david@sun.uucp (David DiGiacomo) (01/23/87)
In article <1016@intelca.UUCP> clif@intelca.UUCP (Clif Purkiser) writes: > LOADALL causes compatibility problems. > >6. The LOADALL instruction causes an illegal opcode exception on the 386. >Thus 286 software which uses a LOADALL instruction will not run on a 386 system >unless, the software first tests to see which processor it is running on and >then uses different code sequences for the 80286 or 80386. Fortunately, the >packages which do use the LOADALL instruction are being modified to do this. Instead of modifying the applications, it's simpler to have the 386 system's illegal opcode exception simulate the LOADALL instruction, which should be easy because... >7. Everything useful that LOADALL does can be done already on a 386 using > documented instructions without having to reset the part. -- David DiGiacomo {decvax, ihnp4, ucbvax}!sun!david david@sun.arpa Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, CA (415) 691-7495