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| 1 | MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) control | ||
| 2 | 3 Jun 1999 | ||
| 3 | Richard Gooch | ||
| 4 | <rgooch@atnf.csiro.au> | ||
| 5 | |||
| 6 | On Intel P6 family processors (Pentium Pro, Pentium II and later) | ||
| 7 | the Memory Type Range Registers (MTRRs) may be used to control | ||
| 8 | processor access to memory ranges. This is most useful when you have | ||
| 9 | a video (VGA) card on a PCI or AGP bus. Enabling write-combining | ||
| 10 | allows bus write transfers to be combined into a larger transfer | ||
| 11 | before bursting over the PCI/AGP bus. This can increase performance | ||
| 12 | of image write operations 2.5 times or more. | ||
| 13 | |||
| 14 | The Cyrix 6x86, 6x86MX and M II processors have Address Range | ||
| 15 | Registers (ARRs) which provide a similar functionality to MTRRs. For | ||
| 16 | these, the ARRs are used to emulate the MTRRs. | ||
| 17 | |||
| 18 | The AMD K6-2 (stepping 8 and above) and K6-3 processors have two | ||
| 19 | MTRRs. These are supported. The AMD Athlon family provide 8 Intel | ||
| 20 | style MTRRs. | ||
| 21 | |||
| 22 | The Centaur C6 (WinChip) has 8 MCRs, allowing write-combining. These | ||
| 23 | are supported. | ||
| 24 | |||
| 25 | The VIA Cyrix III and VIA C3 CPUs offer 8 Intel style MTRRs. | ||
| 26 | |||
| 27 | The CONFIG_MTRR option creates a /proc/mtrr file which may be used | ||
| 28 | to manipulate your MTRRs. Typically the X server should use | ||
| 29 | this. This should have a reasonably generic interface so that | ||
| 30 | similar control registers on other processors can be easily | ||
| 31 | supported. | ||
| 32 | |||
| 33 | |||
| 34 | There are two interfaces to /proc/mtrr: one is an ASCII interface | ||
| 35 | which allows you to read and write. The other is an ioctl() | ||
| 36 | interface. The ASCII interface is meant for administration. The | ||
| 37 | ioctl() interface is meant for C programs (i.e. the X server). The | ||
| 38 | interfaces are described below, with sample commands and C code. | ||
| 39 | |||
| 40 | =============================================================================== | ||
| 41 | Reading MTRRs from the shell: | ||
| 42 | |||
| 43 | % cat /proc/mtrr | ||
| 44 | reg00: base=0x00000000 ( 0MB), size= 128MB: write-back, count=1 | ||
| 45 | reg01: base=0x08000000 ( 128MB), size= 64MB: write-back, count=1 | ||
| 46 | =============================================================================== | ||
| 47 | Creating MTRRs from the C-shell: | ||
| 48 | # echo "base=0xf8000000 size=0x400000 type=write-combining" >! /proc/mtrr | ||
| 49 | or if you use bash: | ||
| 50 | # echo "base=0xf8000000 size=0x400000 type=write-combining" >| /proc/mtrr | ||
| 51 | |||
| 52 | And the result thereof: | ||
| 53 | % cat /proc/mtrr | ||
| 54 | reg00: base=0x00000000 ( 0MB), size= 128MB: write-back, count=1 | ||
| 55 | reg01: base=0x08000000 ( 128MB), size= 64MB: write-back, count=1 | ||
| 56 | reg02: base=0xf8000000 (3968MB), size= 4MB: write-combining, count=1 | ||
| 57 | |||
| 58 | This is for video RAM at base address 0xf8000000 and size 4 megabytes. To | ||
| 59 | find out your base address, you need to look at the output of your X | ||
| 60 | server, which tells you where the linear framebuffer address is. A | ||
