From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

My Pi2 v1.1 running Trixie just announced that updates are availalbe.
However, they're eeprom updates. To my knowldge a Pi2 has no eeprom.
Still, if I let the updater run it makes a big ceremony of downloading
and installing _something_.

What's going on?

Thanks for reading, apologies for the recent flood of questions....

bob prohaska

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On 12/9/25 10:29, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

My Pi2 v1.1 running Trixie just announced that updates are availalbe. However, they're eeprom updates. To my knowldge a Pi2 has no eeprom.
Still, if I let the updater run it makes a big ceremony of downloading
and installing _something_.

What's going on?

Thanks for reading, apologies for the recent flood of questions....

bob prohaska

Only Pi4 and Pi5s have eeprom. But all get the update so that if you
put that uSD card in a Pi4 or a Pi5 it will update it.
--

Knute Johnson
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

Knute Johnson <knute2025@585ranch.com> wrote:

On 12/9/25 10:29, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

My Pi2 v1.1 running Trixie just announced that updates are availalbe.
However, they're eeprom updates. To my knowldge a Pi2 has no eeprom.
Still, if I let the updater run it makes a big ceremony of downloading
and installing _something_.

What's going on?

Thanks for reading, apologies for the recent flood of questions....

bob prohaska

Only Pi4 and Pi5s have eeprom. But all get the update so that if you
put that uSD card in a Pi4 or a Pi5 it will update it.

Since there's no eeprom on the Pi2 does the update downloaded and
stashed somewhere on the microSD? Or is it installed to /dev/null ?

Thanks for writing,

bob prohaska

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On 12/9/25 12:52, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

Knute Johnson <knute2025@585ranch.com> wrote:

On 12/9/25 10:29, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

My Pi2 v1.1 running Trixie just announced that updates are availalbe.
However, they're eeprom updates. To my knowldge a Pi2 has no eeprom.
Still, if I let the updater run it makes a big ceremony of downloading
and installing _something_.

What's going on?

Thanks for reading, apologies for the recent flood of questions....

bob prohaska

Only Pi4 and Pi5s have eeprom. But all get the update so that if you
put that uSD card in a Pi4 or a Pi5 it will update it.

Since there's no eeprom on the Pi2 does the update downloaded and
stashed somewhere on the microSD? Or is it installed to /dev/null ?

Thanks for writing,

bob prohaska

It gets stashed on the card somewhere.
--

Knute Johnson
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On 09/12/2025 18:58, Knute Johnson wrote:

On 12/9/25 12:52, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

Knute Johnson <knute2025@585ranch.com> wrote:

On 12/9/25 10:29, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

My Pi2 v1.1 running Trixie just announced that updates are availalbe.
However, they're eeprom updates. To my knowldge a Pi2 has no eeprom.
Still, if I let the updater run it makes a big ceremony of downloading >>>> and installing _something_.

What's going on?

Thanks for reading, apologies for the recent flood of questions....

bob prohaska

Only Pi4 and Pi5s have eeprom.  But all get the update so that if you
put that uSD card in a Pi4 or a Pi5 it will update it.

Since there's no eeprom on the Pi2 does the update downloaded and
stashed somewhere on the microSD? Or is it installed to /dev/null ?

Thanks for writing,

bob prohaska

It gets stashed on the card somewhere.

IIRC there is a bunch of machine level stuff in the FAT partition -
mounts as /boot/firmware - in a live SD situation

These might as well be EEprom really! What else is an SD card?
--
"Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have
forgotten your aim."

George Santayana

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 09/12/2025 18:58, Knute Johnson wrote:

On 12/9/25 12:52, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

Knute Johnson <knute2025@585ranch.com> wrote:

On 12/9/25 10:29, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

My Pi2 v1.1 running Trixie just announced that updates are availalbe. >>>>> However, they're eeprom updates. To my knowldge a Pi2 has no eeprom. >>>>> Still, if I let the updater run it makes a big ceremony of downloading >>>>> and installing _something_.

What's going on?

Thanks for reading, apologies for the recent flood of questions....

bob prohaska

Only Pi4 and Pi5s have eeprom.  But all get the update so that if you >>>> put that uSD card in a Pi4 or a Pi5 it will update it.

Since there's no eeprom on the Pi2 does the update downloaded and
stashed somewhere on the microSD? Or is it installed to /dev/null ?

Thanks for writing,

bob prohaska

It gets stashed on the card somewhere.

IIRC there is a bunch of machine level stuff in the FAT partition -
mounts as /boot/firmware - in a live SD situation

These might as well be EEprom really! What else is an SD card?

That's a happy thought but I'm skeptical. If it were true I'd have
a lot less trouble booting from USB drives 8-)

Thanks for writing,

bob prohaska

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On 09/12/2025 20:54, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 09/12/2025 18:58, Knute Johnson wrote:

On 12/9/25 12:52, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

Knute Johnson <knute2025@585ranch.com> wrote:

On 12/9/25 10:29, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

My Pi2 v1.1 running Trixie just announced that updates are availalbe. >>>>>> However, they're eeprom updates. To my knowldge a Pi2 has no eeprom. >>>>>> Still, if I let the updater run it makes a big ceremony of downloading >>>>>> and installing _something_.

What's going on?

Thanks for reading, apologies for the recent flood of questions.... >>>>>>
bob prohaska

Only Pi4 and Pi5s have eeprom.  But all get the update so that if you >>>>> put that uSD card in a Pi4 or a Pi5 it will update it.

Since there's no eeprom on the Pi2 does the update downloaded and
stashed somewhere on the microSD? Or is it installed to /dev/null ?

Thanks for writing,

bob prohaska

It gets stashed on the card somewhere.

IIRC there is a bunch of machine level stuff in the FAT partition -
mounts as /boot/firmware - in a live SD situation

These might as well be EEprom really! What else is an SD card?

That's a happy thought but I'm skeptical. If it were true I'd have
a lot less trouble booting from USB drives 8-)

Well those perform the same function as the SD card on a Pi.

I think the issue is that the - ahem *BIOS* - on a Pi is more primitive
than a DOS PC used to be.

It just grabs a FAT formatted storage device and looks for a specific
bunch of files there and those are the *real* bios.

Isn't that lost in the history of the chips used being designed for
Smart TVs?
--
“A leader is best When people barely know he exists. Of a good leader,
who talks little,When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,They will say,
“We did this ourselves.”

― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On 09/12/2025 19:07, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

These might as well be EEprom really! What else is an SD card?

An EEPROM is can be written/erased one byte at a time.

An SD card uses flash memory that can only be written in blocks, and can
only be erased in pages (which are typically larger than write-blocks).

Flash is typically many times cheaper than EEPROM, byte for byte, and
its block-structured nature is well suited for mass storage applications
whose filesystems are block-oriented anyway.
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On 10/12/2025 13:13, Daniel James wrote:

On 09/12/2025 19:07, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

These might as well be EEprom really! What else is an SD card?

An EEPROM is can be written/erased one byte at a time.

An SD card uses flash memory that can only be written in blocks, and can only be erased in pages (which are typically larger than write-blocks).

Flash is typically many times cheaper than EEPROM, byte for byte, and
its block-structured nature is well suited for mass storage applications whose filesystems are block-oriented anyway.

What I meant was that (tongue in cheek) the functionality was identical.
User reprogrammable non volatile storage

Mind you that goes for HD/SSDs as well...
--
“The fundamental cause of the trouble in the modern world today is that
the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."

- Bertrand Russell


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