>On 2002-01-15 16:11:42, crg wrote:
>Anybody know how does the paging mechanism works
>in Linux, or in Windows?
This information isn't complete, but...
http://www.execpc.com/~geezer/osd/mem/index.htm#paging2
>When the task is switched does the kernel loads
>whole the page table of an actual executing task
>into the processor ?
Only the CR3 register (PDBR) changes when
you switch tasks. This register points to the page
directory (top-level page table). Page directory
entries (PDEs) point to the (bottom-level) page
tables, and the page table entries (PTEs) point
to the actual pages.
There is a special cache in the CPU called the TLB
which stores page directory and page table
entries. The entire TLB gets flushed when you
reload CR3.
http://www.execpc.com/~geezer/osd/mem/paging1.gif