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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!decwrl!aps
From: aps@decwrl.UUCP (Armando P. Stettner)
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: CPU ID under UNIX (on VAXen)
Message-ID: <1491@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 21-Nov-85 16:35:15 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.1491
Posted: Thu Nov 21 16:35:15 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 23-Nov-85 06:11:50 EST
Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 35


	From hpfcla!rml Thu Nov 21 02:11:52 1985
	Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
	Subject: Re: Cpu ID under UNIX
	Message-Id: <12700001@hpfcls.UUCP>
	Date: 13 Nov 85 21:16:00 GMT
	Apparently-To: aps
	Status: RO
	
	
	> The VAX hardware supports the ability of obtaining the CPU id. Under
	> VMS its obtained by the call to LIB$GETSYI. Has anyone done this
	> under UNIX. 
	
	At HP we have extended the utsname structure returned by uname(2) to
	include a field (array of char) for the CPU id.  The field contains all
	nulls for hardware without a machine-readable id.
	
			Bob Lenk
			{hplabs, ihnp4}!hpfcla!rml
	

It has been said in this news group in the past but just a reminder: the VAX
CPUID register may not contain anything akin to a serial number.  The 780's
serial number is some small number with respect to a manufacturing location
which has certainly turned over a few times.  The 750 has no such thing
in the SID.  Info about revision levels and such are driven by jumpers
on the CPU backplane so one can't really trust that unless you know that
your field service person has set those properly.

In my opinion, allowing non-system management type programs to know
about processor type is a little precarious.  What would it be used
for (in non-system management type programs that is; and even in
system management type programs ...)?
	aps.