the amount of pages in the intel manual

[NunoLava1998]

it's so massive
I swear, i made a low quality gif from reading that at high speed (around 15 pages per second).
130 MB in size.
Why does it need to be extremely massive, seriously?

[Mikumiku747]

For describing all the implementation details of most intel processors, I'd kind of expect it to be that size. In any case, while it might be huge, if you have a look, a lot of the manual is for advanced features that won't be used for quite a while, so there's no need to feel super daunted.

Most of what you need from the manual is described in chapters 1-8 (and maybe chapters 9 and 10 if you're using multiprocessors). That only makes up about 450 pages max, so if you've got some time, maybe have a read through some sections which take your interest (Chapter 2 is really good, it provides a good overview of how the entire processor works and the important features). Even just skimming through the manual will give you an idea of how detailed and useful the manual is. If you end up just using chapters 1 - 10 often, you can get just the first section of volume 3 from here (Volume 3A).

It looks scary at first, but the more you read it, the more you'll realise it's just very, very, very detailed.

- Mikumiku747

[iansjack]

As a 9-year old child, perhaps you would find it more rewarding to read something aimed at your age group? I gather that Harry Potter is very popular with kids.

[NunoLava1998]

As a 9-year old child, perhaps you would find it more rewarding to read something aimed at your age group? I gather that Harry Potter is very popular with kids.

who reads that anymore. I didn't read the entire thing.

[iansjack]

That was just an example. There are lots of books for kids like you. Seriously, if you haven't got the attention span for Harry Potter then I'm not surprised that you find the Intel manuals hard going.

The simple fact is that these things are quite involved, so it takes a lot of space to document and reference them. If it's too much for you then you may be able to make more sense of it when you grow up a little.

[NunoLava1998]

That was just an example. There are lots of books for kids like you. Seriously, if you haven't got the attention span for Harry Potter then I'm not surprised that you find the Intel manuals hard going.

The simple fact is that these things are quite involved, so it takes a lot of space to document and reference them. If it's too much for you then you may be able to make more sense of it when you grow up a little.

I don't read. I know the Intel Manuals provide a lot of information (which is why they are extremely large).

[iansjack]

Then I retract the suggestion that you will be able to understand the Intel manuals in time.

Reading is a fairly essential ability for programmers.

[Brendan]

Hi,

it's so massive
I swear, i made a low quality gif from reading that at high speed (around 15 pages per second).
130 MB in size.
Why does it need to be extremely massive, seriously?

Because the GIF file format stores pixel data, not character data, so (for "primarily text" data) it probably costs over 10 times as much memory as it should.


Cheers,

Brendan

[MichaelFarthing]

Come on, Brendan, don't quibble. The book(s) are bloody long!

[iansjack]

Perhaps you would like to suggest which parts should be omitted?

Don't complain that the documentation is too good. If you're up to OS dev work then surely you have the discrimination to pick out the bits of the manuals that are relevant to your current needs.

[alexfru]

it's so massive ... Why does it need to be extremely massive, seriously?

Because it includes most of the changes (typically additions and extensions and less typically deprecations) accumulated in about 40 years of continuous work since the first i8086 CPU came out.

If you want something smaller, consider the manuals for the i80836 and i80486 (and 80387). Most of the CPU stuff you need to know for basic os dev is there. There's no MMX/3DNow!/SSE/AVX, 64-bit mode, APIC, MSRs, complex caching and synchronization, VMX/SVM, SMX... There are fewer instructions and features to read and learn about. And, consequently, there are fewer pages. But most of that stuff still works in the current x86 CPUs (exceptions include LOADALL, test registers and a few other obscure things).

[Ycep]

You don't have to read it all!
Instead go look table of contents and read what do you need.