[fpc-devel]Re: Latest status
Alan Grimes
alangrimes at starpower.net
Thu Nov 29 19:28:42 CET 2001
Florian Klaempfl wrote:
> >The worst thing about current IA64 is the carry-over of legacy
> support. A dual instruction set chip is the most disgusting thing I've
> ever heard of... Okay its not as bad as HCF but it's close. =P DAMN!!!
> Sorry, but what is HCF?
An old computer myth.
There was once a machine with a serious hardware flaw such that entering
a certain bad opcode, lets call it "HCF", caused the machine to go into
a strange halt state in which the address lines coming out of the
processor are toggled in a rapid-feedback loop. As you know, changing
the state of a line requires an expense of energy which causes the
release of heat. The ultra-rapid toggling of these lines would lead to
an immense heat buildup eventually causing a fire. So HCF has the effect
of causing the machine to Halt and Catch Fire. =P
Google should be very helpful in giving more inf0z...
--
Waiting for a typical DOS application to crash is like waiting for hell
to freeze over.
http://users.erols.com/alangrimes/ <my website.
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