what's the difference between BIOS and Firmware?

Well, actually I think the difference is nothing. Both are drivers directly implemented on small data storages in the hardware itself.
But I think the term "Firmware" was implemented because people shouldn't mess it up with "BIOS" which was/is reserved for mainboards.

Iscaran
 
Really, who the hell cares? All you need to know is that both control the basic input and output signals to a device.
The only difference I can see between them is that firmware seems to be used in drives (CD/DVD/hard drives) whereas BIOS seems to be used in every other component in your computer (motherboard, video card, every other PCI/ISA card).
 
A BIOS chip is a subset of firmware: it's not software that's easily changed (even upgrading a flash BIOS is a pain in the butt most of the time), and it's not true hardware that can't be changed.
 
CKS said:
what about ROM?
Click to expand...
ROM means Read Only Memory.

BIOS is more like the software that allows the operating system to communicate with the motherboard. This enables the operating system to do things like enumerate the devices, determine the memory configuration, and be able to find and use the drives.

Firmware can be a bios but can also include a Bios/Operating system combonation. It's like a programmable and reflashable ROM system. MP3 players have Firmware that allow the unit to boot into a simple OS and play the music through the hardware. Some MP3 players have a firmware that are on a hard drive. Or it's sometimes referred to as firmware anyway.

Do a google search for the Samsung Napster player and look at some of the downloads they have available for it. There is two parts of the firmware in this case. One is on the flash ram and the other actually resides on the hard drive within the unit. The file that is on the hard drive is similar to a bios image file that you would flash to your motherboard flash chip. In this case it's just loaded off of the drive instead of being in expensive flash ram. For example, if you format the hard drive you have to put the one file back into place for the unit to work right.

Ok. I have had enough blabbering about this stuff. Off to bed! Woohoo!
 
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