> I saw it in "Windows Sources" August 1997 issue. Page 108 third column.
>
> here's the quote:
> [snip]
> An intersting feature available on the 6x86MX, which has yet to be
> implemented in software is Scratchpad RAM. This tiny 8K block of cache on
> the chip stores small pieces of code locally, rather than in the L2 cache.
> Cyrix promises that this will allow a serious performance boost to any
> instructions an application might post there.
>
> end quote.
we could use that area for free memory handling.
we could put the single-page usage bitmap there, 8k is enough to handle up
to about 256M RAM if 1 bit represents 1 page. (a bit less than 256M RAM,
since some bits are needed for higher order coverage bits)
gosh, ~10 cycles __guaranteed__ get_free_page() execution time, ~20 cycles
average free_page() execution time ;) and no L1/L2 cache trashing :)
-- mingo