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MultiProcessor Specification 1.4
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/ R0 Q. t) n- ?! F+ i1 q) HThe MultiProcessor Specification, hereafter known as the “MP specification,” defines an- r1 q3 U/ I' \) o6 H
enhancement to the standard to which PC manufacturers design DOS-compatible systems.
1 ^1 F) I" S7 \, {MP-capable operating systems will be able to run without special customization on multiprocessor
9 N( h$ S% I: `: n1 l, G4 i9 h! esystems that comply with this specification. End users who purchase a compliant multiprocessor l9 `$ _ y: G2 s
system will be able to run their choice of operating systems. L: L7 h8 J7 V; }
The MP specification covers PC/AT-compatible MP platform designs based on Intel processor- f1 f) }4 i, k5 c# R! q3 j
architectures and Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) architectures. The term
6 {+ Q5 i5 V# p) \7 o" }2 G. [6 V“PC/AT-compatible” here refers to the software-visible components of the PC/AT, not to hardware
) X0 L2 |/ o9 r. N' w# |9 O# cfeatures, such as the bus implementation, that are not visible to software. An implementation of& [8 u$ z5 {: b& S# y) g! ?
this specification may incorporate one or more industry standard buses, such as ISA, EISA, MCA,
; D S& `6 o0 J) F3 |' {2 p# ?PCI, or other OEM-specific buses. |
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