Firmware
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In computing, firmware is software that is embedded in a hardware device. Often it is provided in flash ROMs and can be updated by an end user.
Examples of firmware include:
- the BIOS found in personal computers,
- Open Firmware, used in computers from Sun Microsystems and Apple,
- the computer program in a read-only memory (ROM) integrated circuit (A hardware configuration is usually used to represent the software.),
- the erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) chip, whose program may be modified by special external hardware, but not by an application program.
Source: from Federal Standard 1037C and from MIL-STD-188
Unauthorised modified firmware is sometimes used to provide functionality not intended by the manufacturer, for example to defeat the region encoding of DVD players.
See also
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