> > The 3912 has no FPU, but if you're running on any contemporary
> > MIPS/Linux kernel and library system, you neither need nor want
> > soft-float. The kernel does FP instruction emulation. Running soft-float
> > would make for faster, if larger, code, but requires that the whole
> > system, particularly glibc, be built for soft-float, which is rarely done
> > (and the last time I tried it, didin't quite work with the standard
> > glibc sources out-of-the-box).
> >
> Correct. I use the FP emulator in Linux for my TX3917/PR31700 stuff. I
> have had no problems. Current glibc has assembly code that assumes hardware
> floating point which is why building for soft-float does not work out of
> the box. There are probably some patches out there to rectify that.
It's been several years, but the last time I dealt with it, it wasn't all
that hard to fix if you knew what you were doing, but it was a couple
of days' work just the same.
> Also, I have some documents for the 3912 on my FTP site:
>
> ftp://ftp.realitydiluted.com/docs/Toshiba
> ftp://ftp.realitydiluted.com/docs/Philips
>
> It should be noted that the Toshiba TX3912 and the Philips PR31700 are
> identical cores. There was definitely some cross-licensing going on there.
> Perhaps Kevin or Dominic would know this in more detail, but it is not
> really that important.
I'm not sure whether any NDAs which may or may not exist
would have expired by now, so I'll stick to a "no comment". ;o)
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