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Securing our code — Parallax Forums

Securing our code

simonlsimonl Posts: 866
edited 2006-09-28 18:00 in Propeller 1
I know this subject has been discussed elsewhere -- just can't find it right now -- but, why doesn't the PChip have internal EEPROM? This wouldn't need to be any bigger than the external one, just enough to hold some of our code so it's not so easy to get at by the unscrupulus.

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Cheers,

Simon

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2006-09-28 16:41
    This has been extensively discussed before. The Propeller chip does not have internal EEPROM because, like a lot of features, it's expensive of chip real estate and, when the Propeller was designed, it was very large already and, in ranking features for importance, EEPROM was not as important as, say a cog or two or a large hunk of RAM. I'm sure there were process issues in that the oxide layer for the EEPROM cells has to have very specific characteristics and so on. Given the improvements in chip feature size, the "next generation" Propeller will have room for additional capabilities, but exactly what, other than expanding the RAM size, is still under discussion within Parallax.

    The previous discussions (and correct me if I'm wrong folks) have made it clear that the staff at Parallax are very familiar with techniques and equipment used to pirate software in embedded systems and they feel strongly based on their experience that it's much too easy to get access to even protected internal EEPROM to consider giving up other important features in a future Propeller to put in significant internal EEPROM with protection features.
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2006-09-28 18:00
    Read my post in this thread for a work around solution involving mechanical protection measures. Basically you route all traces so they are inaccessible and use encapsulant epoxy. Anyone who is willing to goto the measures of removing the encapsulant epoxy without damaging the EEPROM, is willing to goto the length of breaking open the Propeller to read the internal EEPROM, either way your code is readable.


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    Paul Baker
    Propeller Applications Engineer

    Parallax, Inc.

    Post Edited (Paul Baker (Parallax)) : 9/28/2006 6:40:58 PM GMT
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