Re: New Math Coprocessor - who has a need for it???

[gudat@avalon.physik.unizh.ch (gudat henrik)]

David Empson (dempson@swell.actrix.gen.nz) wrote:
: In article <1993Jul14.060915.24034@sinkhole.unf.edu> swarde@unf6.cis.unf.edu (Rico) writes:
: > 
: > Does the GS automatically invoke the Math Coprocessor when processing
: > math functions?

: No.  The Coprocessor card acts as a peripheral device, not a
: coprocessor.  The 65816 program sends maths commands to be processed by
: the 68882, by writing them out to I/O addresses (I don't know the
: exact details here).  I assume it then waits for a "finished"
: indication from the card, and reads the results back.

That's right, "coprocessor" is a bit misleading here.

I don't think, however, that there are any problems using the 68882
instead of the software routines. Both "math collections" base on the
IEEE standard and produce exactly the same result. (There some really
minor differences, but it shouldn't affect the software actually).
Also, if you do not patch _all_ the SANE routines (namely those that do
not have a counterpart in the 68882), you'll get a pretty useful
software/hardware bundle.

BTW, I got so many ingquiries that I'll post a "mini-faq" this evening
:-)

henrik
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