/[gxemul]/trunk/RELEASE
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revision 2 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:17:48 2007 UTC revision 22 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:19:37 2007 UTC
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1  Release notes for GXemul 0.3.1  Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.3.8
2  ==============================  ================================================================
3    
4  Copyright (C) 2003-2005  Anders Gavare.  Copyright (C) 2003-2006  Anders Gavare.
5    
6    
7  GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. It can be  GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several
8  used to run binary code for (among others) MIPS-based machines. Several  emulation modes are available. In some modes, processors and surrounding
9  emulation modes are available. For some emulation modes, processors and  hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating
10  surrounding hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified  systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine.
 operating systems run as if they were running on a real machine.  
   
 I have verified that the following "guest" operating systems can run  
 inside the emulator:  
   
     Guest operating system             Emulated machine  
     ----------------------             ----------------  
     NetBSD/pmax 2.0 (and 1.6.2)        DECstation 5000/200  
     OpenBSD/pmax 2.8-BETA              DECstation 5000/200  
     Ultrix 4.2-4.5                     DECstation 5000/200  
     Sprite demo harddisk image         DECstation 5000/200  
     Debian GNU/Linux for DECstation    DECstation 5000/200  
     Redhat Linux 7.1 for mips          DECstation 5000/200  
     NetBSD/arc 1.6.2                   Acer PICA-61  
     OpenBSD/arc 2.3                    Acer PICA-61  
     NetBSD/hpcmips 2.0                 NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, 880  
   
 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.  
   
 The emulator can also be used in other experiments; it does not have to  
 run entire guest operating systems. It is important to remember, though,  
 that GXemul does not simulate things smaller than an instruction; this  
 means that pipe-line stalls, penalties caused by branch-prediction misses,  
 and other effects are not simulated.  
   
 The two most visible changes from version 0.3 to 0.3.1 are:  
   
         x)  Name change (from mips64emul to GXemul).  
11    
12          x)  NetBSD/hpcmips can now be installed and run from a harddisk  The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can
13              image on an emulated NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, or 880.  be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best supported guest operating
14    systems are probably NetBSD/pmax, NetBSD/cats, and OpenBSD/cats.
15    
16  There have also been many other updates and bugfixes, as usual.  The user-visible changes between release 0.3.7 and 0.3.8 include:
17    
18  This release has a number of known bugs, listed in the BUGS file, but feel      o)  The IQ80321 (Xscale) machine mode is now working well enough to
19  free to drop me an email regarding other bugs.          run NetBSD/evbarm 2.1.
20    
21        o)  Faster framebuffer output in some situations.
22    
23    Source code related changes include:
24    
25        o)  I've finally begun to reimplement the MIPS emulation mode using the
26            new dyntrans system. It will be quite some time until it can run
27            anything, but things are moving in the right direction.
28    
29        o)  Some changes to the concepts of input-only, output-only, and
30            input-output consoles.
31    
32        o)  Some more clean-up of PCI bus concepts.
33    
34        o)  Machine definitions have been moved out of src/machines.c, and into
35            individual files in a new sub-directory (src/machines/).
36    
37    There have also been lots of other changes, too many and small to mention here.
38    
39  Files included in this release are:  Files included in this release are:
40    
# Line 55  Files included in this release are: Line 44  Files included in this release are:
44    README                      Quick start instructions, for the impatient.    README                      Quick start instructions, for the impatient.
45    RELEASE                     This file.    RELEASE                     This file.
46    TODO                        TODO notes.    TODO                        TODO notes.
47    configure, Makefile.skel    sh and make scripts for building GXemul    configure, Makefile.skel    sh and make scripts for building GXemul.
48    doc                         Documentation.    doc                         Documentation.
49    experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)    experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)
50    src, devices, and include   Source code.    src                         Source code.
   tests                       Regression tests.  
51    
52  To build the emulator, run the ./configure script, and then run make.  To build the emulator, run the ./configure script, and then run make. This
53    should work on most Unix-like systems.
54    
55  Building the emulator should work on most Unix-like systems. (One system which  Regarding files in the src/include/ directory: only some of these are written
56  is specifically known to NOT work is Ultrix/RISC inside the emulator; Ultrix  by me, the rest are from other sources (such as NetBSD). The license text says
 chokes on the configure script and the default cc in Ultrix doesn't work.)  
   
 Regarding files in the include/ directory:  only some of these are written by  
 me, the rest are from other sources (such as NetBSD). The license text says  
57  that "All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software"  that "All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software"
58  must display acknowledgements. Even though I do NOT feel I mention features or  must display acknowledgements. Even though I do NOT feel I mention features or
59  use of the header files (the "software") in any advertising materials, I am  use of the header files (the "software") in any advertising materials, I am
# Line 131  them like this is in order: Line 116  them like this is in order:
116    
117      This product includes software developed by Marc Horowitz.      This product includes software developed by Marc Horowitz.
118    
119        This product includes software developed by Brini.
120    
121        This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe
122        for the NetBSD Project.
123    
124        This product includes software developed by TooLs GmbH.
125    
126        This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer.
127    
128        This product includes software developed by the Alice Group.
129    
130    Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following:
131    
132        Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University.
133        All rights reserved.
134    
135        Author: Keith Bostic, Chris G. Demetriou
136    
137        Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and
138        its documentation is hereby granted, provided that both the copyright
139        notice and this permission notice appear in all copies of the
140        software, derivative works or modified versions, and any portions
141        thereof, and that both notices appear in supporting documentation.
142    
143  See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul  See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul
144  or reuse code.  or reuse code.
145    
146  Thanks to everyone who has provided me with feedback.  Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Olivier Houchard, Juli Mallett,
147    Juan Romero Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and
148    everyone else who has provided me with feedback.
149    
150  If you have found GXemul useful in some way, or feel like sending me comments  If you have found GXemul useful in some way, or feel like sending me comments
151  or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se.  or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se.

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