Writing Device Drivers

IA Processor Issues

There are no alignment restrictions on data types. However, extra memory cycles might be required for the IA processor to properly handle misaligned data transfers.


Caution – Caution –

Drivers should not perform floating-point operations, as they are not supported in the kernel.


IA Byte Ordering

The IA processor uses little-endian byte ordering. The least significant byte (LSB) of an integer is stored at the lowest address of the integer.

Diagram shows how bytes are ordered in little-endian architectures; that is, byte 0 is the least significant byte.

IA Architecture Manuals

Intel Corporation publishes a number of books on the IA family of processors. See http://www.intel.com.