| 61 | typical line that you may get is: | ||
| 62 | |||
| 63 | (--) S3: PCI: 968 rev 0, Linear FB @ 0xf8000000 | ||
| 64 | |||
| 65 | Note that you should only use the value from the X server, as it may | ||
| 66 | move the framebuffer base address, so the only value you can trust is | ||
| 67 | that reported by the X server. | ||
| 68 | |||
| 69 | To find out the size of your framebuffer (what, you don't actually | ||
| 70 | know?), the following line will tell you: | ||
| 71 | |||
| 72 | (--) S3: videoram: 4096k | ||
| 73 | |||
| 74 | That's 4 megabytes, which is 0x400000 bytes (in hexadecimal). | ||
| 75 | A patch is being written for XFree86 which will make this automatic: | ||
| 76 | in other words the X server will manipulate /proc/mtrr using the | ||
| 77 | ioctl() interface, so users won't have to do anything. If you use a | ||
| 78 | commercial X server, lobby your vendor to add support for MTRRs. | ||
| 79 | =============================================================================== | ||
| 80 | Creating overlapping MTRRs: | ||
| 81 | |||
| 82 | %echo "base=0xfb000000 size=0x1000000 type=write-combining" >/proc/mtrr | ||
| 83 | %echo "base=0xfb000000 size=0x1000 type=uncachable" >/proc/mtrr | ||
| 84 | |||
| 85 | And the results: cat /proc/mtrr | ||
| 86 | reg00: base=0x00000000 ( 0MB), size= 64MB: write-back, count=1 | ||
| 87 | reg01: base=0xfb000000 (4016MB), size= 16MB: write-combining, count=1 | ||
| 88 | reg02: base=0xfb000000 (4016MB), size= 4kB: uncachable, count=1 | ||
| 89 | |||
| 90 | Some cards (especially Voodoo Graphics boards) need this 4 kB area | ||
| 91 | excluded from the beginning of the region because it is used for | ||
| 92 | registers. | ||
| 93 | |||
| 94 | NOTE: You can only create type=uncachable region, if the first | ||
| 95 | region that you created is type=write-combining. | ||
| 96 | =============================================================================== | ||
| 97 | Removing MTRRs from the C-shell: | ||
| 98 | % echo "disable=2" >! /proc/mtrr | ||
| 99 | or using bash: | ||
| 100 | % echo "disable=2" >| /proc/mtrr | ||
| 101 | =============================================================================== | ||
| 102 | Reading MTRRs from a C program using ioctl()'s: | ||
| 103 | |||
| 104 | /* mtrr-show.c | ||
| 105 | |||
| 106 | Source file for mtrr-show (example program to show MTRRs using ioctl()'s) | ||
| 107 | |||
| 108 | Copyright (C) 1997-1998 Richard Gooch | ||
| 109 | |||
| 110 | This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify | ||
| 111 | it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by | ||
| 112 | the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or | ||
| 113 | (at your option) any later version. | ||
| 114 | |||
| 115 | This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, | ||
| 116 | but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of | ||
| 117 | MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the | ||
| 118 | GNU General Public License for more details. | ||
| 119 | |||
| 120 | You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License | ||
| 121 | along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software | ||
| 122 | Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. | ||
| 123 | |||
| 124 | Richard Gooch may be reached by email at rgooch@atnf.csiro.au | ||
| 125 | The postal address is: | ||
