Most of them. But this is misleading ;-) VHDL is a language, which is very common in chip design, so nearly every computer contains chips designed in VHDL today.
IOS is an operating system. Most firewalls of Cisco don't use IOS BTW - they use PIX OS.
VHDL usually is processed by design software for digital design. Then the result is used to "burn" FPGAs or to manufacture ASICs.
You have to change the chip.
Yes. I know it, because I supplied a chip design company with hard- and software some years ago. Because I'm mainly doing software development, it was very interesting for me to see, how hardware development is done there.
"Text based" doesn't really say much about an OS. I think even Windows could technically be text-based, as in you can make boot floppies which never boot the GUI. I know OS/2 would boot without the Presentation Manager (GUI), and we all know that Unix and Unix-like operating systems pre-date widespread use of GUIs at all.
VHDL is used to describe hardware, so it's processed as part of making the chips themselves.
This comparison is one of the most abused and incorrect comparisons on the subject. Personal is an antonym to Network and software is an antonym to hardware. You cannot and should not equate software to personal.
A Firewall that acts as a router is not the same as a router with firewall features - notice the difference?
Both are appliances, so both are hardware devices. Generally anything that is a dedicated appliance, used for nothing else, is considered a "Hardware Firewall". Generally that excludes a PC running an application that is also used to run anything other than that application.
Not quite the same, it's firmware. Firmware is software, but it's not anything like running an application on a non-dedicated box.
Actually, both - a firewall appliance is a device specifically setup/coded to do ONE thing and it does it very-well. It's specifically tested to do that one thing and often certified as being able to do that one thing under all sorts of conditions. As an example, a firewall running a BSD solution does not run ALL of the BSD solution, only the parts necessary to act as the firewall and run the firmware coded by the vendor.
Firewalls (appliances) are also built with less code than a Computer running an OS and then running a firewall Application. So you have less chance for error, less chance for exploits, less chance for something to "slip by" the designers.
Now you know, and it's 100% true.
Nope, hope you understand now why a application running on a PC is not as secure as an Appliance, and why none of us trust a Firewall application running on a Non-Dedicated computer.
How secure a software firewall is will depend on what it can do. With my software firewall solution, it is quite flexible, as to be able to block by application running on the NAT box. It depends on what it can do, and how well the adminstrator knows how to run it.
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