[mod.computers.vax] Responses to VAX TBIA query

Perrine@LOGICON.ARPA.UUCP (02/24/87)

On Friday 24 Feb, I "shot a query into the net" about the VAX 780 TBIA
register and 4.2BSD moving a 1 there when the Architecture doc called
for a 0. Here are some of the responses I received:

>>From: john@basser.oz.AU (john%basser.oz@SEISMO.CSS.GOV)
>>Yep.  TBIA is a write-only read-zero register.  The _act of writing_ it
>>invalidates the translation buffer; what bit pattern you write doesn't
>>matter at all -- the hardware totally ignores it.
>>
>>From: "Lew Doll" <led@j.cc.purdue.edu>
>>It probably does not matter, since this register does not exist.  It
>>actually causes a branch in the microcode to a routine that invalidates
>>each location, one at a time.
>>
>>From: Jason Venner <jason%violet.Berkeley.EDU@BERKELEY.EDU>
>>This has been fixed in 4.3,  with the most recent rev level,  you must
>>move a zero,  previously a one worked correctly.

Due to the response from the Berkeley person, and because we *are*
running the latest HW/microcode rev, we will be rebuilding our 4.2
kernel to move the proper value to the TBIA register.  I would advise
others to consider doing the same.

Tom Perrine ++ Logicon OSD ++ Perrine@LOGICON.ARPA