When you want to write your own BIOS on an Intel® architecture platform, you must gather the appropriate documents and determine the order in which the listed items must be performed. Until now there has not been a single document that describes all the … Read More → "Minimal Intel® Architecture Boot Loader: Bare Bones Functionality Required for Booting an Intel® Architecture Platform"

SIMD, or Single Instruction Multiple Data, is an established technique for boosting performance on processors that handle identical workloads. On Intel® processors, multiple independent data buffers can be processed simultaneously using SIMD instructions and registers. The multi-buffer approach can accelerate certain algorithms, such as AES-CBC-Encrypt and 3DES, where SIMD instructions do not exist, and where data dependencies prevent the optimal use of the processor’s execution resources.

Read More → "Processing Multiple Buffers in Parallel to Increase Performance"

One of the major challenges in embedded designs is the ability to exhibit “real-time” determinism. This paper focuses on some of the key design considerations associated with real-time embedded solutions. It introduces a number of the advanced features in Intel® architecture processors and describes real-time considerations and recommendations.

A “Real-time system is one which has a constraint on the time permitted for the system& … Read More → "Designing Real-Time Solutions on Embedded Intel® Architecture Processors"

Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT) is a hardware-based solution that provides Out of Band (OOB) remote manageability functions that are independent of the system’s power and operating system (OS) state.

The two components of Intel AMT that allow interaction between the Intel® AMT client and the OS are the Manageability Engine Interface (MEI) device driver and the Local Manageability  … Read More → "Upgrading Intel® AMT 5.0 Linux Drivers to Kernel v2.6.31for Intel Q45 and Intel GM45 based Embedded Platforms"

Embedded systems must be able to detect, recover from and report errors. This is a critical feature during debugging and also for quality control after product manufacturing has commenced. Advanced error handling is especially important for embedded systems that are often manufactured in large unit volumes and must run mission-critical applications non-stop for extended periods of time.

This white paper describes Machine Check Architecture, a … Read More → "Debugging Machine Check Exceptions on Embedded IA Platforms"