Timeline for answer to Why do we need a bootloader separate from our application program in microcontrollers? by Dakkaron
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
Post Revisions
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 5, 2019 at 16:46 | comment | added | supercat | ...with no external RAM and ROM, because RAMless/ROMless designs are limited to trivial tasks. Something like a TMS 32050 which if I recall has a bootloader and a few thousand words 16-bit words of RAM internally would qualify as a microcontroller, however; although many applications would require more adding more RAM, if connected via UART to another system it could serve many purposes without anything on its memory bus. | |
| Jul 5, 2019 at 16:37 | comment | added | supercat | @Dakkaron: I would draw the line between a microprocessor and microcontroller based upon whether the chip is designed to be usable for non-trivial purposes without anything else on the address bus. The 8031 wouldn't qualify except that it is functionally 8051 (which is definitely a microcontroller) which isn't specified as having anything useful in the internal ROM, but would otherwise be designed to be usable entirely from internal storage). Something like an RCA/CDP 1802 wouldn't qualify even though it can be used to drive an LED nametag... | |
| Jul 5, 2019 at 13:57 | comment | added | Ben Voigt | "microprocessors feature a ROM that is large enough for a bootloader... On x86/x64 systems this bootloader is either the BIOS or the UEFI" Nope. BIOS or UEFI are stored in off-chip flash memory. The on-chip ROM is for even lower level functions, like initialization of the microcode. | |
| Jul 5, 2019 at 11:07 | comment | added | Dakkaron | Of course the difference between a microcontroller and a microprocessor is not a hard border and some microcontrollers behave more like a microprocessor and vice versa. That's why I took the AtMega/Arduino and the x86/x64 as examples, because they behave in that way. | |
| Jul 4, 2019 at 20:47 | comment | added | supercat | While it's useful to distinguish systems with enough random-access non-volatile storage (ROM or flash) to hold the entire program from those that need to run code from RAM, there are microcontrollers of both types and microprocessors of both types. | |
| Jul 4, 2019 at 9:36 | history | answered | Dakkaron | CC BY-SA 4.0 |