Hi

Could you please help me with the query included in the attachment? Thank you.

Regards
PG

 

Lets see. I think the ROM/PROM/FLASH are grouped with the RAM because all of those are accessed VIA the same hardware path. That is, the processor latches a memory location in the address pins which calls up a specific byte of memory, then the processor sends a read or memory active command which tells the ROM/PROM/FLASH/RAM to dump the contents of the memory location that the processor called up, onto the data bus, which the processor latches into its bus register and then performs its operation on.

ROM/PROM/FLASH/RAM is all part of memory contained in ICs and accessed via addresses sent by the processor, then read through the data bus. Typically ROM/PROM/FLASH occupy the lower addresses while RAM occupies higher address locations, but they all share the same access hardware in the processor, just at different addresses.

As far as the Hard Drive not being in there, that bit of memory is separate from the processor architecture and accessed VIA hardware/IO system.

Hope this helps. (Heck, hope this is what you were needing.

 

Why did you say that ROM and PROM don't give random memory access? They do.

 

Thanks a lot, BJT.

Why did you say that ROM and PROM don't give random memory access? They do.

My mistake. Perhaps, I confused two different things. ROM and PROM cannot be used as the main memory of a computer because they aren't volatile. But as you say they do let random access of data. On the other hand, I think, a flash memory can be used as the main memory of a system because it offers random access and can be re-written at very fast rates. Please correct me where I'm wrong.

By the way, don't you think the architecture shown here is more representative of an embedded system than of a 'regular' computer? Thank you for the help.

Best wishes
PG

 

Compared to conventional RAM. Flash RAM is quite slow.

 

Hi

Could you someone please confirm if what I said here is correct? Thank you.

Regards
PG