Re: How does the Pentium II work with Linux?
Carl Kumaradas (ckumarad@oci.utoronto.ca)
30 Oct 1997 18:16:39 -0500
"Christopher E. Brown" <cbrown@Alaska.NET> writes:
> The MAJOR: The PII L2 cache cannot handle more than 512MB due to
> a *feature*. :( If you have more than 512MB on board (since at this po=
> int
> the PPro and PII use the same chipsets most large MBs will go to 1024MB=
> )
> with either a single or dual PII your dead in the water.
>
> When writing to memory above the 512MB mark the write will be
> mirrored to a location below 512, so if one were to stash some data fro=
> m
> 513 - 516, guess what, you just wiped the kernel with a mirrored write =
> in
> the first 4 megs. :( The only way around this is to disable L2 cache
> totally, or (if bios supports it) disable L2 cache for 513 on. Either
> way, past 512 is useless, either you crash or you reduce system speed t=
> o
> 486 levels.
Can't you specify "mem=512M" as a kernel option to get around this as
well?
Carl.
--
J. Carl Kumaradas Ontario Cancer Institute
ckumarad@oci.utoronto.ca University of Toronto