4 ms·

If it’s a ROM, it’s arguably hardware - hard as in immutable.

• andy_ppp 5y ago
  Not sure software that can’t be changed turns into hardware!
  • saurik 5y ago
    Yeah, I feel that's at best "firmware", but I would be very confused by "hardware"... watch there be some amazing term like "steadyware" ;P.
    • mjevans 5y ago
      I thought it was... Hardware - Immutable without physical destruction Firmware - Possible, but abnormal, to change (maybe limited times, risky) Software - Easiest to update, often during normal system lifetime Wikipedia's definition disagrees though, since it agrees that ROM is firmware (I agree EPROM is firmware since it can be modified with more extreme measures), but I suggest that is less correct than the categorization I outlined as I would like to include FPGAs, etc.
      • andy_ppp 5y ago
        So computer games delivered on cartridges are hardware? This is clearly ridiculous.
        • jimktrains2 5y ago
          Is an asic designed in an hdl like vhdl or verilog not hardware to you?
          • vlovich123 5y ago
            HDL is still code and can produce hardware or software. The ASIC is 100% hardware because the logic is embedded directly into physical components. The same logic running on an FPGA is software although conversationally one might talk about it as being closer to hardware.
        • Nexxxeh 5y ago
          The cartridges are hardware, the game within is software. Although yes, sometimes. I mean some cartridges like Super FX (Starfox) or SA1 (Super Mario RPG) SNES cartridges include specific hardware accelerators.
          • Wowfunhappy 5y ago
            The point GP is making is that the game within the cartridge is immutable. But, I actually think cartridges are a great demonstration of how the hardware-software divide isn't obvious. Byuu used to write about the importance of capturing a cartridge's mapping. The chips in different cartridges are also connected differently, and if you don't capture that information, they game can't be fully recreated. Emulators either have to guess or use a database of known titles.
            • mjevans 5y ago
              The cartridge would indeed be Hardware, possibly with some bit of firmware or software storage are for game saves. Technically it might be entirely Firmware if the manufacturers decided to just use a single EEPROM chip for the whole thing, even if during normal operation the software on the chip only ever re-programmed a single page.
    • slver 5y ago
      "soft with crunchy bits here and there" ...ware
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]