DPS8M-64 Manual - Introduction

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION

The processor described in this reference manual is a hardware module designed for use
with Multics. The many distinctive features and functions of Multics are enhanced by the powerful
hardware features of the processor. The addressing features, in particular, are designed to permit
the Multics software to compute relative and absolute addresses, locate data and programs in the
Multics virtual memory, and retrieve such data and programs as necessary.

MULTICS PROCESSOR FEATURES

The Multics processor contains the following general features:

  1. Storage protection to place access restrictions on specified segments.
  2. Capability to interrupt program execution in response to an external signal (e.g., I/O termination) at the end of any even/odd instruction pair (midinstruction interrupts are permitted for some instructions), to save processor status, and to restore the status at a later time without loss of continuity of the program.
  3. Capability to fetch instruction pairs and to buffer two instructions (up to four instructions, depending on certain main memory overlap conditions) including the one currently in execution.
  4. Overlapping instruction execution, address preparation, and instruction fetch. While an instruction is being executed, address preparation for the next operand (or even the operand following it) or the next instruction pair is taking place. The operations unit can be executing instruction N, instruction N+1 can be buffered in the operations unit (with its operand buffered in a main memory port), and the control unit can be executing instructions N+2 or N+3 (if such execution does not involve the main memory port or registers of instructions N or N+1) or preparing the address to fetch instructions N+4 and N+5. This includes the capability to detect store instructions that alter the contents of buffered instructions and the ability to delay preprocessing of an address using register modification if the instruction currently in execution changes the register to be used in that modification.
  5. Interlacing capability to direct main memory accesses to interlaced system controller modules.
  6. Intermediate storage of address and control information in high-speed registers addressable by content (associative memory).
  7. Intermediate storage of base address and control information in pointer registers that are loaded by the executing program.
  8. Absolute address computation at execution time.
  9. Ability to hold recently referenced operands and instructions in a high-speed lookaside memory (cache option).

Segmentation and Paging

A segment is a collection of data or instructions that is assigned a symbolic name and
addressed symbolically by the user. Paging is controlled by the system software; the user need not
be aware of the existence of pages. User-visible address preparation is concerned with the
calculation of a virtual memory address; the processor hardware completes address preparation by
translating the final virtual memory address into an absolute main memory address. The user may
view each of his segments as residing in an independent main memory unit. Each segment has its
own origin that can be addressed as location zero. The size of each segment varies without
affecting the addressing of the other segments. Each segment can be addressed like a
conventional main memory image starting at location zero. Maximum segment size is 262,144
words.

When viewed from the processor, main memory consists of blocks or page frames, each of
which has a length of "page-size" words. The page size used by Multics is 1024 words. Each frame
begins at an absolute address which is zero modulo the page size. Any page of a segment can be
placed in any available main memory frame. These pages may be addressed as if they were
contiguous, even though they may be in widely scattered absolute locations. Only currently
referenced pages need be in main memory. A segment need not be paged, in which case the
complete segment is located in contiguous words of main memory. In Multics, all user segments
are paged. See Section 5 for additional discussion.

Address Modification and Address Appending

Before each main memory access, two major phases of address preparation take place:

  1. Address modification by register or indirect word content, if specified by the

instruction word or indirect word.

  1. Address appending, in which a virtual memory address is translated into an absolute

address to access main memory.

Although the above two types of modification are combined in most operations, they are
described separately in Sections 5 and 6. The address modification procedure can go on
indefinitely, with one type of modification leading to repetitions of the same type or to other types
of modification prior to a main memory access for an operand. Do we want/need infinite indirection? What is the minimum amount of indirection needed to support Multics?

Faults and Interrupts

The processor detects certain illegal instruction usages, faulty communication with the
main memory, programmed faults, certain external events, and arithmetic faults. Many of the
processor fault conditions are deliberately or inadvertently caused by the software and do not
necessarily involve error conditions. The processor communicates with the other system modules
(I/O multiplexers, bulk store controllers, and other processors) by setting and answering external
interrupts. When a fault or interrupt is recognized, a "trap" results. The trap causes the forced
execution of a pair of instructions in a main memory location, unique to the fault or interrupt,
known as the fault or interrupt vector. Rethink the fault pair model; most current architectures stuff the state on the stack and use a transfer vector.
The first of the forced instructions may cause safe storage
of the processor status. The second instruction in a fault vector should be some form of transfer,
or the faulting program will be resumed at the point of interruption. Faults and interrupts are
described in Section 7.

Interrupts and certain low-priority faults are recognized only at specific times during the
execution of an instruction pair. If, at these times, bit 28 in the instruction word is set ON, the trap
is inhibited and program execution continues. ##I've never liked dedicating a whole bit in the instruction to interrupt inhibit; consider enable/disable interrupt instruction.##
The interrupt or fault signal is saved for future
recognition and is reset only when the trap occurs.

PROCESSOR MODES OF OPERATION

There are three modes of main memory addressing (absolute mode, append mode, and BAR
mode
), and two modes of instruction execution (normal mode and privileged mode).

Instruction Execution Modes

Normal Mode

Most instructions can be executed in the normal mode. Certain instructions, classed as
privileged, cannot be executed in normal mode. These are identified in the individual instruction
descriptions. An attempt to execute privileged instructions while in the normal mode results in an
illegal procedure fault. The processor executes instructions in normal mode only if it is forming
addresses in append mode and the segment descriptor word (SDW) for the executing segment
specifies a nonprivileged procedure.

Privileged Mode

In privileged mode, all instructions can be executed. The processor executes instructions in
privileged mode when forming addresses in absolute mode or when forming addresses in append
mode and the segment descriptor word (SDW) for the segment in execution specifies a privileged
procedure and the execution ring is equal to zero. See Sections 5 and 7 for additional discussion.
Addressing Modes

Absolute Mode

In absolute mode, the final computed address is treated as the absolute main memory
address unless the appending hardware mechanism is invoked for a particular main memory
reference. During instruction fetches, the procedure pointer register is ignored. The processor
enters absolute mode when it is initialized or immediately after a fault or interrupt. It remains in
absolute mode until it executes a transfer instruction whose operand is obtained via explicit use of
the appending hardware mechanism.
The appending hardware mechanism may be invoked for an instruction by setting bit 29 of
the instruction word ON to cause a reference to a properly loaded pointer register or by the use of
indirect-to-segment (its) or indirect-to-pointer (itp) modification in an indirect word.
Bit29/its/itp pointers need rethinking

Append Mode
The append mode is the most commonly used main memory addressing mode. In append
mode the final computed address is either combined with the procedure pointer register, or it is
combined with one of the eight pointer registers. If bit 29 of the instruction word contains a 0,
then the procedure pointer register is selected; otherwise, the pointer register given by bits 0-2 of
the instruction word is selected. Bit 29 needs rethinking

— BAR Mode—

In BAR mode, the base address register (BAR) is used. The BAR contains an address bound
and a base address. All computed addresses are relocated by adding the base address. The
relocated address is combined with the procedure pointer register to form the virtual memory
address. A program is kept within certain limits by subtracting the unrelocated computed address
from the address bound. If the result is zero or negative, the relocated address is out of range, and
a store fault occurs.

PROCESSOR UNIT FUNCTIONS

Elided

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