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Date:      Mon, 3 May 1999 12:24:22 -0500
From:      Nathan Ahlstrom <nrahlstr@winternet.com>
To:        "Eric J. Schwertfeger" <ejs@bfd.com>, James Snow <sno@teardrop.org>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Dual K6
Message-ID:  <19990503122422.A1072@winternet.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9905031007200.6797-100000@harlie.bfd.com>; from Eric J. Schwertfeger on Mon, May 03, 1999 at 10:11:58AM -0700
References:  <Pine.BSF.3.96.990503121344.75102B-100000@silver.teardrop.net> <Pine.BSF.4.05.9905031007200.6797-100000@harlie.bfd.com>

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"Eric J. Schwertfeger" <ejs@bfd.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 3 May 1999, James Snow wrote:
> 
> > On Sun, 2 May 1999, Eric J. Schwertfeger wrote:
> > 
> > > The problem lies in the fact that the K6 implements OPIC verses Intel's
> > > APIC protocol, so you'd need both a motherboard and an OS that did OPIC.
> > > I haven't seen an motherboard that implements OPIC, so OS support is
> > > probably a moot point.
> > 
> > Pardon my ignorance here, but what are OPIC and APIC? I'm experiencing
> > that 'new word' phenomena where you hear it once, and then here it several
> > dozen more times in the next few days.
> 
> I'm not exactly sure myself, though both terms seem to cover both the
> electrical and software interface involved in inter-processor
> communications.
> 
> The A an APIC stands for "Advanced" and is a method patented by
> Intel. The O in OPIC stands for "Open" and is an open standard that does
> the same thing without infringing on the patent.  However, because of the
> patent(s?) it can't be totally compatible.
> 
> This info may be a little fuzzy, as it dates back to the release of the
> K6, and I can't remember what the "PIC" stands for.

PIC == Programmable Interrupt Controller

-- 
Nathan Ahlstrom                        FreeBSD: http://www.FreeBSD.org/
nrahlstr@winternet.com                 PGP Key ID: 0x67BC9D19


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