Mäluaadressiga

Mäluaadressiga is an Estonian term that translates to "memory-addressed" or "memory-mapped" in English. It refers to a system where a particular region of computer memory is designated for communication with hardware devices. Instead of using dedicated input/output ports, the hardware device's registers and data buffers are accessed as if they were regular memory locations.

This memory-mapping technique simplifies the design of both the central processing unit (CPU) and the peripheral devices. The CPU can use its standard memory access instructions to interact with the hardware, eliminating the need for separate I/O instructions. This can lead to faster data transfer and a more streamlined architecture.

In a memory-addressed system, a specific range of physical memory addresses is assigned to a hardware device. When the CPU reads from or writes to these addresses, the operations are directed to the device's internal components rather than to RAM. This allows for direct control and data exchange with the hardware.

Common examples of devices that utilize memory-mapped I/O include graphics cards, network interfaces, disk controllers, and other peripheral components. The operating system and device drivers are responsible for managing these memory regions and ensuring that access to them is handled correctly to avoid conflicts and ensure proper hardware operation. Understanding memory-addressing is fundamental to comprehending how software interacts with hardware at a low level.