On Nov 24, 2009, at 10:03 AM, Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
OK, so this
might break the ten year rule, but I'm curious.
Has anyone ever built a switches and lights front panel for a PC?
I'm talking a real front panel (not some USB-attached, software-
driven
thing) that can control an X86 PC...one that has address, data, and
state lights, address/data switches, and control switches (Exam/Exam
Next, Deposit, Load Address, Run/Stop, Single Step, etc.)?
Is such a beast even possible? Might be somewhat difficult with
multi-core CPUs, but maybe a Pentium 3 or earlier?
While such a thing would probably be of limited use for anything
really
practical, it would be interesting (to me at least) in some
twisted way.
Can modern processors be single-stepped?
Most modern designs use what amount to dynamic memory for
registers and other internal state stuff, which means that there's
usually a minimum clock speed...I don't see how true single-stepping
would be possible in such a situation.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL