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In a system using segmentation, computer memory addresses consist of a segment id and an offset within the segment. [3] A hardware memory management unit (MMU) is responsible for translating the segment and offset into a physical address, and for performing checks to make sure the translation can be done and that the reference to that segment and offset is permitted.
A 68451 MMU, which could be used with the Motorola 68010. A memory management unit (MMU), sometimes called paged memory management unit (PMMU), [1] is a computer hardware unit that examines all memory references on the memory bus, translating these requests, known as virtual memory addresses, into physical addresses in main memory.
Segmentation cannot be turned off on x86-32 processors (this is true for 64-bit mode as well, but beyond the scope of discussion), so many 32-bit operating systems simulate a flat memory model by setting all segments' bases to 0 in order to make segmentation neutral to programs.
The task state segment (TSS) is a structure on x86-based computers which holds information about a task.It is used by the operating system kernel for task management. . Specifically, the following information is stored in
The x86 and x86-64 segment descriptor has the following form: [3] Where the fields stand for: Base Address Starting memory address of the segment. Its length is 32 bits and it is created from the lower part bits 16 to 31, and the upper part bits 0 to 7, followed by bits 24 to 31.
The Global Descriptor Table (GDT) is a data structure used by Intel x86-family processors starting with the 80286 in order to define the characteristics of the various memory areas used during program execution, including the base address, the size, and access privileges like executability and writability.
The operating system then loads the information from that page table entry into the TLB and restarts the program from the instruction that caused the TLB miss. As with hardware TLB management, if the OS finds no valid translation in the page tables, a page fault has occurred, and the OS must handle it accordingly.
The primary defining characteristic of IA-32 is the availability of 32-bit general-purpose processor registers (for example, EAX and EBX), 32-bit integer arithmetic and logical operations, 32-bit offsets within a segment in protected mode, and the translation of segmented addresses to 32-bit linear addresses.