Re: Ti-89 Died
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Re: Ti-89 Died
I think that most of the list subscribers are convinced that you guys
know what ROM is, whether you agree on the proper name for each type or
not.
There is ROM that can be "programmed" by the actual lithography process,
which is cheap in _Large_ quantities. This is becasue it can be made
very dense (small) and with a cheap process. Everyone calls this type
"ROM"
There is ROM that you burn once using special hadrware that can connect
to a PC, or sometimes the hardware is "stand alone" for higher
quantities that you'd see in production. The ROM is physically damaged
when you burn it. This type was/is very popular, and almost everyone
also calls this "ROM," becasue it too is "read only memory" once it is
installed in the device it was programmed for. Maybe some people call
this something else to avoid confusion, but my experience is that "ROM"
is fine unless it's important to be very specific.
If I cut open my ti85, I may find either type of ROM, but it doesn't
matter to me becasue they are functionally equivalent as long as the
write capability of the "burnt" ROM (if that's what's in there) has been
disabled, which I think the burner does. If not, the circuit board
designer should have left the programming pin(s) unconnected anyway.
Then there are the erasable kinds of ROM, which you don't seem to be
arguing about. Note that many people will casually refer to these as
"ROM" too, especially for certain uses/devices that aren't updated
often. I call my computer's BIOS "ROM BIOS" unless I'm discussing
software upgrades for it, becasue there is rarely a need to say "EEPROM"
or "Flash..."
You seem to be arguing about what "ROM" is, and you're all right. So
let's dicuss something more interesting, like the software that's on the
chips :)
+---------------------------------------------+
| Jonathan Samuel jsamuel+@andrew.cmu.edu |
| Electrical and Computer Engineering Student |
| Class of 1999 Carnegie Mellon University |
| * On Line Resume Coming Soon * |
| Web Page: |
| http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~jsamuel |
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