On Wednesday 08 January 2003 9:37 pm, Alessio Sangalli wrote:
what about that disc on chip device: how much does it cost more or less?
In the UK they cost about GBP20 - so I guess that's about EUR30 / USD30 in the rest of the world...
Why can't we use a normal FLASH memory like the ones used to store a standard BIOS?
Because they do not have a large enough capacity. Standard BIOS chips are 2megabits (= 32 kilobytes), which is not neough to hold a Linux kernel.
I can think those chips provide particular features, but which ones exactly?
The main thing which DoC does which you can't do with standard Flash Roms is to format them as a Silicon Disc, and put a file system into them.
Aren't common flash/eeprom chips much easier to find and cheaper to buy?
Yes, but they're too small.
An external programmer could be needed (like for the eproms of etherboot) but most people could have access to such a device.
You can program a Flash Rom chip on your motherboard - no external programmer needed - that's how you upgrade the BIOS even if you're not doing anything with LinuxBIOS.
Antony.
--
If you want to be happy for an hour, get drunk. If you want to be happy for a year, get married. If you want to be happy for a lifetime, get a garden.