Anthony DeRobertis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hmmm, I have a CF card. Upon it are files, and in every meaningful way > it is a disk. Therefor, that data is software. > > Yet, CF is actually chips --- often the same chips as used to hold > firmware distributed with hardware. Thus, it's all hardware.
As an even more extreme real-life example - I have an MP3 player that can be plugged in as a USB mass storage device. It has a single partition that does not cover the entirity of the flash. One block at the beginning contains the firmware used to make the player work. If I extend the partition over the entirity of the device, I can overwrite the firmware with any filesystem I want. Alternatively, I can add an entry to the FAT that makes it look like the firmware is a file. Is it firmware if it's outside the partition? If so, does it become software when I force it kicking and screaming into a filesystem? -- Matthew Garrett | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
