On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 5:45 PM, erik quanstrom <quans...@quanstro.net> wrote: > ah yes, that clears it up > > 19.4.22 > APICID > This register uniquely identifies an APIC in the system. This register > is not used by > OS'es anymore and is still implemented in hardware because of FUD.
So, my interpretation following the discussions: some over-zealous hardware guy at Intel believes this register is no longer needed because the OS should use BIOS services. Any OS that does not use BIOS services is suffering from FUD, not a real need. I call bull****. The BIOS services work well enough, of course, on most mainboards. Intel mainboards, however, frequently screw the BIOS services and tables up, such that the OS either can not boot or needs to poke around the hardware and use, e.g., this register to find out what's really going on. I'm pretty sure that there is a qualifying instance of irony in here, though I'm relucant to say so since it's an overused term. It's another case of the Intel hardware designer disconnect from the Intel mainboard designers and, following that, Intel's occasional disconnect from reality ... I hit this all the time. (as do others; one person I know was told by Intel that the _MP_ table on his mainboard would get fixed only if the customer was willing to pay for it. Nice.) thanks ron
