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Major Linux/Athlon CPU bug discovered
GeorgeFrancisco writes "I recently installed the nVidia drivers so I could play TuxRacer on my Athlon. Problem is it kept inexplicably hanging Linux. Now I know why. The CPU bug affects Athlon/Duron/Athlon MP AGP users. Fortunately there's a way around it, and: "Alan [Cox] is going to try to add some kind of Athlon/AGP CPU bug detection code to the kernel so that it will be able to auto-downgrade to 4K pages when necessary." Read more on the Gentoo Linux site."
"AMD did prominently announce this bug when it was discovered."
Keep your tuxedos on. Not like they are recalling processors like Intel had to do to the 1.13 because it would not compile the linux kernel. Or recalling a million motherboeards for memory translation hub issues. Or forcing us to live with a floating point math error then doing their best to cover it up or Run around as the market leader yelling the sky is falling causing a slunp in the tech sector because they were faced with a little competition for the first time. And their 64 bit processor should run 32 bit apps faster than a 200mhx pentium pro.
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
well, except that they released a patch back in 2000.
It would help if you actually read the story before posting uninformed opinions. Dumbass.
Chris "Ng" Jones
cmsj@tenshu.net
www.tenshu.net
It's not a Linux bug, troll, it's a bug in the Athlon chip itself. Read the damned article.
- Have a picture
By the way, nVidia mentioned the same issue exists on Win2K / Athlon boxes.
"Quoting famous computer scientists out of context is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." - K
you are only right on this:
they add their own tech too, which is why they get different results.
quote
Now, the Athlon processor is made by a rival company, AMD. They have
basically reverse engineered the Intel processors and tried to make a
processor that operates just like Intel's processors, and then sell them
cheaper than Intel does.
This makes it a little more difficult to compare them to the Pentium
processors. Some things the AMD Athlon actually does faster than a Pentium
III, some things it does a little slower, and some things it can't do at
all, while other things the Intel can't do, the Athlon does do.
quote
Had AMD had a design ready when Intel released their Pentium, their market share
wouldn't have dropped to 10%. In the days of the 286, 386, and 486, AMD, Cyrix, and other "clones"
reverse-engineered the Intel chips. In a sense, it was Intel's design (with maybe a few improvments),
but it was reverse-engineered so it did not violate patents.
quote
But nothing lasts forever. The companies that had built Intel chips under license eventually reverse-engineered the chips and built them license-free. Intel copycats including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Cyrix (a division of National Semiconductor) used the courts to validate their right to copy Intel's chip architectures. And PC manufacturers like Compaq and IBM used these clone chips as a weapon to force Intel prices down. Now the best way for Intel to stay ahead is to simply run faster. Running faster means shrinking product cycles from three years to 18 months by running parallel product development teams and spending more money faster than the other guys. Since Intel has more money to spend, this keeps them in command, but shorter product cycles mean less time to recoup R&D expenses. Hence, those lower margins.
someone better mod me up for all my work
--Metrollica
this discussion is over. you lose. that quote says nothing about cpu's. quit giving fake links. stop trolling
--Metrollica
If this was discovered almost 2 years ago, then aren't and chips bought in the last couple years bug free?
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.