- Jan 29, 2004
- 13,679
- 10
- 81
Wondering if anyone knows if the x86 core in the PS4 CPU is a standard x86.
By that I mean is it a custom build that boots in native long mode with legacy circuitry removed and a fixed memory map or is it a standard backward compatible x86 that you still have to boot in real mode, set up segment descriptors, enable protected mode in CPL0, check for long mode, set up page tables, etc, etc, etc.
And to that end, is it know what level of setup the boot ROM is doing? Are we in real mode, protected mode, long mode, CPL0, CPL3, etc when the boot ROM is done and reset vector is called or when the boot sector is loaded from the HDD?
I've been out of the scene for quite some time and getting a bit nostalgic over some good old x86 hacking. Yeah... never thought I'd miss x86.
I've attempted to check on a few PSx hacking and homebrew sites but I'm getting impatient with waiting for registration emails...
Yeah I know, modern consoles have SDKs and operating systems, but I'm a low level junkie and need my fix. I had a blast on the PS2 bare metal with no SDKs or OS and the official Sony register level hardware documentation was the best I've ever seen for such a complex proprietary system.
By that I mean is it a custom build that boots in native long mode with legacy circuitry removed and a fixed memory map or is it a standard backward compatible x86 that you still have to boot in real mode, set up segment descriptors, enable protected mode in CPL0, check for long mode, set up page tables, etc, etc, etc.
And to that end, is it know what level of setup the boot ROM is doing? Are we in real mode, protected mode, long mode, CPL0, CPL3, etc when the boot ROM is done and reset vector is called or when the boot sector is loaded from the HDD?
I've been out of the scene for quite some time and getting a bit nostalgic over some good old x86 hacking. Yeah... never thought I'd miss x86.
I've attempted to check on a few PSx hacking and homebrew sites but I'm getting impatient with waiting for registration emails...
Yeah I know, modern consoles have SDKs and operating systems, but I'm a low level junkie and need my fix. I had a blast on the PS2 bare metal with no SDKs or OS and the official Sony register level hardware documentation was the best I've ever seen for such a complex proprietary system.
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