From owner-freebsd-current Sun Jun 11 10:11:13 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from whizzo.transsys.com (whizzo.TransSys.COM [144.202.42.10]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2D8B837BA16; Sun, 11 Jun 2000 10:10:59 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from louie@whizzo.transsys.com) Received: from whizzo.transsys.com (localhost.transsys.com [127.0.0.1]) by whizzo.transsys.com (8.9.3/8.9.1) with ESMTP id NAA61625; Sun, 11 Jun 2000 13:10:48 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from louie@whizzo.transsys.com) Message-Id: <200006111710.NAA61625@whizzo.transsys.com> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.1.1 10/15/1999 To: "Daniel C. Sobral" Cc: Mike Smith , Luoqi Chen , current@FreeBSD.ORG, emulation@FreeBSD.ORG X-Image-URL: http://www.transsys.com/louie/images/louie-mail.jpg From: "Louis A. Mamakos" Subject: Re: VMware detection code in boot loader References: <200006110105.SAA11913@mass.cdrom.com> <3943AFF4.6821783E@newsguy.com> In-reply-to: Your message of "Mon, 12 Jun 2000 00:27:48 +0900." <3943AFF4.6821783E@newsguy.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 13:10:48 -0400 Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > Mike Smith wrote: > > > > > VMware intercepts the inb/outb instruction to port 0x5658 when the eax > > > register is set to a magic value, otherwise it would be handled as any > > > other ports. > > > > I think, again, that adding an i386-specific word that detects the > > presence of VMware is a perfectly sensible idea, and it should simply be > > done. > > Given the way VMware works, I'd have nothing against making it a FICL > words, except... > > ...VMware is a port. For some reason, I dislike the idea of having > support targetted at exclusively one specific port. Though we have > features added specifically to deal with certain ports, they were all > more generic features. > > So, I see two alternatives here: > > 1) Add the Forth words that allow execution of assembler code (CODE > ;CODE), and hex-compile the code (as having a whole assembler around is > unreasonable). This enables similar problems to be solved without having > to change loader(8). > > 2) Add the VMware detecting to FICL, as originally suggested. or 3) add inw and outw Forth words, and make the VMWARE specific stuff just new words defined in Forth. Perhaps this doesn't preclude having to do 1) for some future problem, but it could delay it somewhat. louie To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message