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Date: Sun, 28 May 1995 09:01:19 +1000
From: Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au>
Message-Id: <199505272301.JAA18466@godzilla.zeta.org.au>
To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org, henrich@crh.cl.msu.edu
Subject: Re: LINT additions
Sender: hackers-owner@FreeBSD.org
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># MAXMEM Specified the maximum amount of ram in the system in kilobytes.  Only
>#        use this if your BIOS is broken (I.e. Compaq's).  You can specify as
                                           e.g.,

Actually, FreeBSD's determination of the memory size is broken.  It doesn't
even use the BIOS except to print a warning if there is a conflict.  The
memory size in the CMOS RAM has priority.  There are conflicting standards
for the size in the CMOS RAM.

>#        large an amount as you expect will eventually be in the system, as
>#        FreeBSD is smart enough to recompute the max memory size by scanning
>#        for the presence of this much memory.

It's not smart enough.  Probing beyond the end of physical memory can cause
an NMI trap for a parity error.  The first NMI trap is fatal.

Bruce