MIPSel

MIPSel is a slang term for a MIPS processor configured for little endian . With most discrete MIPS microprocessors and MIPS-based SOCs, the byte order can be selected via a pin on the housing or a configuration bitstream immediately after a hardware reset. For a few processors, the byte order was fixed by the manufacturer. Most system manufacturers have a preferred byte order and only support this. A few systems can be reconfigured. Systems of the RM series from Siemens-Nixdorf support Windows NT only in Little Endian mode and the in-house UNIX Sinix only in Big Endian mode.

Furthermore, since the MIPS R4000, most processors have the option to work in user mode with the opposite byte order of the kernel or supervisor mode. However, this feature is only used by the published UNIX variant RISC / os from the former company MIPS Computer Systems , since software support is very complex and generally not considered to be particularly useful.

Also in the provision of software packages or for cross-compiler is one in naming mipsel for Little Endian systems and a mips for Big Endian added systems. Since MIPS is also generally used as the designation of the architecture independent of the byte order, MIPSeb is sometimes chosen as an explicit designation of the big-endian variant.

origin

The C - compiler of MIPS Computer Systems define the C preprocessor MIPSEB or MIPSEL in different spellings for the default selected and Architecture Options variant display.