/[gxemul]/trunk/RELEASE
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revision 19 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:19:11 2007 UTC revision 20 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:19:23 2007 UTC
# Line 1  Line 1 
1  Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.3.6.2  Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.3.7
2  ==================================================================  ================================================================
3    
4  Copyright (C) 2003-2005  Anders Gavare.  Copyright (C) 2003-2005  Anders Gavare.
5    
# Line 9  emulation modes are available. In some m Line 9  emulation modes are available. In some m
9  hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating  hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating
10  systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine.  systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine.
11    
12  The processor architecture best emulated by GXemul is MIPS, but other  MIPS processors are emulated using either a simple binary translation
13  architectures are also partially emulated.  layer ("recompilation"), which is used on Alpha and i386 hosts, or by
14    traditional interpretation (very very slow, but works on any host platform).
15    
16    ARM and PowerPC processors are emulated using a newer dynamic translation
17    system. Performance is somewhere between traditional interpretation and
18    dynamic recompilation; however, the dynamic translation system used in
19    GXemul does NOT require platform-specific back-end code. In plain English,
20    this means that the dyntrans system works on any host platform.
21    
22  I have verified that the following "guest" operating systems can run inside  I have verified that the following "guest" operating systems can run inside
23  the emulator:  the emulator. Instructions on how to install and run these can be found in
24    the documentation.
25    
26      Guest operating system             Emulated machine      Guest operating system             Emulated machine
27      ----------------------             ----------------      ----------------------             ----------------
28      NetBSD/pmax 2.0.2 (and 1.6.2)      DECstation 5000/200      NetBSD/pmax 2.1 (and 1.6.2)        DECstation 5000/200
29      OpenBSD/pmax 2.8-BETA              DECstation 5000/200      OpenBSD/pmax 2.8-BETA              DECstation 5000/200
30      Ultrix 4.2-4.5                     DECstation 5000/200      Ultrix 4.2-4.5                     DECstation 5000/200
31      Sprite demo harddisk image         DECstation 5000/200      Sprite demo harddisk image         DECstation 5000/200
# Line 25  the emulator: Line 33  the emulator:
33      Redhat Linux 7.1 for mips          DECstation 5000/200      Redhat Linux 7.1 for mips          DECstation 5000/200
34      NetBSD/arc 1.6.2                   Acer PICA-61      NetBSD/arc 1.6.2                   Acer PICA-61
35      OpenBSD/arc 2.3                    Acer PICA-61      OpenBSD/arc 2.3                    Acer PICA-61
36      NetBSD/hpcmips 2.0.2               NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, 880      NetBSD/hpcmips 2.1                 NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, 880
37      NetBSD/cobalt 2.0.2                Cobalt      NetBSD/cobalt 2.1                  Cobalt
38      NetBSD/evbmips 2.0.2               Malta 5Kc/4Kc evaluation board      NetBSD/evbmips 2.1                 Malta 5Kc/4Kc evaluation board
39      NetBSD/sgimips 2.0.2               SGI O2 ("IP32")      NetBSD/sgimips 2.1                 SGI O2 ("IP32")
40      NetBSD/cats 2.0.2                  CATS (ARM)      NetBSD/cats 2.1                    CATS (ARM)
41      OpenBSD/cats 3.7                   CATS (ARM)      OpenBSD/cats 3.8                   CATS (ARM)
42        NetBSD/prep 2.1                    PReP (PowerPC Reference Platform)
 (Most of these are MIPS-based machines, except the CATS, which is an  
 ARM-based machine.)  
43    
44  Some of these guest operating systems are easier to install and run than  Some of these guest operating systems are easier to install and run than
45  others. The best supported mode is the DECstation 5000/200 emulation mode,  others. The best supported guest operating systems are probably NetBSD/pmax,
46  with NetBSD/pmax as the guest operating system.  NetBSD/cats and OpenBSD/cats.
   
 A couple of other emulation modes exist. Some of these modes are almost  
 working well enough to run complete guest operating systems, but most are  
 just skeletons. The modes that work are listed in the documentation.  
47    
48  The emulator can also be used in other experiments; it does not have to run  The emulator can also be used in other experiments; it does not have to run
49  entire guest operating systems. (However, GXemul does not simulate things  entire guest operating systems. However, as GXemul is an instruction-level
50  smaller than an instruction. What this means is that pipe-line stalls,  emulator, it does not simulate things smaller than an instruction. What this
51  penalties caused by branch-prediction misses or cache misses, and other  means is that pipe-line stalls, penalties caused by branch-prediction misses
52  micro-architectural effects are not simulated.)  or cache misses, and other micro-architectural effects are not simulated.
53    
54  The most imporant user-visible change between release 0.3.5 and 0.3.6 is:  User-visible change between release 0.3.6.2 and 0.3.7 include:
55    
56        o)  The experimental PowerPC emulation mode is now working well enough
57            to allow NetBSD/prep 2.1 to be installed and run inside the emulator.
58            It is not 100% stable, and it is not optimized for performance yet,
59            but hopefully enough for simple experiments.
60    
61        o)  I finally took the time to implement a DEC 21143 NIC; this brings
62            network connectivity to NetBSD/cats. (The userland "NAT"-like
63            networking layer is still a bit buggy, and does not work with
64            everything. However, NetBSD/cats can now be installed via ftp.)
65    
66        o)  CD-ROM images can now in some cases be detected as ATAPI CD-ROMs
67            instead of IDE harddisks. It works for at least NetBSD, OpenBSD,
68            and Linux on CATS, and NetBSD on hpcmips.
69    
70    Internal (code related) changes include:
71    
72        o)  Cleanup of the PCI and ISA bus frameworks; in practice this means
73            that more code can be shared between different emulated machine
74            models than before, and that adding new machine types will become
75            easier.
76    
77      x)  The experimental ARM emulation mode is now working well enough      o)  Dyntrans updates; 32-bit PowerPC mostly, but also many performance
78          to install NetBSD/cats and OpenBSD/cats onto harddisk images.          related updates for ARM.
79    
80  There have also been lots of other small changes, too small to mention here.  There have also been lots of other changes, too many and small to mention here.
   
 The 0.3.6.1 and 0.3.6.2 releases contain bugfixes and some performance  
 hacks.  
81    
82  Files included in this release are:  Files included in this release are:
83    
# Line 147  them like this is in order: Line 167  them like this is in order:
167      This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe      This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe
168      for the NetBSD Project.      for the NetBSD Project.
169    
170        This product includes software developed by TooLs GmbH.
171    
172        This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer.
173    
174  Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following:  Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following:
175    
176      Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University.      Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University.

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