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Endian Issues
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4-11
4
Endian Issues
The MTX series suppors both little-endian software (for example, NT) and
big-endian software (for example, AIX). Because the PowerPC processor
is inherently big-endian, PCI is inherently little-endian, and the VMEbus
is big-endian, things do get rather confusing. The following figures shows
how the MTX series handles the endian issue in big-endian and little-
endian modes:
Figure 4-3. Big-Endian Mode
Big-Endian PROGRAM
1898 9609
Raven
Universe
Falcons
DRAM
Big Endian
Little Endian
Big Endian
Little Endian
PCI Local Bus
VMEbus
N-way Byte Swap
N-way Byte Swap
60X System Bus