Re: New summary: Binary peripheral software
On Sun, Apr 04, 2004 at 06:30:35AM -0400, Nathanael Nerode wrote:
> Marco d'Itri wrote:
>
> > On Apr 03, "J.D. Hood" <jdthood@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> >> (If we are distributing it then it isn't firmware. I'll call
> >> it 'peripheral software' until someone suggests a better term.)
> > If it's executed in a peripheral or add on card then it's still
> > firmware even if you have to upload it throught the PCI or USB bus.
> > Please do not play with the dictionary.
> Wrong. See Thomas's explanation of the actual meaning of "firmware".
I don't see how that's wrong; Thomas specifically talked about
downloadable firmware:
> Contemporary computers contain more than one processing unit. Some
> years ago the peripheral processing units usually ran software that
> was stored in a ROM -- i.e., it was firmware. In order to save money,
> manufacturers began leaving out the ROMs and began shipping the
> code for the peripheral processors along with the driver; the driver
> downloaded the software for the peripheral processor at boot time.
> Quite naturally people began to refer to "downloadable firmware".
> The word 'firmware' had come to mean, in their minds, software that
> runs on a peripheral processor.
Hamish
--
Hamish Moffatt VK3SB <hamish@debian.org> <hamish@cloud.net.au>
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