Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!convex!killer!ames!zodiac!joyce!sri-unix!garth!smryan
From: smryan@garth.UUCP (Steven Ryan)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: PEP: Page Execution Priviledge
Message-ID: <1501@garth.UUCP>
Date: 30 Sep 88 20:43:26 GMT
References: <2550@sultra.UUCP> <28881@think.UUCP>
Reply-To: smryan@garth.UUCP (Steven Ryan)
Organization: INTERGRAPH (APD) -- Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 8

>There is still a need for a supervisor/user state in the processor,
>though.  When you are in ring 0 you are in supervisor state, which
>allows execution of privileged instructions (such as performing I/O,
>or manipulating segment descriptor registers).

From what I understand, the much maligned 286 associates instruction
privledges with ring numbers so that a separate supervisor/user state
is unnecessary.