A long time ago, in those ancient times, when computers were the size of a two-story hut on chicken legs, their memory was collected from magnetic cores in the shape of the letter S. Young and beautiful Marya-masters with thin fingers and sharp eyes pulled thin wires between the pins with special needles letters W: if it stretches to the left - there will be a zero in memory, to the right - one. Since then, it has become a custom among the computer people to call the process of programming ROM "firmware".
ROM is read only memory. It is called permanent because even when the power is turned off, it is obliged to save the information recorded in it. In the form of microchips, this type of memory is used in all computerized devices - mobile phones, home theaters, music players, etc. They store the software for controlling the operation of the microprocessor device. It is this set of programs that determines how well the device will perform its functions, how much it will consume electricity, and how often it will fail.
When the device is assembled at the factory, the first "flashing" of the ROM takes place - writing into it the computer codes created by the programmers. However, after the release of the device to the market, work on it does not stop - the company's coders eliminate the identified shortcomings and add new functions to the software that allow even better use of the capabilities built into the device. Modified versions are uploaded for free on Internet sites in the form of specially prepared files, which are often also called "new firmware". If you download such a file and transfer it to a proprietary program (firmware) that knows how to handle the firmware of this particular manufacturer for this particular device model, the program will replace the contents of the ROM with a new one - it will "flash".
Manufacturers recommend doing such an operation of flashing or "upgrading the software" with the release of each new version of the software. Although, if the device works with the factory firmware without causing any problems, then it is not at all necessary to do so at the risk of running into some kind of failure during the flashing process. It would be more correct to familiarize yourself with the list of changes in the new firmware version and decide whether it is worth the risk.
