32bit CPU architecture

Question 1

IA-32 Registers

Answer 1

General purpose registers
segment registers
EFLAGS/EIP
FPU
MMX registers
XMM registers

Question 2

EAX breakdown (in bits)

Answer 2

EAX = 32
AX = 16
AH = 8 high
AL = 8 low

Question 3

CPU modes

Answer 3

Real mode - 1MB max memory, no kernel and user space is possible, no memory protection

protected mode - up to 4GB of memory used, memory protection, privileges, multitasking

supports virtual-8086 mode

system management mode
- used for power management tasks

Question 4

memory models

Answer 4

FLAT, LINEAR, SEGMENTED

Question 5

what memory model does linux run

Answer 5

FLAT, IA-32 linux run in CPU protected mode, flat memory model

Question 6

what does virtual memory model do? allow the application to think..

Answer 6

allows the process to think, that its the only thing running on the system.

Question 7

Ways to view memory maps for an application in linux?

Answer 7

GDB = info proc mappings

cat /proc/{PID}/maps (most info)

pmap -d {PID}