| 126 | Richard Gooch, c/o ATNF, P. O. Box 76, Epping, N.S.W., 2121, Australia. | ||
| 127 | */ | ||
| 128 | |||
| 129 | /* | ||
| 130 | This program will use an ioctl() on /proc/mtrr to show the current MTRR | ||
| 131 | settings. This is an alternative to reading /proc/mtrr. | ||
| 132 | |||
| 133 | |||
| 134 | Written by Richard Gooch 17-DEC-1997 | ||
| 135 | |||
| 136 | Last updated by Richard Gooch 2-MAY-1998 | ||
| 137 | |||
| 138 | |||
| 139 | */ | ||
| 140 | #include <stdio.h> | ||
| 141 | #include <stdlib.h> | ||
| 142 | #include <string.h> | ||
| 143 | #include <sys/types.h> | ||
| 144 | #include <sys/stat.h> | ||
| 145 | #include <fcntl.h> | ||
| 146 | #include <sys/ioctl.h> | ||
| 147 | #include <errno.h> | ||
| 148 | #include <asm/mtrr.h> | ||
| 149 | |||
| 150 | #define TRUE 1 | ||
| 151 | #define FALSE 0 | ||
| 152 | #define ERRSTRING strerror (errno) | ||
| 153 | |||
| 154 | static char *mtrr_strings[MTRR_NUM_TYPES] = | ||
| 155 | { | ||
| 156 | "uncachable", /* 0 */ | ||
| 157 | "write-combining", /* 1 */ | ||
| 158 | "?", /* 2 */ | ||
| 159 | "?", /* 3 */ | ||
| 160 | "write-through", /* 4 */ | ||
| 161 | "write-protect", /* 5 */ | ||
| 162 | "write-back", /* 6 */ | ||
| 163 | }; | ||
| 164 | |||
| 165 | int main () | ||
| 166 | { | ||
| 167 | int fd; | ||
| 168 | struct mtrr_gentry gentry; | ||
| 169 | |||
| 170 | if ( ( fd = open ("/proc/mtrr", O_RDONLY, 0) ) == -1 ) | ||
| 171 | { | ||
| 172 | if (errno == ENOENT) | ||
| 173 | { | ||
| 174 | fputs ("/proc/mtrr not found: not supported or you don't have a PPro?\n", | ||
| 175 | stderr); | ||
| 176 | exit (1); | ||
| 177 | } | ||
| 178 | fprintf (stderr, "Error opening /proc/mtrr\t%s\n", ERRSTRING); | ||
| 179 | exit (2); | ||
| 180 | } | ||
| 181 | for (gentry.regnum = 0; ioctl (fd, MTRRIOC_GET_ENTRY, &gentry) == 0; | ||
| 182 | ++gentry.regnum) | ||
| 183 | { | ||
| 184 | if (gentry.size < 1) | ||
| 185 | { | ||
| 186 | fprintf (stderr, "Register: %u disabled\n", gentry.regnum); | ||
| 187 | continue; | ||
| 188 | } | ||
| 189 | fprintf (stderr, "Register: %u base: 0x%lx size: 0x%lx type: %s\n", | ||
| 190 | gentry.regnum, gentry.base, gentry.size, | ||
| 191 | mtrr_strings[gentry.type]); | ||
| 192 | } | ||
| 193 | if (errno == EINVAL) exit (0); | ||
| 194 | fprintf (stderr, "Error doing ioctl(2) on /dev/mtrr\t%s\n", ERRSTRING); | ||
| 195 | exit (3); | ||
| 196 | } /* End Function main */ | ||
| 197 | =============================================================================== | ||
| 198 | Creating MTRRs from a C programme using ioctl()'s: | ||
| 199 | |||
| 200 | /* mtrr-add.c | ||
| 201 | |||
| 202 | Source file for mtrr-add (example programme to add an MTRRs using ioctl()) | ||
| 203 | |||
| 204 | Copyright (C) 1997-1998 Richard Gooch | ||
| 205 | |||
| 206 | This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify | ||
| 207 | it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by | ||
| 208 | the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or | ||
| 209 | (at your option) any later version. | ||
| 210 | |||
| 211 | This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, | ||
| 212 | but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of | ||
| 213 | MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the | ||
| 214 | GNU General Public License for more details. | ||
| 215 | |||
