On 04/05/07 02:09 +0200, Peter Stuge wrote: > On Thu, May 03, 2007 at 09:39:27AM -0600, Jordan Crouse wrote: > > > Would it make sense to move parts or all of the VSM code into the > > > operating system? > > > > Thats what OFW does for OLPC - and its fraught with danger. Case > > in point? A few days ago, the amount of video memory was doubled > > in OFW, to 16MB. But since the PCI spoofing happens in the kernel, > > it didn't get the message that the video memory changed, and the > > PCI BAR was still sized to 8MB, and X goes boom. > > Oh, no, that's not what I meant. > > I meant that the code in the kernel would be completely native to the > hardware. No spoofing.
So what would handle the several dozen MSRs needed to set up routing - some of which are for essential devices that don't have drivers? And we would have to invent a new bus just for Geode devices (some of which share code with other entities - amd74xxx IDE for example), because without PCI, you wouldn't be able to match vendor/device IDs, or control the devices, or assign I/O or memory resources in virtual space, at least not easily. So basically it would take the Geode from a pretty well supported platform to one that would be completely custom and on the fringe, and certainly not suitable for the mainstream kernel. I think the SMM handler is a small price to pay. :) Jordan -- linuxbios mailing list [email protected] http://www.linuxbios.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios
