[svlug] 3dNow Instructions and Linux

[Dave Zarzycki]

On Mon, 16 Nov 1998, Charles Peterman wrote:

> a.  This is already an ongoing project and I just completely failed 
> to notice.

I think the latest binutils supports AMD's 3Dnow! instructions. I could be
wrong.

> c.  Loaded question:  Would this library require kernel level support?
> I know that the library will require synchronization for thread safety,
> does that synchronization need to be provided to the kernel or can I just
> take advantage of existing mechanisms and not have to do much kernel
> hacking.

I suppose the bigger question is whether or not 3Dnow! uses existing x86
registers, or new ones. I would venture to guess that if 3Dnow! uses new
registers, the kernel needs to to aware of them to save them off before
switching processes (COE, is what I believe Linus calls them, since
LinuxThreads are kernel level threads). Other than that, I don't think the
kernel would care. I would recommend searching mailing list archives on
similar discussions surrounding MMX. Please keep in mind, there are
different solutions to the problems involved with introducing new
instructions to an architecture and still maintaing backwards compatiblity
with machines that don't have them. Some favor putting emulation in the
kernel, others (like Alan Cox), advocate doing emulation in a library. I
have no opinion on this of my own (thank goodness).

davez


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