Firmware
QUANTUM DLTtape HANDBOOK
15
15.1
Firmware is the “brains” behind the scenes in many of the products
we take for granted. It's hard at work in your microwave oven, your
calculator, your refrigerator, your digital watch, your kids’ electronic
toys, your cell phone, your treadmill, and your car.
Of course, firmware is also a crucial part of every piece of comput-
er and telecommunications equipment in use today. Naturally,
we’re interested here in how firmware works in your Quantum
DLTtape system.
Firmware is a computer program that’s stored in a special non-
volatile computer memory chip, where it won’t disappear when
the power is turned off. It is typically located on the device’s main
control board. Firmware is stored in permanent, non-erasable
form on a PROM (programmable read only memory) chip or on
an EEPROM (electronically erasable programmable read only
memory). Firmware stored on a PROM can only be updated by
physically replacing the chip containing the firmware. EEPROMs
can be rewritten with new firmware, if the need arises. This is the
type of chip used to store firmware in all DLTtape systems.
Firmware is part hardware, but mostly software. It occupies the mid-
dle ground between you and the device you're trying to use or con-
