phys() system call

[Mats Wichmann]

Boy it's fun following discussions when only half the messages
come through...

Phys() is nonstandard. It is not included in any of the standards.
While not invented by UniSoft, they certainly had a good use for
it - the purpose is generally to allow (someone) access to hardware
without needing a driver or some other kernel help. You generally
don't want to do this on a 40-user machine, but you may well want
to do it on a binary-only single-user workstation. Thus, some
people put phys() in, and some don't.

Don't count on it being there, though.

    Mats Wichmann
    Fortune Systems
    {ihnp4,hplabs,dual}!fortune!mats

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