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Resolved: firmware is not software

Posted Aug 26, 2006 11:10 UTC (Sat) by broonie (subscriber, #7078)
In reply to: Resolved: firmware is not software by pflugstad
Parent article: Resolved: firmware is not software

Not always - due to the need to program the device at some point during production it can be much more cost effective to put a flash device on and program it after the hardware has been assembled. It allows the use of an off the shelf component, which is normally a win, and can be useful to allow production test access to the system.

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Posted Aug 29, 2006 0:38 UTC (Tue) by dlang (✭ supporter ✭, #313) [Link]

if you look at volume pricing of parts flash is still frequently more expensive then ROM (One-Time-Programmable) versions, let alone ones that don't have the flash at all.

also programming the flash frequently requires additional wires and other components in the device, which also cose.

Resolved: firmware is not software

Posted Aug 29, 2006 18:05 UTC (Tue) by broonie (subscriber, #7078) [Link]

Yes, it does depend on what you're doing - volumes, feature sets and whatnot. Point is that you can't tell which of flash or ROM will work out better until you look at the particular application.