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cc-licenses - Re: What happens to the GPL in FPGA & VLSI implementations?

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Subject: Development of Creative Commons licenses

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  • From: drew Roberts <zotz AT 100jamz.com>
  • To: Discussion on the Creative Commons license drafts <cc-licenses AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: What happens to the GPL in FPGA & VLSI implementations?
  • Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 20:15:43 -0500

On Friday 18 March 2005 07:14 pm, Greg London wrote:
> drew Roberts said:
> > I appreciate the answer, but could you actually answer the question posed
> > first. I really want to know from a technical point. Isn't ROM a piece of
> > unchangeable silicon? Isn't and asic a piece of unchangeable silicon?
>
> A ROM is silicon and other stuff, usually unchangeable.
> A CD-ROM is a thin aluminum disc with plastic on it. always unchangeable.
> An asic is silicon and other chemicals. always unchangeable.
>
Greg,

I know the difference between a CD-ROM and a ROM. I am talking ROM and not
EEPROMs or even PROMs.

Now, if a ROM is fixed silicon, and an ASIC is fixed silicon, how is one
hardware and one software? In other words, is it a fake distinction?
Hardware, software, firmware.

How is a ROM manufactured? Do they use masks? What about an ASIC? What is the
other one? A programmable gate array?

Couldn't you build a dedicated peice of hardware that acted like MS Office
but
had no software per se?

all the best,

drew




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