Can someone recall what hardware has to be in a
PC?
I can think of -
1. a PIC or APIC
2. a DMA controller
3. a CPU
4. RAM
5. a source where the kernel has been loaded from
6. a VGA card
What do you think?
The Legend
Hardware assumptions?
-
J. Weeks
RE:Hardware assumptions?
>On 2002-02-02 06:16:32, The Legend wrote:
>Can someone recall what hardware has to be in a
>PC?
>
>I can think of -
>1. a PIC or APIC
I wouldn't be surprised if you could do without a
PIC, actually. Most (all?) hardware you can direct
probe the ports (obviously not an ideal solution,
but its possible).
Granted, I doubt you'll find a computer without one.
>2. a DMA controller
Again, not really essential... you can do with
ports , anything you can do with DMA (if the hardware
supports it, which pretty much everything does
as far as I know, and yeah, much slower
.
>3. a CPU
>4. RAM
Just 640k, though. I think that's the minimum.
>5. a source where the kernel has been loaded from
>6. a VGA card
Not sure about a VGA... I'm pretty sure most BIOSs
have an option to tell it wether or not a
video card or keyboard are attached. Remove those
options, and you shouldn't need either.
>What do you think?
Well, you'll definitly need a BIOS of some sort
simply for boot-up.
Now-a-days it's rare to find a system without an
FPU, but again, not required.
Other than that, I think you've got 'em all covered.
Why do you ask, though? You've peaked my interest
Jeff
>Can someone recall what hardware has to be in a
>PC?
>
>I can think of -
>1. a PIC or APIC
I wouldn't be surprised if you could do without a
PIC, actually. Most (all?) hardware you can direct
probe the ports (obviously not an ideal solution,
but its possible).
Granted, I doubt you'll find a computer without one.
>2. a DMA controller
Again, not really essential... you can do with
ports , anything you can do with DMA (if the hardware
supports it, which pretty much everything does
as far as I know, and yeah, much slower
.>3. a CPU
>4. RAM
Just 640k, though. I think that's the minimum.
>5. a source where the kernel has been loaded from
>6. a VGA card
Not sure about a VGA... I'm pretty sure most BIOSs
have an option to tell it wether or not a
video card or keyboard are attached. Remove those
options, and you shouldn't need either.
>What do you think?
Well, you'll definitly need a BIOS of some sort
simply for boot-up.
Now-a-days it's rare to find a system without an
FPU, but again, not required.
Other than that, I think you've got 'em all covered.
Why do you ask, though? You've peaked my interest
Jeff
-
The Legend
RE:Hardware assumptions?
>On 2002-02-03 17:23:42, J. Weeks wrote:
>>On 2002-02-02 06:16:32, The Legend wrote:
>>Can someone recall what hardware has to be in a
>>PC?
>>
>>I can think of -
>>1. a PIC or APIC
>
>I wouldn't be surprised if you could do without a
>PIC, actually. Most (all?) hardware you can direct
>probe the ports (obviously not an ideal solution,
>but its possible).
>
>Granted, I doubt you'll find a computer without one.
>
>>2. a DMA controller
>
>Again, not really essential... you can do with
>ports , anything you can do with DMA (if the hardware
>supports it, which pretty much everything does
>as far as I know, and yeah, much slower.
>
>>3. a CPU
>>4. RAM
>
>Just 640k, though. I think that's the minimum.
>
>>5. a source where the kernel has been loaded from
>>6. a VGA card
>
>Not sure about a VGA... I'm pretty sure most BIOSs
>have an option to tell it wether or not a
>video card or keyboard are attached. Remove those
>options, and you shouldn't need either.
>
>>What do you think?
>
>Well, you'll definitly need a BIOS of some sort
>simply for boot-up.
>
>Now-a-days it's rare to find a system without an
>FPU, but again, not required.
>
>Other than that, I think you've got 'em all covered.
>
>Why do you ask, though? You've peaked my interest
>
>Jeff
Well, I'm just thinking about how far I could do
my kernel in modules. But I think some it is not needed
to have all some components directly in the kernel
(makes things easier). And if all, at least Intel-Based,
have a common configuration, why not include in the
kernel directly?
>>On 2002-02-02 06:16:32, The Legend wrote:
>>Can someone recall what hardware has to be in a
>>PC?
>>
>>I can think of -
>>1. a PIC or APIC
>
>I wouldn't be surprised if you could do without a
>PIC, actually. Most (all?) hardware you can direct
>probe the ports (obviously not an ideal solution,
>but its possible).
>
>Granted, I doubt you'll find a computer without one.
>
>>2. a DMA controller
>
>Again, not really essential... you can do with
>ports , anything you can do with DMA (if the hardware
>supports it, which pretty much everything does
>as far as I know, and yeah, much slower
.>
>>3. a CPU
>>4. RAM
>
>Just 640k, though. I think that's the minimum.
>
>>5. a source where the kernel has been loaded from
>>6. a VGA card
>
>Not sure about a VGA... I'm pretty sure most BIOSs
>have an option to tell it wether or not a
>video card or keyboard are attached. Remove those
>options, and you shouldn't need either.
>
>>What do you think?
>
>Well, you'll definitly need a BIOS of some sort
>simply for boot-up.
>
>Now-a-days it's rare to find a system without an
>FPU, but again, not required.
>
>Other than that, I think you've got 'em all covered.
>
>Why do you ask, though? You've peaked my interest
>
>Jeff
Well, I'm just thinking about how far I could do
my kernel in modules. But I think some it is not needed
to have all some components directly in the kernel
(makes things easier). And if all, at least Intel-Based,
have a common configuration, why not include in the
kernel directly?