Re: A89: Virus Scanner for the 89
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Re: A89: Virus Scanner for the 89
What if a flashrom virus was imbedded into a game? Couldn't that render the
calculator partially useless if you played the game for a while?
Another thing, why can't you just rewrite the ROM with a TI downloadable
ROM? Is the memory actually destroyed or just overwritten?
At 03:47 PM 9/27/98 +0200, you wrote:
>
>The thing with eeprom flash and eprom is also that it is very slow to
>write to..
>so I'm quite sure it is impossible to burn it out in any short period of
>time..
>You will need a program that is ran for about a month without stop, only
>writing
>if it is a very fast eeprom.. If it is a normal speeded It would take
>about a year
>
>although.. I can ofcourse be wrong on this... ;)
>
>//Olle
>
>David Phillips wrote:
>>
>> The user archive memory is not actual powered ram, as is the normal memory
>> (the same type as is in your computer). It is the same kind that is in the
>> FLASH-ROM, which would be an EPROM, I assume. It's also known as
>> non-volatile ram, the same kind that stores your bios settings.
>>
>> The problem with this memory is that it can only be written to a finite
>> number of times before it "burns out". I have heard this number range from
>> ten thousand to a million times. This may seem like alot, but it is really
>> not. A normal program (ex. game) might write to a memory location at least
>> this many times, hence it cannot be used as normal ram. A program that did
>> this (either intentionally or unintentionally) would burn out or destroy
>> the eprom.
>>
>> I'm no expert in hardware, so I'm not exactly sure what would happen, but
>> I'm sure it's not good. I guess that it would render the entire memory
>> chip unstable and useless. On the 89, this is probably the entire archive,
>> and possible the entire flash rom as well. Thus a program that
>> "Archive("ed a variable a million times would damage the calc.
>>
>> As a semi-off-topic side note, I was wondering a few months ago if it would
>> be possible to destroy a computer's bios by writting to the memory
>> continuously. This would keep the bios from recording the correct states
>> for memory, disk drives, the motherboard, etc., rendering the computer
>> useless. It's a scary thought that software could actually destroy
>> hardware...
>>
>> At 10:05 PM 9/26/98 +0000, you wrote:
>> >>>>
>> At 10:44 PM 9/26/98, TurboSoft@aol.com said:
>> >makes having a sort of program that will scan for this type of virus is
kinda
>> >important. Perhaps if the program would scan for the Archive( commmand
>> then
>> >that may be sufficient.
>> >
>>
>> question. what does the archive( command have to do with screwing over the
>> calc?
>> {-kimo-}
>> Dogs love BOB cause he's crazy sniffable!
>> __________________________________________
>>
>> --
>> David Phillips
>> mailto:electrum@tfs.net
>> ICQ: 13811951
>> AOL/AIM: Electrum32
>
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