Item Subject: Is firmware software or hardware?
Peter W. Gofton said:
 
>We have software support but not hardware support.  We are told that in
>order to upgrade to MPE/IX 5.0 we need a firmware upgrade to our DAT drive
>which requires a site visit by an SE at our expense.
 
Well, 'firmware' usually refers to software which is more or less
permanently 'fixed' into hardware, so it's quite often both, since
it's a piece of hardware that contains software.
 
In the case of the DDS drives, the firmware update is (usually) done
entirely through software, via a special DDS tape that you stick into
the drive which automagically replaces the firmware in the drive (I
assume it's flash memory or something equivalent).  You probably just
need to get them to send you the appropriate tape.  We went through
the same thing recently, but I don't remember whether we got the
firmware upgraded or whether we simply replaced the DDS unit entirely
(for other reasons).
 
I think if you call the HP group that makes the DDS drives that they
may just send you the firmware update tape (sorry, I don't have the
number).
 
G.