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+MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) control
+3 Jun 1999
+Richard Gooch
+<rgooch@atnf.csiro.au>
+
+ On Intel P6 family processors (Pentium Pro, Pentium II and later)
+ the Memory Type Range Registers (MTRRs) may be used to control
+ processor access to memory ranges. This is most useful when you have
+ a video (VGA) card on a PCI or AGP bus. Enabling write-combining
+ allows bus write transfers to be combined into a larger transfer
+ before bursting over the PCI/AGP bus. This can increase performance
+ of image write operations 2.5 times or more.
+
+ The Cyrix 6x86, 6x86MX and M II processors have Address Range
+ Registers (ARRs) which provide a similar functionality to MTRRs. For
+ these, the ARRs are used to emulate the MTRRs.
+
+ The AMD K6-2 (stepping 8 and above) and K6-3 processors have two
+ MTRRs. These are supported. The AMD Athlon family provide 8 Intel
+ style MTRRs.
+
+ The Centaur C6 (WinChip) has 8 MCRs, allowing write-combining. These
+ are supported.
+
+ The VIA Cyrix III and VIA C3 CPUs offer 8 Intel style MTRRs.
+
+ The CONFIG_MTRR option creates a /proc/mtrr file which may be used
+ to manipulate your MTRRs. Typically the X server should use
+ this. This should have a reasonably generic interface so that
+ similar control registers on other processors can be easily
+ supported.
+
+
+There are two interfaces to /proc/mtrr: one is an ASCII interface
+which allows you to read and write. The other is an ioctl()
+interface. The ASCII interface is meant for administration. The
+ioctl() interface is meant for C programs (i.e. the X server). The
+interfaces are described below, with sample commands and C code.
+
+===============================================================================
+Reading MTRRs from the shell:
+
+% cat /proc/mtrr
+reg00: base=0x00000000 ( 0MB), size= 128MB: write-back, count=1
+reg01: base=0x08000000 ( 128MB), size= 64MB: write-back, count=1
+===============================================================================
+Creating MTRRs from the C-shell:
+# echo "base=0xf8000000 size=0x400000 type=write-combining" >! /proc/mtrr
+or if you use bash:
+# echo "base=0xf8000000 size=0x400000 type=write-combining" >| /proc/mtrr
+
+And the result thereof:
+% cat /proc/mtrr
+reg00: base=0x00000000 ( 0MB), size= 128MB: write-back, count=1
+reg01: base=0x08000000 ( 128MB), size= 64MB: write-back, count=1
+reg02: base=0xf8000000 (3968MB), size= 4MB: write-combining, count=1
+
+This is for video RAM at base address 0xf8000000 and size 4 megabytes. To
+find out your base address, you need to look at the output of your X
+server, which tells you where the linear framebuffer address is. A
+typical line that you may get is:
+
+(--) S3: PCI: 968 rev 0, Linear FB @ 0xf8000000
+
+Note that you should only use the value from the X server, as it may
+move the framebuffer base address, so the only value you can trust is
+that reported by the X server.
+
+To find out the size of your framebuffer (what, you don't actually
+know?), the following line will tell you:
+
+(--) S3: videoram: 4096k
+
+That's 4 megabytes, which is 0x400000 bytes (in hexadecimal).
+A patch is being written for XFree86 which will make this automatic:
+in other words the X server will manipulate /proc/mtrr using the
+ioctl() interface, so users won't have to do anything. If you use a
+commercial X server, lobby your vendor to add support for MTRRs.
+===============================================================================
+Creating overlapping MTRRs:
+
+%echo "base=0xfb000000 size=0x1000000 type=write-combining" >/proc/mtrr
+%echo "base=0xfb000000 size=0x1000 type=uncachable" >/proc/mtrr
+
+And the results: cat /proc/mtrr
+reg00: base=0x00000000 ( 0MB), size= 64MB: write-back, count=1
+reg01: base=0xfb000000 (4016MB), size= 16MB: write-combining, count=1
+reg02: base=0xfb000000 (4016MB), size= 4kB: uncachable, count=1
+
+Some cards (especially Voodoo Graphics boards) need this 4 kB area
+excluded from the beginning of the region because it is used for
+registers.
+
+NOTE: You can only create type=uncachable region, if the first
+region that you created is type=write-combining.
+===============================================================================
+Removing MTRRs from the C-shell:
+% echo "disable=2" >! /proc/mtrr
+or using bash:
+% echo "disable=2" >| /proc/mtrr
+===============================================================================
+Reading MTRRs from a C program using ioctl()'s:
+
+/* mtrr-show.c
+
+ Source file for mtrr-show (example program to show MTRRs using ioctl()'s)
+
+ Copyright (C) 1997-1998 Richard Gooch
+
+ This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ (at your option) any later version.
+
+ This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+ GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+ You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
+
+ Richard Gooch may be reached by email at rgooch@atnf.csiro.au
+ The postal address is:
+ Richard Gooch, c/o ATNF, P. O. Box 76, Epping, N.S.W., 2121, Australia.
+*/
+
+/*
+ This program will use an ioctl() on /proc/mtrr to show the current MTRR
+ settings. This is an alternative to reading /proc/mtrr.
