| 1 |
Release notes for GXemul 0.3.4 |
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 |
|
|
| 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, regardless |
emulation modes are available. In some modes, processors and surrounding |
| 9 |
of host platform. Several emulation modes are available. For some modes, |
hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating |
| 10 |
processors and surrounding hardware components are emulated well enough to |
systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine. |
| 11 |
let unmodified operating systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running |
|
| 12 |
on a real machine. |
MIPS processors are emulated using either a simple binary translation |
| 13 |
|
layer ("recompilation"), which is used on Alpha and i386 hosts, or by |
| 14 |
I have verified that the following "guest" operating systems can run |
traditional interpretation (very very slow, but works on any host platform). |
| 15 |
inside the emulator: |
|
| 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 |
| 23 |
|
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 |
| 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 2.1 CATS (ARM) |
| 41 |
Some of these guest operating systems are easier to install and run than |
OpenBSD/cats 3.8 CATS (ARM) |
| 42 |
others. The best supported mode is the DECstation 5000/200 emulation mode, |
NetBSD/prep 2.1 PReP (PowerPC Reference Platform) |
| 43 |
with NetBSD/pmax as the guest operating system. |
|
| 44 |
|
Some of these guest operating systems are easier to install and run than |
| 45 |
A couple of other emulation modes exist. Some of these modes are almost |
others. The best supported guest operating systems are probably NetBSD/pmax, |
| 46 |
working well enough to run complete guest operating systems, but most are |
NetBSD/cats and OpenBSD/cats. |
| 47 |
just skeletons. The modes that work are listed in the documentation. |
|
| 48 |
|
The emulator can also be used in other experiments; it does not have to run |
| 49 |
The emulator can also be used in other experiments; it does not have to |
entire guest operating systems. However, as GXemul is an instruction-level |
| 50 |
run entire guest operating systems. (However, GXemul does not simulate |
emulator, it does not simulate things smaller than an instruction. What this |
| 51 |
things smaller than an instruction. What this means is that pipe-line |
means is that pipe-line stalls, penalties caused by branch-prediction misses |
| 52 |
stalls, penalties caused by branch-prediction misses or cache misses, and |
or cache misses, and other micro-architectural effects are not simulated. |
| 53 |
other micro-architectural effects are not simulated.) |
|
| 54 |
|
User-visible change between release 0.3.6.2 and 0.3.7 include: |
| 55 |
Summary of changes between release 0.3.3.2 and 0.3.4: |
|
| 56 |
|
o) The experimental PowerPC emulation mode is now working well enough |
| 57 |
x) When emulating a network of multiple machines, the emulated |
to allow NetBSD/prep 2.1 to be installed and run inside the emulator. |
| 58 |
machines can now be placed on different hosts. |
It is not 100% stable, and it is not optimized for performance yet, |
| 59 |
|
but hopefully enough for simple experiments. |
| 60 |
x) NetBSD/evbmips can now be installed and run from a disk image. |
|
| 61 |
(There is no INSTALL kernel for NetBSD/evbmips, so you need to |
o) I finally took the time to implement a DEC 21143 NIC; this brings |
| 62 |
install using another OS, for example emulated NetBSD/pmax.) |
network connectivity to NetBSD/cats. (The userland "NAT"-like |
| 63 |
|
networking layer is still a bit buggy, and does not work with |
| 64 |
x) NetBSD/sgimips can now be installed. Not onto a SCSI disk, |
everything. However, NetBSD/cats can now be installed via ftp.) |
| 65 |
but the files can be exported via nfs from another emulated |
|
| 66 |
machine. The sgimips machine can then netboot. (Read the |
o) CD-ROM images can now in some cases be detected as ATAPI CD-ROMs |
| 67 |
documentation for details.) |
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 |
|
o) Dyntrans updates; 32-bit PowerPC mostly, but also many performance |
| 78 |
|
related updates for ARM. |
| 79 |
|
|
| 80 |
There have also been various other minor updates and bugfixes. |
There have also been lots of other changes, too many and small to mention here. |
| 81 |
|
|
| 82 |
Files included in this release are: |
Files included in this release are: |
| 83 |
|
|
| 91 |
doc Documentation. |
doc Documentation. |
| 92 |
experiments Experimental code. (Usually not needed.) |
experiments Experimental code. (Usually not needed.) |
| 93 |
src Source code. |
src Source code. |
|
tests Regression tests. |
|
| 94 |
|
|
| 95 |
To build the emulator, run the ./configure script, and then run make. |
To build the emulator, run the ./configure script, and then run make. |
| 96 |
|
|
| 162 |
|
|
| 163 |
This product includes software developed by Marc Horowitz. |
This product includes software developed by Marc Horowitz. |
| 164 |
|
|
| 165 |
|
This product includes software developed by Brini. |
| 166 |
|
|
| 167 |
|
This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe |
| 168 |
|
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: |
| 175 |
|
|
| 176 |
|
Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University. |
| 177 |
|
All rights reserved. |
| 178 |
|
|
| 179 |
|
Author: Keith Bostic, Chris G. Demetriou |
| 180 |
|
|
| 181 |
|
Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and |
| 182 |
|
its documentation is hereby granted, provided that both the copyright |
| 183 |
|
notice and this permission notice appear in all copies of the |
| 184 |
|
software, derivative works or modified versions, and any portions |
| 185 |
|
thereof, and that both notices appear in supporting documentation. |
| 186 |
|
|
| 187 |
See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul |
See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul |
| 188 |
or reuse code. |
or reuse code. |
| 189 |
|
|
| 190 |
Thanks to (in no specific order, that is, this is in alphabetic order :-) |
Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Juli Mallett, Juan Romero |
| 191 |
Joachim Buss, Juli Mallett, Juan RP, Alec Voropay, Alexander Yurchenko, |
Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and everyone |
| 192 |
and everyone else who has provided me with feedback. |
else who has provided me with feedback. |
| 193 |
|
|
| 194 |
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 |
| 195 |
or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se. |
or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se. |
Parent Directory
| 
Revision Log
| 
Patch