On Wed, Aug 23, 2006 at 08:03:39PM +0100, Mark Brown wrote: > Within a Debian context people normally seem to use the term "firmware" > to mean any binary blob that gets programmed into hardware. This could > include things like register settings or FPGA images as well as programs > to execute on embedded processors. I'm not sure if there are any > instances of these other types in the upstream kernel, though.
FWIW (and a few days late) I did some searching for drivers in the kernel (2.6.17.11 from kernel.org) which refer to FPGAs and found the following: drivers/usb/atm/ueagle-atm.c drivers/media/video/bt8xx/bttv-cards.c sound/pci/vx222/* sound/pcmcia/vx/* sound/pci/pcxhr/* sound/pci/mixart/* sound/drivers/vc/* -- These load image via the standard kernel interface (hotplug) drivers/media/video/stradis.c drivers/net/wan/lmc/* -- Loads FPGA image supplied by an ioctl drivers/net/hamradio/yam.c -- Loads firmware from const arrays in yam*.h drivers/net/pcmcia/smc91c92_cs.c -- Loads firmware from const array in ositech.h drivers/usb/misc/emi26.c, emi62.c -- Loads firmware from const array in emi26_fw.h / emi62_fw*.h drivers/isdn/hardware/eicon/* -- Loads firmware from file directly (?) drivers/media/video/dabusb.c -- From file I think. Driver is confusing. arch/sh/boards/overdrive/fpga.c -- Loads from missing file To those who consider ROM-less hardware cheap and nasty I suggest the opposite is true. I design hardware (FPGAs) professionally for expensive communications equipment. We avoid ROMs as much as possible, because they are difficult to upgrade reliably and they are a waste of money. We deliberately load our FPGAs with different functionality at different times and that isn't possible from ROM. The emi62.c sound driver seems to do something similar - it loads different firmware for midi and spdif modes! Hamish -- Hamish Moffatt VK3SB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]