Intel has published a new white paper that is expected to simplify its processor instruction set architecture (ISA). The main purpose of making such a plan is to reduce the support for old devices in the past, and to make a new architecture called x86S, which is a simplified version of the x86-64 ISA instruction set, which can further shift to support 64-bit architecture. This change is expected to benefit upcoming hardware, firmware, and software developments.
In fact, after Intel released the 16-bit microprocessor 8086 in 1978, it also created a new era of x86 architecture. Later, Intel’s CPU was upgraded to 32-bit, and AMD also took the lead in launching a new generation of 64-bit processors based on this architecture for expansion, called AMD64, and Intel later launched a compatible processor named AMD64. intel 64, the two are collectively referred to as x86-64 or AMD64.
At present, the Intel 64 architecture has existed for more than 20 years, and with Microsoft completely abandoning the 32-bit operating system version, Intel’s firmware no longer natively supports non-UEFI64 operating systems. Even so, though, they still have some form of legacy device support and can execute 32-bit apps when needed. However, with the development of the times, Intel has now proposed a new architecture, which is officially called x86S, which is equivalent to a new pure 64-bit mode architecture, which further cancels the support of all previous old devices.
Simply put, the legacy architectural add-ons that operate in pure 64-bit mode reduce the overall complexity of current software and hardware architectures. As a result, other changes compatible with modern software deployments can be made with a pure 64-bit mode architecture, including using a simplified segmentation model for 64-bit, providing segmentation support for 32-bit applications, and aligning it with modern operating system user orientations. integrate. Also, it removes ring 1 and ring 2, and obsolete features like gates, and also removes 16-bit addressing support. Also, remove support for ring 3 I/O interface entry, remove string interface I/O, and restrict the interrupt controller (APIC) to use X2APIC, and remove legacy 8259 support, and remove some unused OS model.
Compared to legacy operating systems, though, running traditional 64-bit operating systems on pure 64-bit mode architecture CPUs is not an explicit goal of Intel’s work. However, the virtualization products of the software ecosystem under the Intel architecture are mature enough. Therefore, a virtualization-based software solution can use virtualized hardware (VMX) to provide a solution, or it can emulate the functionality required to boot a legacy operating system.
(First image source: intel)
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