SUMMARY: how to detect Weitek in software?

From: Andreas Stolcke (stolcke@ICSI.Berkeley.EDU)
Date: Tue Oct 12 1993 - 15:31:42 CDT


In article <29en5i$9tj@agate.berkeley.edu>, I asked:
|> Is there anywhere way to determine the presence of a Weitek CPU in
|> a Sparcstation 2 programmatically, short of timing a benchmark?

Thanks for all replies. I basically got three answers:

- Guy Harris's whichiufpu program (posted on this group recently).
- use /usr/etc/fpversion4 to the same effect
- Sun's unbundled SC2.0.1 comes with the fpversion program that
  reports the clock rate (which is doubled in the Weitek CPU)

The first two approaches will report a different FPU version (3 versus 2)
on SPARCstation2's with the PoweruP chip, but will give no difference
on the IPX.

-- 
Andreas Stolcke					stolcke@icsi.berkeley.edu
International Computer Science Institute	stolcke@ucbicsi.bitnet
1947 Center St., Suite 600, Berkeley, CA 94704	(510) 642-4274 ext. 126
--
From: krste@ICSI.Berkeley.EDU (Krste Asanovic)
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Date: Tue, 12 Oct 93 11:35:54 PDT
Message-Id: <9310121835.AA06299@icsib43.ICSI.Berkeley.EDU>
To: stolcke@ICSI.Berkeley.EDU (Andreas Stolcke)
Subject: Re: how to detect Weitek in software?

In article <29en5i$9tj@agate.berkeley.edu>, you write: |> Is there anywhere way to determine the presence of a Weitek CPU in |> a Sparcstation 2 programmatically, short of timing a benchmark? |> |> Please reply via email -- thanks in advance! |> (I'll summarize if there any significant responses.) |> |> -- |> Andreas Stolcke stolcke@icsi.berkeley.edu |> International Computer Science Institute stolcke@ucbicsi.bitnet |> 1947 Center St., Suite 600, Berkeley, CA 94704 (510) 642-4274 ext. 126

/usr/local/lang/SC2.0.1/fpversion reports:

A SPARC-based CPU is available. CPU's clock rate appears to be approximately 80.0 MHz. Kernel says the CPU's clock rate should be 40.0 MHz.

Sun-4 floating-point controller version 3 found. Either a Weitek 8601-based or a Fujitsu MB86903-based FPU is available. FPU's frequency appears to be approximately 46.4 MHz.

Use "-cg89" floating-point option.

Hostid = 0x554103E6.

You could grep the 80MHz/40MHz discrepancy I guess.

-- Krste Asanovic, Computer Science Division, email: krste@cs.berkeley.edu c/o 571 Evans Hall phone: +1 (510) 642-4274 ext 143 University of California at Berkeley fax: +1 (510) 643-7684 CA 94720, USA

To: guy@auspex.com (Guy Harris) Subject: Re: how to detect Weitek in software? In-reply-to: Your message of Tue, 12 Oct 1993 10:34:11 -0700. <9310121734.AA13126@auspex.com> Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1993 11:42:00 PDT From: Andreas Stolcke <stolcke>

In message <9310121734.AA13126@auspex.com>you wrote: > >Is there anywhere way to determine the presence of a Weitek CPU in > >a Sparcstation 2 programmatically, short of timing a benchmark? > > Attached is the latest version of my "whichiufpu" program; when run > under SunOS (4.x or 5.x - but it's *not* guaranteed to work on SVR4 > implementations other than SunOS 5.x), on SPARC V7 or SPARC V8 > implementations, it'll get the implementation and version numbers of the > IU from the PSR, and the version number of the FPU from the FPSR, and > report on the type of chip you have. > > Unfortunately, I don't have a machine handy with a Weitek SPARC PoweruP > chip in it, so I don't know what the IU impl/vers numbers are, nor the > FP vers number is, for that chip; as such, I've no idea what it'll > report. If you run it on such a machine, let me know, so I can update > the program.

It sez (on a Sparcstation 2 with PoweruP):

IU is Weitek W8601, Weitek W8701, or Fujitsu MB86903 FPU is on the same chip as the IU

Also, your program got me thinking about using the standard /usr/etc/fpuversion4. On plain Sparcstation2's is says

Sun-4 floating-point controller version 2 found.

whereas with the Weitek

Sun-4 floating-point controller version 3 found.

This is confirmed by a sample of 26 Sparc2's. (But 1's and 1+'s also report version 3, so it works only on 2's)

thanks for the quick reply

--Andreas

Date: Tue, 12 Oct 93 11:57:53 PDT From: guy@auspex.com (Guy Harris) Message-Id: <9310121857.AA15784@auspex.com> To: stolcke@ICSI.Berkeley.EDU Subject: Re: how to detect Weitek in software?

> It sez (on a Sparcstation 2 with PoweruP): > > IU is Weitek W8601, Weitek W8701, or Fujitsu MB86903 > FPU is on the same chip as the IU

That means that it reports the same IU version and implementation numbers that their older chips report.

> Also, your program got me thinking about using the standard > /usr/etc/fpuversion4. On plain Sparcstation2's is says > > Sun-4 floating-point controller version 2 found. > > whereas with the Weitek > > Sun-4 floating-point controller version 3 found. > > This is confirmed by a sample of 26 Sparc2's.

Unfortunately, an IPX, which has the older Weitek chips in question, reports the same thing, so it appears that not only does the PoweruP report the same IU version and implementation numbers as the older Weitek chips (implementation 9 - which really means *implementor* 9, namely Weitek - and version 0), but it also returns the same FPU version number (3) as the older Weitek chips.

As such, it appears that there aren't any ways, other than "see how fast the machine is", or looking at some register other than the PSR and FPSR (dunno if there is any such register) to distinguish the chips, to distinguish the older Weitek chips from the PoweruP.

So, while you can distinguish the RT601 IU and TI TMS390C602A FPU chips on a vanilla SS2 from the Weitek PoweruP on an upgraded SS2 by using the same schemes that "whichiufpu" or "fpuversion4" use, you can't distinguish the older Weitek chip in an IPX from the PoweruP in an upgraded IPX.

Thanks for the info; I'll update "whichiufpu" to include the PoweruP in the list of chips with the given IU version/imlementation.

> (But 1's and 1+'s also report version 3, so it works only on 2's)

You can't upgrade an SS1 or SS1+ with the Weitek PoweruP; it's pin-compatible with the RT601 and the older Weitek chips, but it's not pin-compatible with the Fujitsu MB86901A or LSI Logic L64801 IU chip in the SS1 and SS1+.



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