Target Audience; Organization Of This Document - Intel MultiProcessor Specification

In addition to the hardware requirements, this document also specifies MP features that are visible
to the BIOS and operating system. However, it is important to understand that as hardware
technology progresses, the functions performed by the BIOS may change in accordance with the
hardware technology. ONLY THE INTERFACE TO THE OPERATING SYSTEM LEVEL
IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN CONSTANT.
This specification does not address issues relating to the processor's System Management Mode
(SMM).

1.4 Target Audience

This document is intended for the following users:
OEMs who will be creating PC/AT-compatible, MP-ready hardware based on this
specification.
BIOS developers, either those who create general-purpose BIOS products or those who modify
these products to suit specific MP hardware.
Operating-system developers who will be adapting MP operating systems to run on the class of
MP-ready platform specified here.

1.5 Organization of This Document

Table 1-1 shows the organization of this document.
Table 1-1. Document Organization
Chapter
2
3
4
5
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Glossary
Version 1.4
Description
Overview of the MultiProcessor Specification
Specification of the MP hardware
Specification of MP configuration information available to OS
Specification of default hardware configurations
Guidelines for MP BIOS programming
Guidelines for MP operating system programming
Checklist for hardware compliance to the specification
Clarifications for multiple I/O APIC, multiple PCI bus systems
Definitions of specialized terms used in this document
Introduction
1-3