I can't make out what is the avantage of it comparing with the port designed I/O
Is it faster? Is it more reliable? Is it cheaper?
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$\begingroup$ This is asked in Quora. $\endgroup$– xskxzrCommented Feb 23, 2019 at 9:39
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2 Answers
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There are many advantages to memory mapped I/O
- Access: Memory mapped devices use the same instructions/addressing modes as regular memory. These map well into high level languages allowing device drivers to manipulate devices without the need to drop down into assembly language to use special I/O instructions.
- Security: As memory addressed devices, memory management hardware can be used to control access to those devices. Generally, I/O instructions are "wide open" in privileged modes allowing a driver to access any I/O mapped device, even those that it should not.
- Flexibility: Almost without exception, the processor instructions available for memory are more varied and versatile than those for I/O mapped. With memory, load/store instructions are supplemented with various monodic (inc/dec/etc) and dyadic (add/sub/etc) operators. Special I/O mode instructions are generally limited to load/store. This typically gives the compiler a better shot at creating better code (ignoring the whole RISC/CISC debate for now).
Support for special I/O mapping is generally a legacy issue. The x86 for example is (on some level) compatible all the way back to the 8008.
Very old processors often included I/O mapped device support because the memory address space was so small (often 65,536 bytes or less) that I/O addressing provided a way to preserve memory address space for actual memory.
Modern processors have larger (4G or larger) address spaces so that this is no longer an issue.
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If you rely on port io you drive up the pin count. Memory mapping provides a more flexible method in the design. They're really two very different things with different intentions. Ports are generally speaking extensions of the processor that map to specific functions. A memory map is a extension that allows access. It's more abstract. At least until you put something into the map. :)