(Pentium III) I disabled my L2 cache in BIOS, will Linux re-enable it? \ VOGONS

(Pentium III) I disabled my L2 cache in BIOS, will Linux re-enable it?

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First post, by keenmaster486

Posted on 2019-06-03, 18:39

keenmaster486 Offline

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Title says it all. On my Thinkpad 600E, I had to disable the L2 cache in the BIOS in order to get it to boot. I then re-enabled it in software using SETMUL L2E in AUTOEXEC.BAT. This works for DOS and Windows 9x.

But what about Linux?

I have AntiX (a very lightweight Debian-based distro, with Linux kernel 4.x) on a separate partition. It works great, but I want to make sure the L2 cache is enabled, and I don't think I know enough about how that would even work in Linux to be certain about it.

Can anyone enlighten me?

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 1 of 2, by BinaryDemon

Posted on 2019-06-03, 19:16

BinaryDemon Offline

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I don't have any answers but I would guess that the bios might not disable it (after it's been enabled with SETMUL) on a soft reset.

So if you boot into Dos/Win9x first, then soft reset the system and boot linux - that cache might remain enabled?

Yeah not an optimal solution...

Check out DOSBox Distro:

https://sites.google.com/site/dosboxdistro/ [*]

a lightweight Linux distro (tinycore) which boots off a usb flash drive and goes straight to DOSBox.

Make your dos retrogaming experience portable!

Reply 2 of 2, by BushLin

Posted on 2019-06-03, 23:49

BushLin Offline

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dmidecode -t cache

Screw period correct; I wanted a faster system back then. I choose no dropped frames, super fast loading, fully compatible and quiet operation.

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