On 03.05.2007 18:55, Jordan Crouse wrote:
In a sanely operating system, you really need the SMM to handle the PCI interaction - using a PCI spoofing system like OLPC does is useful for a heavily embedded platform, but it really falls down for typical systems - having something solid responding to CF8/CFC is way more re-assuring. Once you agree to this, then most of VSA starts to make sense. I agree, a single binary blob that can't be hacked on is frustrating, but the effort to change that is in progress. I think that once its all GNUified, everybody will be happy with it.
The concept of code not under the control of the operating system is frightening some low-latency audio/video folks. If the operating system uses some operations heavily which trigger SMM execution, extended periods of switched off interrupts may result. OTOH, systems which need SMM should probably not be used anyway if latency is critical.
Regards, Carl-Daniel