A few days ago I was trying to install a USB WiFi adapter in old version of linux. I installed it successfully.
But the procedure I followed required me to install not only driver, but also the firmware of the chip used in that adapter.
I searched about firmware and came to know that firmware is software that runs on hardware. But isn't the firmware preloaded in the adapter like the firmware in routers? Why if it isn't preloaded in chip?
Best Answer
From the Ubuntu Wiki:
and
Firmware has an important feature in common with BIOS software: it cannot update itself. It is completely closed source (as opposed to open source), can be re-installed via some procedure, but it can neither be inspected nor corrected by downstream users.