On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 12:39 PM, gene heskett <[email protected]> wrote:

> I wonder if that is a hangover from when most computers needed a floating
> point chip installed?
>
no, a context switch involving a FP processor was expensive time-wise,
older systems couldn't afford it.  Not sure if the switch is less expensive
now because I haven't been keeping up with processor tech to that degree.
FP in the kernel was (is?) disabled by default.  Calling FP routines when
the processor isn't there causes an exception, that can cause real problems
in the kernel, e.g. unhandled interrupts.
Eric
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