Why doesn't Linux use the hardware context switch via the TSS?

Posted by smwikipedia on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by smwikipedia
Published on 2010-04-26T03:46:33Z Indexed on 2010/04/26 3:53 UTC
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linux-kernel

Hi guys! I read the following statement:

The x86 architecture includes a specific segment type called the Task State Segment (TSS), to store hardware contexts. Although Linux doesn't use hardware context switches, it is nonetheless forced to set up a TSS for each distinct CPU in the system.

I am wondering:

Why doesn't Linux use the hardware support for context switch?
Isn't the hardware approach much faster than the software approach?
Is there any OS which does take advantage of the hardware context switch? Does windows use it?

At last and as usual, thanks for your patience and reply.

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