Re: x86 minimum processor

To: mjp16@ieee.uow.edu.au, oskit-users@cs.utah.edu
Subject: Re: x86 minimum processor
From: Mike Hibler <mike@fast.cs.utah.edu>
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 17:10:05 -0700 (MST)
Sender: owner-oskit-users@fast.cs.utah.edu

> Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 10:58:06 +1100 (EST)
> From: Matthew Palmer <mjp16@ieee.uow.edu.au>
> To: oskit-users@cs.utah.edu
> Subject: x86 minimum processor
> 
> I'm trying to compile and run oskit on a 486 (I know it's slow, but it's
> available) and any reasonable kernel dies with a trapno 6 (which by my info
> is invalid opcode) but the exact same kernel likes to boot happily on a PII
> (no, I can't use that - it's somebody else's work machine).
> 
> The only mention I've seen of minimum processor requirements was in the
> intro paper to OSKit, which mentioned a 486 (but, then again, it also said
> there was no ARM support... <g>) but apart from that, nothing.
> 
> So what is the current minimum processor for x86 OSKit?  I can source a P-II
> or similar, but if it's a bug in the OSKit (or my fault) I'd like to fix it
> so I don't have to harass my supervisor for a better test box.
> 

Well, in theory it should still be a 486.  But obviously we haven't tested
that in a long time :-)

The most likely culprit is use of the Pentium time stamp counter (via get_tsc
in proc_reg.h).  I don't think we use it in any default configurations of the
core libraries, but we have been known to use it in the example kernels.

Do you get a register dump?  If so, you should be able to use gdb to
examine what is at the indicated EIP:

	x/i 0xNNNNNNNN

where 0xNNNNNNNN is the address in question.

Follow-Ups:

Re: x86 minimum processor

From: Matthew Palmer <mjp16@ieee.uow.edu.au>