wayne@csri.toronto.edu (Wayne Hayes) (12/22/90)
I just managed to get ahold of a 33MHz 3167 Abacus Weitek math co- processor for a song. I was under the misconception (as was the dealer) that it was a *superset* of the 80387, and downward compatible, but apparently it's not. It's a completely different processor and my BIOS doesn't even recognize it, and hardly any DOS programs support it. So who does floating point under DOS anyway, right? (So who does ANYTHING under DOS? :-) Anyway, I'm wondering if it's a complete loss, or has anyone written or know of any library or other support for a Weitek co- processor for either Minix or DOS? If not, I guess I'll just start poking around someone else's x87 updates to see how it's done and try to hack it into Weitek support. Will this need hack to the Kernel to tell it about the Weitek instruction set, or will the hardware automatically recognize that the instructions are legal? (BTW, I only have one copro slot, and it supports both 387 and Weitek. Dumb way to design a board, but...) Also, does anyone know if the Weitek uses IEEE floating point in the same format as a 387? If so, would it be possible to write a 387 emulator for the Weitek? (I think it's possible to trap 387 instructions and emulate them in software, so why not emulate them in hardware? :-) -- "Dad, what should I be when I grow up?" "Honest." -- Robert M. Pirsig, _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence_. Wayne Hayes INTERNET: wayne@csri.utoronto.ca CompuServe: 72401,3525