www/philosophy hardware-software-boundary.html

[Pavel Kharitonov]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Pavel Kharitonov <ineiev>       15/03/10 14:48:53

Added files:
        philosophy     : hardware-software-boundary.html 

Log message:
        New article RT #990411.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/hardware-software-boundary.html?cvsroot=www&rev=1.1

Patches:
Index: hardware-software-boundary.html
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RCS file: hardware-software-boundary.html
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+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 -->
+<title>The Boundary Between Hardware And Software
+- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/gnun/initial-translations-list.html" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+<h2>The Boundary Between Hardware And Software</h2>
+
+<p>What is the boundary, in digital devices, between hardware and
+software?  We can find it by applying the definitions: software is the
+operational part of a device that can be copied and changed in a
+computer; hardware is the operational part that can't be.  This is the
+right way to make the distinction because it relates to the practical
+consequences.</p>
+
+<p>There is a gray area between hardware and software that contains
+firmware that <em>can</em> be upgraded or replaced, but is not meant
+ever to be upgraded or replaced once the product is sold.  In
+conceptual terms, the gray area is rather narrow.  In practice, it is
+important because many products fall in it.  We can treat that
+firmware as hardware with a small stretch.</p>
+
+<p>Some have said that preinstalled firmware programs and
+Field-Programmable Gate Array chips (FPGAs) &ldquo;blur the boundary
+between hardware and software,&rdquo; but I think that is a
+misinterpretation of the facts.  Firmware that is installed during use
+is software; firmware that is delivered inside the device and can't be changed
+is software by nature, but we can treat it as if it were a circuit.
+As for FPGAs, the FPGA itself is hardware, but the gate pattern that
+is loaded into the FPGA is a kind of firmware.</p>
+
+<p>Running free gate patterns on FPGAs could potentially be a useful
+method for making digital devices that are free at the circuit level.
+However, to make FPGAs usable in the free world, we need free
+development tools for them.  The obstacle is that the format of the
+gate pattern file that gets loaded into the FPGA is secret.  Until
+recently there was <em>no</em> model of FPGA for which those files
+could be produced without nonfree (proprietary) tools.</p>
+
+<p>Thanks to a reverse-engineering effort, it is now possible to compile
+C programs and run them on the Xilinx Spartan 6 LX9 FPGA.  The tools
+do not yet support HDL (hardware definition language) code, though, so
+this does not offer a usable substitute for real digital chips.
+Meanwhile, that model of FPGA is starting to get old.  These tools
+constitute a tremendous advance over the situation a few years ago,
+but there's a long way to go before FPGAs are fully usable in freedom.</p>
+
+<p>As for the HDL code itself, it can act as software (when it is run on
+an emulator or loaded into an FPGA) or as a hardware design (when it
+is realized in immutable silicon or a circuit board).</p>
+
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+<p>Copyright &copy; 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
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+Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>.</p>
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+<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
+
+<p class="unprintable">Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2015/03/10 14:48:52 $
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+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>