| 216 | You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License | ||
| 217 | along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software | ||
| 218 | Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. | ||
| 219 | |||
| 220 | Richard Gooch may be reached by email at rgooch@atnf.csiro.au | ||
| 221 | The postal address is: | ||
| 222 | Richard Gooch, c/o ATNF, P. O. Box 76, Epping, N.S.W., 2121, Australia. | ||
| 223 | */ | ||
| 224 | |||
| 225 | /* | ||
| 226 | This programme will use an ioctl() on /proc/mtrr to add an entry. The first | ||
| 227 | available mtrr is used. This is an alternative to writing /proc/mtrr. | ||
| 228 | |||
| 229 | |||
| 230 | Written by Richard Gooch 17-DEC-1997 | ||
| 231 | |||
| 232 | Last updated by Richard Gooch 2-MAY-1998 | ||
| 233 | |||
| 234 | |||
| 235 | */ | ||
| 236 | #include <stdio.h> | ||
| 237 | #include <string.h> | ||
| 238 | #include <stdlib.h> | ||
| 239 | #include <unistd.h> | ||
| 240 | #include <sys/types.h> | ||
| 241 | #include <sys/stat.h> | ||
| 242 | #include <fcntl.h> | ||
| 243 | #include <sys/ioctl.h> | ||
| 244 | #include <errno.h> | ||
| 245 | #include <asm/mtrr.h> | ||
| 246 | |||
| 247 | #define TRUE 1 | ||
| 248 | #define FALSE 0 | ||
| 249 | #define ERRSTRING strerror (errno) | ||
| 250 | |||
| 251 | static char *mtrr_strings[MTRR_NUM_TYPES] = | ||
| 252 | { | ||
| 253 | "uncachable", /* 0 */ | ||
| 254 | "write-combining", /* 1 */ | ||
| 255 | "?", /* 2 */ | ||
| 256 | "?", /* 3 */ | ||
| 257 | "write-through", /* 4 */ | ||
| 258 | "write-protect", /* 5 */ | ||
| 259 | "write-back", /* 6 */ | ||
| 260 | }; | ||
| 261 | |||
| 262 | int main (int argc, char **argv) | ||
| 263 | { | ||
| 264 | int fd; | ||
| 265 | struct mtrr_sentry sentry; | ||
| 266 | |||
| 267 | if (argc != 4) | ||
| 268 | { | ||
| 269 | fprintf (stderr, "Usage:\tmtrr-add base size type\n"); | ||
| 270 | exit (1); | ||
| 271 | } | ||
| 272 | sentry.base = strtoul (argv[1], NULL, 0); | ||
| 273 | sentry.size = strtoul (argv[2], NULL, 0); | ||
| 274 | for (sentry.type = 0; sentry.type < MTRR_NUM_TYPES; ++sentry.type) | ||
| 275 | { | ||
| 276 | if (strcmp (argv[3], mtrr_strings[sentry.type]) == 0) break; | ||
| 277 | } | ||
| 278 | if (sentry.type >= MTRR_NUM_TYPES) | ||
| 279 | { | ||
| 280 | fprintf (stderr, "Illegal type: \"%s\"\n", argv[3]); | ||
| 281 | exit (2); | ||
| 282 | } | ||
| 283 | if ( ( fd = open ("/proc/mtrr", O_WRONLY, 0) ) == -1 ) | ||
| 284 | { | ||
| 285 | if (errno == ENOENT) | ||
| 286 | { | ||
| 287 | fputs ("/proc/mtrr not found: not supported or you don't have a PPro?\n", | ||
| 288 | stderr); | ||
| 289 | exit (3); | ||
| 290 | } | ||
| 291 | fprintf (stderr, "Error opening /proc/mtrr\t%s\n", ERRSTRING); | ||
| 292 | exit (4); | ||
| 293 | } | ||
| 294 | if (ioctl (fd, MTRRIOC_ADD_ENTRY, &sentry) == -1) | ||
| 295 | { | ||
| 296 | fprintf (stderr, "Error doing ioctl(2) on /dev/mtrr\t%s\n", ERRSTRING); | ||
| 297 | exit (5); | ||
| 298 | } | ||
| 299 | fprintf (stderr, "Sleeping for 5 seconds so you can see the new entry\n"); | ||
| 300 | sleep (5); | ||
| 301 | close (fd); | ||
| 302 | fputs ("I've just closed /proc/mtrr so now the new entry should be gone\n", | ||
| 303 | stderr); | ||
| 304 | } /* End Function main */ | ||
| 305 | =============================================================================== | ||
