[Arm-netbook] identification EEPROM: writable or not?

[Derek]

Aaron J. Seigo <aseigo <at> kde.org> writes:

> a) must be writable
> [reasons]
> ergo, (a) is not an option.
> 
> b) must not be writable
> that is a horrible precedence to set in the very first revision of the spec.
> 
> c) may be writable, but portable software may not rely on this
> [reasons]
> I highly recommend (c)

Would it be so horrible to say something like "must provide physical pads to
be shorted or a switch" (or some suitable technical term) to allow the
end-user to remove the "write-protect" status of the EEPROM?

I also don't understand why you couldn't just have "end-user" class devices
(option B) and "engineering" class devices (option A).  All that is
necessary to convert from Eng class would be to write-protect the EEPROM.


Are there any examples of software that store values in EEPROM?  My
experience is limited to x86 laptops, desktops, and servers, which I believe
allow the bios to be flashed (thus option A), but assume a bad flash will
brick devices.  It's not an end-user storage area.