[mdlug] hanging machine kernel panic - on going

[Ingles, Raymond]

> From: Aaron Kulkis
> I won't bore you with the details,
> other than to say that there are 8, 16, 32 (and now 64)-bit
> versions of four registers A, B, C, and D (which Intel intended
> to stand for Accumulator, Base, Code, and Data), but which,
> other than the A registers, seem to be used rather inconsistently.

Yeah, the x86 instruction set is famously non-orthogonal. Instructions
can and do affect each other in awkward ways.

Even more silly, 'under the hood' it's all translated into a
more-or-less RISC format for actual execution. In a sense, *everything*
on an x86 runs as a 'virtual machine'. :-/

 Sincerely,

 Ray Ingles                                    (313) 227-2317

 "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently
         advanced." - Anonymous' restatement of Clarke

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