIOS) aims to replace the BIOS of the computer. coreboot consists not as the name implies, of Linux, it consists of initialisation routines to bring the hardware into a state ready for the initial startup. Afterwards the Linux kernel or some other operating system is started.

Not only Linux can be started, it's theoretically possible to start Windows as well (slightly more difficult), or boot over the network.

coreboot by itself needs about 3 seconds to start the operating systems bootprocess (depending on the hardware, the fastest target needs less than a half a second).

Links

[1]

http://www.coreboot.org/

coreboot Wiki Homepage