xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/man4.i386/npx.4 (revision afe61c15161c324a7af299a9b8457aba5afc92db)
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2.\" Copyright (c) 1993 Christopher G. Demetriou
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30.\"	from: npx.4,v 1.1 1993/08/06 10:58:03 cgd Exp
31.\"	$Id$
32.\"
33.Dd August 28, 1993
34.Dt NPX 4 i386
35.Os FreeBSD
36.Sh NAME
37.Nm npx
38.Nd
39Numeric Processing Extension coprocessor and emulator
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Cd "options MATH_EMULATE"
42.\" XXX this is awful hackery to get it to work right... -- cgd
43.Cd "device npx0 at isa? port" \&"IO_NPX0\&" tty irq 13 vector npxintr
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45The
46.Nm npx
47driver enables the use of the system's Numeric Processing Extension
48coprocessor,
49if one is present.  Numeric processing extensions are present in
50systems with
51.Nm 486DX
52CPUs and in systems with
53.Nm 387
54or
55.Nm 487SX
56coprocessors.  The
57.Nm npx
58driver is required for proper system functioning regardless
59of whether or not a NPX is present.
60.Pp
61If there is no NPX present in the system, the "MATH_EMULATE"
62option must be defined in the kernel configuration file.
63It will provide support for the instructions normally executed
64by the NPX.  If there is no NPX in the system and the kernel
65is not built with math emulation, the system will not boot.
66.Sh CAVEATS
67The emulator is much slower than the NPX coprocessor.
68This will result in poor floating-point math performance
69if the emulator must be used.
70.Sh BUGS
71There are lots of them, especially on cheap motherboards.  In particular,
72some motherboards do not have the interrupt lines from the NPX to
73the CPU wired properly.  If this is the case, the emulator must be used
74if consistent system operation is desired.
75.Pp
76Emulation of the transcendental functions instructions is incorrect.
77Emulation of other instructions is suspect.
78