/[gxemul]/trunk/RELEASE
This is repository of my old source code which isn't updated any more. Go to git.rot13.org for current projects!
ViewVC logotype

Diff of /trunk/RELEASE

Parent Directory Parent Directory | Revision Log Revision Log | View Patch Patch

revision 18 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:19:11 2007 UTC revision 24 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:19:56 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), 0.4.0
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. Several  GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several
# 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  The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can
13  architectures are also partially emulated.  be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best supported guest operating
14    systems are probably NetBSD/pmax, NetBSD/cats, and OpenBSD/cats.
15    
 I have verified that the following "guest" operating systems can run inside  
 the emulator:  
16    
17      Guest operating system             Emulated machine  The most important change between release 0.3.8 and 0.4.0 is:
     ----------------------             ----------------  
     NetBSD/pmax 2.0.2 (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 2.0.2               NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, 880  
     NetBSD/cobalt 2.0.2                Cobalt  
     NetBSD/evbmips 2.0.2               Malta 5Kc/4Kc evaluation board  
     NetBSD/sgimips 2.0.2               SGI O2 ("IP32")  
     NetBSD/cats 2.0.2                  CATS (ARM)  
     OpenBSD/cats 3.7                   CATS (ARM)  
   
 (Most of these are MIPS-based machines, except the CATS, which is an  
 ARM-based machine.)  
   
 Some of these guest operating systems are easier to install and run than  
 others. The best supported mode is the DECstation 5000/200 emulation mode,  
 with NetBSD/pmax as the guest operating system.  
   
 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. (However, GXemul does not simulate things  
 smaller than an instruction. What this means is that pipe-line stalls,  
 penalties caused by branch-prediction misses or cache misses, and other  
 micro-architectural effects are not simulated.)  
   
 The most imporant user-visible change between release 0.3.5 and 0.3.6 is:  
18    
19      x)  The experimental ARM emulation mode is now working well enough      o)  The emulation of MIPS processors has been completely rewritten;
20          to install NetBSD/cats and OpenBSD/cats onto harddisk images.          it now uses the same portable dynamic translation system as the
21            ARM and PowerPC emulation modes.
22    
23  There have also been lots of other small changes, too small to mention here.          On Alpha and i386 hosts (and AMD64 hosts running in 32-bit mode),
24            GXemul previously used translation into native code. This release
25            will perform worse than 0.3.8 on those host architectures.
26    
27            On all other hosts (including AMD64 running in native 64-bit mode),
28            0.4.0 is likely to be faster than 0.3.8, when emulating MIPS, at
29            least for R3000 emulation.
30    
31            I think that in the long term, moving towards full portability like
32            this is a good idea.
33    
34    (Since the MIPS emulation mode has been rewritten from scratch, and I have
35    not really had much time over for debugging, there are most likely new
36    bugs in 0.4.0 that were not present in 0.3.8. However, I feel that it is
37    better to make a quick release now than to wait even longer.)
38    
39    There have also been many other changes, including, but not limited to:
40    
41        o)  The "test machine" functionality is more well-defined than before,
42            and some tutorial-like demos have been added. These could be useful
43            e.g. in operating system construction courses.
44    
45        o)  NetBSD/sgimips 3.0 works now. This is most likely due to the rewrite
46            of the MIPS emulation mode. Previous releases of GXemul only worked
47            with NetBSD/sgimips 2.1.
48    
49        o)  I have begun implementing rudimentary support for GDB remote serial
50            protocol connections. This means that you can run e.g. the Data
51            Display Debugger, and connect it to a GXemul instance.
52    
53            No advanced GDB functionality is working yet, but starting and
54            stopping the emulated machine and single-stepping should work.
55    
56    Please read the HISTORY files for more details.
57    
 The 0.3.6.1 and 0.3.6.2 releases contain bugfixes and some performance  
 hacks.  
58    
59  Files included in this release are:  Files included in this release are:
60    
61    BUGS                        A list of known bugs.    BUGS                        List of known bugs for this release.
62    HISTORY                     Detailed revision history / changelog.    HISTORY                     Detailed revision history / changelog.
63    LICENSE                     Copyright message / license.    LICENSE                     Copyright message / license.
64    README                      Quick start instructions, for the impatient.    README                      Quick start instructions, for the impatient.
65    RELEASE                     This file.    RELEASE                     This file.
66    TODO                        TODO notes.    TODO                        TODO notes.
67    configure, Makefile.skel    sh and make scripts for building GXemul.    configure, Makefile.skel    sh and make scripts for building GXemul.
68      demos                       Tutorial-like demos of testmachine functionality.
69    doc                         Documentation.    doc                         Documentation.
70    experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)    experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)
71    src                         Source code.    src                         Source code.
72    
73  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
74    should work on most Unix-like systems.
75    
 Building the emulator should work on most Unix-like systems. (One system which  
 is specifically known to NOT work is Ultrix/RISC inside the emulator; Ultrix  
 chokes on the configure script and the default cc in Ultrix doesn't work.)  
76    
77  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
78  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
# Line 147  them like this is in order: Line 143  them like this is in order:
143      This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe      This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe
144      for the NetBSD Project.      for the NetBSD Project.
145    
146        This product includes software developed by TooLs GmbH.
147    
148        This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer.
149    
150        This product includes software developed by the Alice Group.
151    
152        This product includes software developed by Ichiro FUKUHARA.
153    
154  Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following:  Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following:
155    
156      Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University.      Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University.
# Line 163  Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires t Line 167  Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires t
167  See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul  See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul
168  or reuse code.  or reuse code.
169    
170  Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Juli Mallett, Juan Romero  
171  Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and everyone  Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Olivier Houchard, Juli Mallett,
172  else who has provided me with feedback.  Juan Romero Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and
173    everyone else who has provided me with feedback.
174    
175    Special thanks to Alec Voropay for testing this release with Linux
176    kernels, and on Cygwin, and also thanks to Ondrej Palkovsky for testing
177    with HelenOS.
178    
179  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
180  or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se.  or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se.

Legend:
Removed from v.18  
changed lines
  Added in v.24

  ViewVC Help
Powered by ViewVC 1.1.26