What is flashing? |
May, 27, 2003 8:02 AM |
judybankhead |
I continue to read references to flashing this and flashing that, but, for the life of me, I cannot find anywhere that tells me exactly what flashing is. Will somebody define that for me? ...in the computer sense, please! Thanks. |
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RE: What is flashing? |
May, 29, 2003 9:40 AM |
kilajamo |
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Yeah...very accurate, perfectly represented in M.I.B. :-) |
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RE: What is flashing? |
May, 28, 2003 9:33 PM |
fixitjc |
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A bit of semi useless information I picked up (I'm obsessive - used to be an Archaeologist) I believe the term "flashing" came from the use of Light or UV light to deprogram some PROMs. They have a piece of opaque tape over a window in the chip and when they needed to be rewritten the tape was removed and the window was "flashed" - exposed to the proper light to erase it and then the new information was added and the window was recovered to preserve it. The EEPROMs do it electronicly instead of with light but the term lives on. Sometimes some information is too much, hope I didn't muddy the water for anyone. |
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RE: What is flashing? |
May, 27, 2003 2:45 PM |
judybankhead |
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That "flashing" is a techy-term for ROMwriting makes sense even to me! Thanks to both message posters. |
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RE: What is flashing? |
May, 27, 2003 1:57 PM |
mjoecups358 |
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Wow, that confused even me! :~) Many add in cards, component and even computers themselves store there "personailty" in special chips which remember what is written in them even when the power is off. These chips are usually called PROM (programmable read only memory). Luckily some smart companies use what is called an EEPROM as pbell said above. The EE stands for ELECTRONICALLY ERASEABLE. This allows us to update the personality of the card/device or "flash" it. Flashing also can be used in some cases to change a PC card into a mac one. This process is somewhat dangerous, because if something goes wrong during the process(ie your cat unplugs the power), the device being "flashed" could be history... Hope this helps. Marty |
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RE: What is flashing? |
May, 27, 2003 10:45 AM |
pbell3 |
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OK, I'll try to explain . I'm going to asume (I realize that puts me in a bad place) that you are talking about some of the threads previous that speak of flashing a video card. If true, then here is the lowdown. These video cards and many other devices have a special type of memory called EEPROM (not to be confused with flash- ram used in Smartmedia cards and the like). This EEPROM is normally used as the firmware that controls the video controller (or the like) on the card in discussion. The EEPROM may be re-written with a new program via a special re-write program which commands the card to overwrite the old programming and replace it with new programming. The correct term is Rom-writing, but in common usage (slang) some techy types use the term "flashing". Hope that clarifies the ambiguity . Have fun and good luck! |
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