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Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.3.7 |
Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.4.4 |
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================================================================ |
================================================================ |
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Copyright (C) 2003-2005 Anders Gavare. |
Copyright (C) 2003-2007 Anders Gavare. |
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GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several |
GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several |
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hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating |
hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating |
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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. |
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MIPS processors are emulated using either a simple binary translation |
Processors (ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, SuperH) are emulated using dynamic |
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layer ("recompilation"), which is used on Alpha and i386 hosts, or by |
translation. Unlike some other dynamically translating emulators, GXemul |
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traditional interpretation (very very slow, but works on any host platform). |
does not need to generate native code, only a "runnable intermediate |
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representation", and will thus run on any host architecture. |
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ARM and PowerPC processors are emulated using a newer dynamic translation |
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system. Performance is somewhere between traditional interpretation and |
The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can |
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dynamic recompilation; however, the dynamic translation system used in |
be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best working guest operating |
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GXemul does NOT require platform-specific back-end code. In plain English, |
systems are probably NetBSD/pmax and NetBSD/cats. |
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this means that the dyntrans system works on any host platform. |
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I have verified that the following "guest" operating systems can run inside |
Changes between release 0.4.3 and 0.4.4 include, among other things: |
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the emulator. Instructions on how to install and run these can be found in |
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the documentation. |
o) The interrupt subsystem has been redesigned. This means two things: |
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Guest operating system Emulated machine |
x) Internal code cleanup, which makes the whole emulator more |
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---------------------- ---------------- |
maintainable. Instead of using magically encoded integers |
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NetBSD/pmax 2.1 (and 1.6.2) DECstation 5000/200 |
for interrupts, strings are now used. These strings are in |
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OpenBSD/pmax 2.8-BETA DECstation 5000/200 |
the form of "paths", so that devices and busses can more |
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Ultrix 4.2-4.5 DECstation 5000/200 |
easily be connected to other busses, devices, or CPUs. |
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Sprite demo harddisk image DECstation 5000/200 |
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Debian GNU/Linux for DECstation DECstation 5000/200 |
x) Some machine types which happened to work in release 0.4.3, |
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Redhat Linux 7.1 for mips DECstation 5000/200 |
but were not listed in the documentation as working, may |
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NetBSD/arc 1.6.2 Acer PICA-61 |
have stopped working now. As always, the documentation should |
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OpenBSD/arc 2.3 Acer PICA-61 |
indicate the combinations of machine modes and guest OSes that |
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NetBSD/hpcmips 2.1 NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, 880 |
are supposed to work. |
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NetBSD/cobalt 2.1 Cobalt |
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NetBSD/evbmips 2.1 Malta 5Kc/4Kc evaluation board |
o) SuperH (SH4) emulation is now somewhat more stable, enough to let a |
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NetBSD/sgimips 2.1 SGI O2 ("IP32") |
NetBSD/dreamcast Live CD be usable. |
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NetBSD/cats 2.1 CATS (ARM) |
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OpenBSD/cats 3.8 CATS (ARM) |
o) PowerPC "G4" emulation is now stable enough to let NetBSD/macppc |
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NetBSD/prep 2.1 PReP (PowerPC Reference Platform) |
run from a disk image. (Installing actually worked before, but the |
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NetBSD/macppc GENERIC kernel uses AltiVec instructions which were |
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Some of these guest operating systems are easier to install and run than |
not implemented correctly.) |
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others. The best supported guest operating systems are probably NetBSD/pmax, |
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NetBSD/cats and OpenBSD/cats. |
o) The PICA-61 (arc) and i80321 (evbarm) emulation modes now have their |
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timers fixed at 100 Hz. A hardcoded speed like this is very ugly, but |
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The emulator can also be used in other experiments; it does not have to run |
it is at least better than before (when the timer wasn't really |
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entire guest operating systems. However, as GXemul is an instruction-level |
running at any specific speed at all). |
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emulator, it does not simulate things smaller than an instruction. What this |
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means is that pipe-line stalls, penalties caused by branch-prediction misses |
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or cache misses, and other micro-architectural effects are not simulated. |
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User-visible change between release 0.3.6.2 and 0.3.7 include: |
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o) The experimental PowerPC emulation mode is now working well enough |
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to allow NetBSD/prep 2.1 to be installed and run inside the emulator. |
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It is not 100% stable, and it is not optimized for performance yet, |
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but hopefully enough for simple experiments. |
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o) I finally took the time to implement a DEC 21143 NIC; this brings |
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network connectivity to NetBSD/cats. (The userland "NAT"-like |
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networking layer is still a bit buggy, and does not work with |
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everything. However, NetBSD/cats can now be installed via ftp.) |
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o) CD-ROM images can now in some cases be detected as ATAPI CD-ROMs |
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instead of IDE harddisks. It works for at least NetBSD, OpenBSD, |
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and Linux on CATS, and NetBSD on hpcmips. |
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Internal (code related) changes include: |
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o) Cleanup of the PCI and ISA bus frameworks; in practice this means |
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that more code can be shared between different emulated machine |
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models than before, and that adding new machine types will become |
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easier. |
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o) Dyntrans updates; 32-bit PowerPC mostly, but also many performance |
Please read the HISTORY files for more details. |
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related updates for ARM. |
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There have also been lots of other changes, too many and small to mention here. |
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Files included in this release are: |
Files included in this release are: |
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BUGS A list of known bugs. |
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HISTORY Detailed revision history / changelog. |
HISTORY Detailed revision history / changelog. |
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LICENSE Copyright message / license. |
LICENSE Copyright message / license. |
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README Quick start instructions, for the impatient. |
README Quick start instructions, for the impatient. |
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RELEASE This file. |
RELEASE This file. |
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TODO TODO notes. |
TODO TODO notes. |
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configure, Makefile.skel sh and make scripts for building GXemul. |
configure, Makefile.skel sh and make scripts for building GXemul. |
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demos Tutorial-like demos of testmachine functionality. |
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doc Documentation. |
doc Documentation. |
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experiments Experimental code. (Usually not needed.) |
experiments Experimental code. (Usually not needed.) |
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src Source code. |
src Source code. |
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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 |
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should work on most Unix-like systems. |
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Building the emulator should work on most Unix-like systems. (One system which |
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is specifically known to NOT work is Ultrix/RISC inside the emulator; Ultrix |
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chokes on the configure script and the default cc in Ultrix doesn't work.) |
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Regarding files in the src/include/ directory: only some of these are written |
Regarding files in the src/include/ directory: only some of these are written |
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by me, the rest are from other sources (such as NetBSD). The license text says |
by me, the rest are from other sources (such as NetBSD). The license text says |
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This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer. |
This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer. |
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This product includes software developed by the Alice Group. |
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This product includes software developed by Ichiro FUKUHARA. |
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This product includes software developed by Marcus Comstedt. |
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Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following: |
Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following: |
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Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University. |
Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University. |
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See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul |
See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul |
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or reuse code. |
or reuse code. |
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Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Juli Mallett, Juan Romero |
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Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and everyone |
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else who has provided me with feedback. |
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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 |
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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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