firmware programming ?

[sam111]

I have over the years programmed pic, avr ,based chips to turn on led's
and other things...

I had to buy a programmer that plugged into my usb or serial port on my computer and then run wires to the correct places on the solder-less breadboard.

But I am curious sony , phoenix (bios company ) ,...etc have to programmer their firmware for their TV, CD/DVD Players , HDD controllers ,...etc

I am wondering if their is away of buying what they have online or buying something online that would allow me to (copy/write new firmware to the device ) like HDD , cd/dvd player , tv ,...firmware

If it is not possible to buy this sort of stuff then what places/jobs would allow you to work with programming this low level stuff.....

Curious would it be possible to copy or flash/write to the firmware of a old nintendo system or at least
Buy a device that allows you to copy the rom image off of a nintendo game.... sort of like rombay has on their site?

[Rubberman]

I suppose it depends upon whether or not the firmware is in read-only, or read-write devices. Modern systems that allow "over the air" updates of firmware obviously use some sort of flash memory. Other systems may be ROM/PROM based and require that you burn a new chip to incorporate your changes. In any case, the code would be in binary machine code, which you should, with the right tools, be able to reverse-engineer into the appropriate assembly language, which can then be modified. People do this when the "jail break" Sony, Apple, and other devices.

So, the approach you need to take depends entirely upon the system you are trying to modify. FWIW, even my laptop CD/DVD player/recorder has writable flash memory in order to enable newer features. I had to do that when it could not record and then playback certain makes of DVD-RW discs.

[sam111]

Ok, thanks I see now.

Do you know what would qualify you for a job programming firmware for a company like sony ,...etc
I was wondering would a 4 year electronics degree with experience in programming avr and pic chips be enough.
Or is their something else you need?


Also

FWIW, even my laptop CD/DVD player/recorder has writable flash memory in order to enable newer features. I had to do that when it could not record and then playback certain makes of DVD-RW discs.

You mean you had to do firmware re-visioning for a computers cd/dvd drive. Wow never knew they where programmable thought they where all burn once?

Curious can you provide a link to the firmware download an what you had to do ?
I am just really curious about that... I have old computer equipment but maybe the newer stuff is more programmable these day's.


WAIT are you talking about some gaming device like a ps2 or xbox or something like that because that is different then just a computer cd/dvd device.