/[gxemul]/trunk/README
This is repository of my old source code which isn't updated any more. Go to git.rot13.org for current projects!
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Revision 38 - (hide annotations)
Mon Oct 8 16:21:53 2007 UTC (16 years, 6 months ago) by dpavlin
File size: 3325 byte(s) 
++ trunk/HISTORY	(local)
$Id: HISTORY,v 1.1515 2007/04/14 05:39:46 debug Exp $
20070324	Adding a "--debug" option to the configure script, to disable
		optimizations in unstable development builds.
		Moving out SCSI-specific stuff from diskimage.c into a new
		diskimage_scsicmd.c.
		Applying Hĺvard Eidnes' patch for SCSICDROM_READ_DISKINFO and
		SCSICDROM_READ_TRACKINFO. (Not really tested yet.)
		Implementing disk image "overlays" (to allow simple roll-back
		to previous disk state). Adding a 'V' disk flag for this, and
		updating the man page and misc.html.
20070325	Stability fix to cpu_dyntrans.c, when multiple physical pages
		share the same initial table entry. (The ppp == NULL check
		should be physpage_ofs == 0.) Bug found by analysing GXemul
		against a version patched for Godson.
		Fixing a second occurance of the same problem (also in
		cpu_dyntrans.c).
		Fixing a MAJOR physical page leak in cpu_dyntrans.c; pages
		weren't _added_ to the set of translated pages, they _replaced_
		all previous pages. It's amazing that this bug has been able
		to live for this long. (Triggered when emulating >128MB RAM.)
20070326	Removing the GDB debugging stub support; it was too hackish
		and ugly.
20070328	Moving around some native code generation skeleton code.
20070329	The -lm check in the configure script now also checks for sin()
		in addition to sqrt(). (Thanks to Nigel Horne for noticing that
		sqrt was not enough on Fedora Core 6.) (Not verified yet.)
20070330	Fixing an indexing bug in dev_sh4.c, found by using gcc version
		4.3.0 20070323.
20070331	Some more experimentation with native code generation.
20070404	Attempting to fix some more SH4 SCIF interrupt bugs; rewriting
		the SH interrupt assertion/deassertion code somewhat.
20070410	Splitting src/file.c into separate files in src/file/.
		Cleanup: Removing the dummy TS7200, Walnut, PB1000, and
		Meshcube emulation modes, and dev_epcom and dev_au1x00.
		Removing the experimental CHIP8/RCA180x code; it wasn't really
		working much lately, anyway. It was fun while it lasted.
		Also removing the experimental Transputer CPU support.
20070412	Moving the section about how the dynamic translation system
		works from intro.html to a separate translation.html file.
		Minor SH fixes; attempting to get OpenBSD/landisk to run
		without randomly bugging out, but no success yet.
20070413	SH SCI (serial bit interface) should now work together with a
		(new) RS5C313 clock device (for Landisk emulation).
20070414	Moving Redhat/MIPS down from supported to experimental, in
		guestoses.html.
		Preparing for a new release; doing some regression testing etc.

==============  RELEASE 0.4.5  ==============
1 dpavlin 38 Gavare's eXperimental Emulator -- GXemul 0.4.5
2     ==================================================
3 dpavlin 2
4 dpavlin 34 Copyright (C) 2003-2007 Anders Gavare.
5 dpavlin 2
6    
7 dpavlin 24 Overview -- What is GXemul?
8     -----------------------------
9 dpavlin 2
10 dpavlin 14 GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several
11     emulation modes are available. In some modes, processors and surrounding
12 dpavlin 12 hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating
13     systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine.
14 dpavlin 2
15 dpavlin 34 Processors (ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, SuperH) are emulated using dynamic
16     translation. Unlike some other dynamically translating emulators, GXemul
17     does not need to generate native code, only a "runnable intermediate
18     representation", and will thus run on any host architecture.
19 dpavlin 2
20 dpavlin 34 The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can
21     be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best working guest operating
22     systems are probably NetBSD/pmax and NetBSD/cats.
23    
24 dpavlin 24 Possible uses of the emulator include:
25 dpavlin 12
26 dpavlin 24 o) educational purposes, e.g. to learn how to write code for MIPS
27 dpavlin 20
28 dpavlin 24 o) hobby operating system development; the emulator can be used as a
29     complement to testing your code on real hardware
30    
31     o) running guest operating systems in a "sandboxed" environment
32    
33     o) compiling your source code inside a guest operating system which you
34     otherwise would not have access to (e.g. various exotic ports of
35     NetBSD), to make sure that your source code is portable to those
36     platforms
37    
38     o) simulating (ethernet) networks of computers running various
39     operating systems, to study their interaction with each other
40    
41     o) debugging code in general
42    
43     Use your imagination :-)
44    
45    
46     GXemul's limitations
47     --------------------
48    
49     o) GXemul is not (in general) a cycle-accurate simulator, because it does
50     not simulate things smaller than an instruction. Pipe-line stalls,
51     instruction latency effects etc. are more or less completely ignored.
52    
53     o) Hardware devices have been implemented in an ad-hoc and as-needed
54     manner, usually only enough to fool certain guest operating systems
55     (e.g. NetBSD) that the hardware devices exist and function well
56     enough for those guest operating systems to use them.
57    
58     A consequence of this is that a machine mode may be implemented well
59     enough to run NetBSD for that machine mode, but other guest operating
60     systems may not run at all, or behave strangely.
61    
62    
63 dpavlin 2 Quick start
64     -----------
65    
66 dpavlin 4 To compile, type './configure' and then 'make'. This should work on most
67 dpavlin 28 Unix-like systems. If it does not, then please mail me a bug report.
68 dpavlin 2
69 dpavlin 24 You might want to experiment with various CC and CFLAGS environment
70     variable settings, to get optimum performance.
71    
72 dpavlin 10 If you are impatient, and want to try out running a guest operating system
73 dpavlin 22 inside GXemul, read this: doc/guestoses.html#netbsdcatsinstall
74 dpavlin 2
75 dpavlin 10 If you want to use GXemul for experimenting with code of your own,
76     then I suggest you compile a Hello World program according to the tips
77     listed here: doc/experiments.html#hello
78 dpavlin 2
79 dpavlin 10 Please read the rest of the documentation in the doc/ sub-directory for
80     more detailed information on how to use the emulator.
81    
82    
83 dpavlin 2 Feedback
84     --------
85    
86     If you have found GXemul useful in some way, or feel like sending me
87     comments or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se.
88    
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