+
+
+ Written by Richard Gooch 17-DEC-1997
+
+ Last updated by Richard Gooch 2-MAY-1998
+
+
+*/
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <sys/ioctl.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <asm/mtrr.h>
+
+#define TRUE 1
+#define FALSE 0
+#define ERRSTRING strerror (errno)
+
+static char *mtrr_strings[MTRR_NUM_TYPES] =
+{
+ "uncachable", /* 0 */
+ "write-combining", /* 1 */
+ "?", /* 2 */
+ "?", /* 3 */
+ "write-through", /* 4 */
+ "write-protect", /* 5 */
+ "write-back", /* 6 */
+};
+
+int main ()
+{
+ int fd;
+ struct mtrr_gentry gentry;
+
+ if ( ( fd = open ("/proc/mtrr", O_RDONLY, 0) ) == -1 )
+ {
+ if (errno == ENOENT)
+ {
+ fputs ("/proc/mtrr not found: not supported or you don't have a PPro?\n",
+ stderr);
+ exit (1);
+ }
+ fprintf (stderr, "Error opening /proc/mtrr\t%s\n", ERRSTRING);
+ exit (2);
+ }
+ for (gentry.regnum = 0; ioctl (fd, MTRRIOC_GET_ENTRY, &gentry) == 0;
+ ++gentry.regnum)
+ {
+ if (gentry.size < 1)
+ {
+ fprintf (stderr, "Register: %u disabled\n", gentry.regnum);
+ continue;
+ }
+ fprintf (stderr, "Register: %u base: 0x%lx size: 0x%lx type: %s\n",
+ gentry.regnum, gentry.base, gentry.size,
+ mtrr_strings[gentry.type]);
+ }
+ if (errno == EINVAL) exit (0);
+ fprintf (stderr, "Error doing ioctl(2) on /dev/mtrr\t%s\n", ERRSTRING);
+ exit (3);
+} /* End Function main */
+===============================================================================
+Creating MTRRs from a C programme using ioctl()'s:
+
+/* mtrr-add.c
+
+ Source file for mtrr-add (example programme to add an MTRRs using ioctl())
+
+ Copyright (C) 1997-1998 Richard Gooch
+
+ This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ (at your option) any later version.
+
+ This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+ GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+ You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
+
+ Richard Gooch may be reached by email at rgooch@atnf.csiro.au
+ The postal address is:
+ Richard Gooch, c/o ATNF, P. O. Box 76, Epping, N.S.W., 2121, Australia.
+*/
+
+/*
+ This programme will use an ioctl() on /proc/mtrr to add an entry. The first
+ available mtrr is used. This is an alternative to writing /proc/mtrr.
+
+
+ Written by Richard Gooch 17-DEC-1997
+
+ Last updated by Richard Gooch 2-MAY-1998
+
+
+*/
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <sys/ioctl.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <asm/mtrr.h>
+
+#define TRUE 1
+#define FALSE 0
+#define ERRSTRING strerror (errno)
+
+static char *mtrr_strings[MTRR_NUM_TYPES] =
+{
+ "uncachable", /* 0 */
+ "write-combining", /* 1 */
+ "?", /* 2 */
+ "?", /* 3 */
+ "write-through", /* 4 */
+ "write-protect", /* 5 */
+ "write-back", /* 6 */
+};
+
+int main (int argc, char **argv)
+{
+ int fd;
+ struct mtrr_sentry sentry;
+
+ if (argc != 4)
+ {
+ fprintf (stderr, "Usage:\tmtrr-add base size type\n");
+ exit (1);
+ }
+ sentry.base = strtoul (argv[1], NULL, 0);
+ sentry.size = strtoul (argv[2], NULL, 0);
+ for (sentry.type = 0; sentry.type < MTRR_NUM_TYPES; ++sentry.type)
+ {
+ if (strcmp (argv[3], mtrr_strings[sentry.type]) == 0) break;
+ }
+ if (sentry.type >= MTRR_NUM_TYPES)
+ {
+ fprintf (stderr, "Illegal type: \"%s\"\n", argv[3]);
+ exit (2);
+ }
+ if ( ( fd = open ("/proc/mtrr", O_WRONLY, 0) ) == -1 )
+ {
+ if (errno == ENOENT)
+ {
+ fputs ("/proc/mtrr not found: not supported or you don't have a PPro?\n",
+ stderr);
+ exit (3);
+ }
+ fprintf (stderr, "Error opening /proc/mtrr\t%s\n", ERRSTRING);
+ exit (4);
+ }
+ if (ioctl (fd, MTRRIOC_ADD_ENTRY, &sentry) == -1)
+ {
+ fprintf (stderr, "Error doing ioctl(2) on /dev/mtrr\t%s\n", ERRSTRING);
+ exit (5);
+ }
+ fprintf (stderr, "Sleeping for 5 seconds so you can see the new entry\n");
+ sleep (5);
+ close (fd);
+ fputs ("I've just closed /proc/mtrr so now the new entry should be gone\n",
+ stderr);
+} /* End Function main */
+===============================================================================
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