How embedded systems work: the hidden computers in everyday things, and how engineers build them
Cross-compiling and flashing: how firmware gets from a laptop into a chip
The chip inside a device has no keyboard, no screen and no room for the tools that write programs. So its program is written on an ordinary laptop, and the laptop cannot even run what it makes. How does firmware get from one to the other?
-
1
You write the firmware on Rono's laptop, in words a person can read: if the number is on the list, open the latch.
-
2
The chip cannot read those words, and it has no keyboard and no screen to type them on. Somehow, the program has to reach it.
The rest of this episode is for subscribers
Subscribe to read every premium episode. You can cancel when you want.
Paid yearly: $99 instead of $119.88