Re: [PATCH] x86 cpu selection (first hack)

J.A. Magallon
2002-05-30T23:15:25Z

On 2002.05.31 Alan Cox wrote:
>On Thu, 2002-05-30 at 23:50, J.A. Magallon wrote:
>> - Make all and every cpu a checkbox, so you just say 'I want my kernel to
>> support this and that CPU'. This kills the problem of the ordering, and
>> adds one other advantage: you do not need to support intermediate CPUs,
>> like 'i want my kernel to run ok on pentium-mmx (my firewall) and on
>> p4 (my desktop). I will never run it on a PII, so do not include the
>> hacks for PII'. And of course, 'If I run my p-mmx capable on a friend's
>> PII and it eats his drive and burns his TV set, it is only _my_ fault'.
>
>How about
>
> 'Omit support for processors without an FPU'
> 'Omit support for processors without working WP (386, Nexgen)'
> 'Require the processor has a TSC'
>
>type questions ?
>

But that requires people to know many hardware details... How the h**l
do I know if my Transmeta or Cyrix or AMD has a TSC ?? Is that an intel
specific thing or x86 ?? I just want a kernel that
runs on my XXX brand 586. What is a TSC ??

I think it has to be done based on brand/model.

--
J.A. Magallon # Let the source be with you...
mailto:jamagallon@able.es
Mandrake Linux release 8.3 (Cooker) for i586
Linux werewolf 2.4.19-pre9-jam1 #1 SMP jue may 30 00:48:49 CEST 2002 i686