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GXemul 0.3.1 |
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Copyright (C) 2003-2005 Anders Gavare. |
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Gavare's eXperimental Emulator -- GXemul 0.4.6.1 |
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-------------------------------------------------------- |
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Overview |
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-------- |
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GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. It can be |
Copyright (C) 2003-2007 Anders Gavare |
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used to run binary code for (among others) MIPS-based machines. Several |
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emulation modes are available. For some emulation modes, processors and |
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surrounding hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified |
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operating systems (eg. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine. |
Overview -- What is GXemul? |
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GXemul is a framework for full-system computer architecture emulation. |
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Several processor architectures and machine types have been implemented. |
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It is working well enough to allow unmodified "guest" operating systems to |
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run inside the emulator, as if they were running on real hardware. |
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The emulator emulates (networks of) real machines. The machines may |
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consist of ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, and SuperH processors, and various |
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surrounding hardware components such as framebuffers, busses, interrupt |
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controllers, ethernet controllers, disk controllers, and serial port |
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controllers. |
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GXemul, including the dynamic translation system, is implemented in |
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portable C, which means that the emulator will run on practically any host |
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architecture. |
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The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can |
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be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best working guest operating |
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systems are probably NetBSD/pmax and NetBSD/cats. |
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Possible uses of GXemul include: |
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o) running guest operating systems in a "sandboxed" environment |
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o) compiling your source code inside a guest operating system which you |
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otherwise would not have access to (e.g. various exotic ports of |
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NetBSD), to make sure that your source code is portable to those |
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platforms |
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o) educational purposes, e.g. to learn how to write code for MIPS |
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o) hobby operating system development; the emulator can be used as a |
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complement to testing your code on real hardware |
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o) simulating (ethernet) networks of computers running various |
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operating systems, to study their interaction with each other |
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o) debugging code in general |
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Use your imagination :-) |
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GXemul's limitations |
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o) GXemul is not a cycle-accurate simulator, because it does not simulate |
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things smaller than an instruction. Pipe-line stalls, instruction latency |
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effects etc. are more or less completely ignored. |
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o) Hardware devices have been implemented in an ad-hoc and as-needed manner, |
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usually only enough to fool certain guest operating systems, e.g. NetBSD, |
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that the hardware devices exist and function well enough for those guest |
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operating systems to use them. |
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(A consequence of this is that a machine mode may be implemented well |
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enough to run NetBSD for that machine mode, but other guest operating |
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systems may not run at all, or behave strangely.) |
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Quick start |
Quick start |
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To compile, type './configure' and then 'make'. This should work on most |
To compile, type './configure' and then 'make'. This should work on most |
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Unix- like systems, if not then please mail me a bug report. |
Unix-like systems. If it does not, then please mail me a bug report. |
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You might want to experiment with various CC and CFLAGS environment |
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variable settings, to get optimum performance. |
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If you are impatient, and want to try out running a guest operating system |
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inside GXemul, read this: doc/guestoses.html#netbsdpmaxinstall |
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If you want to use GXemul for experimenting with code of your own, |
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then I suggest you compile a Hello World program according to the tips |
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listed here: doc/experiments.html#hello |
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Please read the rest of the documentation in the doc/ sub-directory for |
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more detailed information on how to use the emulator. |
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Please read the the documentation in the doc/ sub-directory for more |
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detailed information on how to use the emulator. |
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Feedback |
Feedback |
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