Horst von Brand wrote:
>
> > The restrictions Intel place on this makes this probably a bad idea in
> > case of the P6. Another issue is that, of course, other processors
> > might have other constraints on how this operation is performed.
>
> To download firmware into the CPU is conceptually redefining the CPU, so
> this should happen (and intel says so!) _before_ the OS starts. In any
> case, the whole CPU detection and bug workaround habilitation should be
> done afterwards in all cases. That is why I advocate doing this f.ex. from
> lilo, not from the OS.
>
Actually, ***FOR THE P6*** Intel says to do it before turning on the L2
cache, which means it *HAS* to be done by the BIOS. Consequently, this
is in EITHER WAY an inappropriate thing to do in user software.
However, the point is that (a) the P6 isn't the world, and (b) not all
BIOSes do things right.
-hpa
-- <hpa@transmeta.com> at work, <hpa@zytor.com> in private! "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Feb 23 2000 - 21:00:22 EST