Field-programmability: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:40, 14 May 2007

Revision as of 22:43, 14 May 2007

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[[As of 2007]], many consumer electronic devices (including [[MP3 player]]s, [[broadband router]]s, [[cell phone]]s, and digital cameras) contain embedded systems based on [[general-purpose computer|general-purpose]] [[microprocessor]]s and [[microcontroller]]s. Most of these devices contain field-programmable components which can be located and accessed by knowledgeable [[hardware hacker]]s. Field-programming allows hobbyists to replace a device's firmware with new code that can modify or extend its capabilities.

Numerous online communities have sprung up around devices found to be particularly conducive to such modification. For example, the [[iPodLinux]] and [[OpenWRT]] projects have enabled users to run full-featured Linux distributions on their MP3 players and wireless routers, respectively.

While hobbyist field-programming is theoretically possible in practically any embedded system today, in practice efforts to modify consumer devices are often hampered by lack of [[documentation]] for the [[hardware]].

== See also ==

* [[Firmware]]

* [[JTAG]]

* [[FPGA]]

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