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Support for MMX instructions in Linux
Well, I have a few questions about how much the common developement tools
that are used on Linux support the MMX instructions, which are implemented
on microprocessors such as Intel's Pentium+MMX's, Pentium II's and Cyrix
M1 and M2.
1. Can GNU as recognize MMX instructions and generate the appropriate
bytecode for them?
2. Can the same be done with gcc's inline assembler code?
3. Can gcc and/or egcs generate assembler code optimized with MMX
instructions out of a given C/C++ code? (with proper invocation flags of
course)
4. From what I understood the MMX instructions use the same physical
registers as the floating-point instructions. Thus, a program has to
switch from MMX to floating-point mode and vice versa, when it want to
switch to the other instruction set.
Does the Linux kernel remembers which mode the process is on, so
everything will work fine if it's terminated in the middle of a
floating-point or MMX session?
Shlomi Fish
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Shlomi Fish shlomif@t2.technion.ac.il
Home Page: http://t2.technion.ac.il/~shlomif/
Home E-mail: shlomif@ibm.net
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