/[gxemul]/trunk/RELEASE
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revision 16 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:19:01 2007 UTC revision 30 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:20:40 2007 UTC
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1  Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.3.6.1  Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.4.2
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 working 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  Changes between release 0.4.1 and 0.4.2 include, among other things:
18      ----------------------             ----------------  
19      NetBSD/pmax 2.0.2 (and 1.6.2)      DECstation 5000/200      o)  The NetWinder emulation mode now works well enough to let
20      OpenBSD/pmax 2.8-BETA              DECstation 5000/200          NetBSD/netwinder run from a disk image.
21      Ultrix 4.2-4.5                     DECstation 5000/200  
22      Sprite demo harddisk image         DECstation 5000/200          (NetBSD/netwinder has to be installed manually, though, because
23      Debian GNU/Linux for DECstation    DECstation 5000/200          there is no installation ramdisk kernel. The GXemul documentation
24      Redhat Linux 7.1 for mips          DECstation 5000/200          has an example of how to install NetBSD/netwinder using an emulated
25      NetBSD/arc 1.6.2                   Acer PICA-61          NetBSD/pmax machine.)
26      OpenBSD/arc 2.3                    Acer PICA-61  
27      NetBSD/hpcmips 2.0.2               NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, 880      o)  Algorithmics P5064 emulation works well enough to let NetBSD/algor
28      NetBSD/cobalt 2.0.2                Cobalt          run from a disk image. (Similar to NetBSD/netwinder, it has to
29      NetBSD/evbmips 2.0.2               Malta 5Kc/4Kc evaluation board          be installed manually, using another emulated machine.)
30      NetBSD/sgimips 2.0.2               SGI O2 ("IP32")  
31      NetBSD/cats 2.0.2                  CATS (ARM)      o)  PCI configuration register writes can now be handled, which allows
32      OpenBSD/cats 3.7                   CATS (ARM)          NetBSD/Malta (evbmips) 3.0.1 and NetBSD/cobalt 3.0.1 to run from
33            PCI IDE harddisk images. (Previously, only NetBSD 2.1 worked for
34  (Most of these are MIPS-based machines, except the CATS, which is an          the Malta and Cobalt emulation modes.)
35  ARM-based machine.)  
36        o)  Some performance increases:
37  Some of these guest operating systems are easier to install and run than  
38  others. The best supported mode is the DECstation 5000/200 emulation mode,          The virtual translation table update routine has been simplified
39  with NetBSD/pmax as the guest operating system.          to work the same way for 32-bit and 64-bit emulation, and this
40            apparently results in a speedup for all 64-bit modes.
41  A couple of other emulation modes exist. Some of these modes are almost  
42  working well enough to run complete guest operating systems, but most are          For 32-bit MIPS, some more instruction combinations have been added.
43  just skeletons. The modes that work are listed in the documentation.  
44    Please read the HISTORY files for more details.
45  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:  
   
     x)  The experimental ARM emulation mode is now working well enough  
         to install NetBSD/cats and OpenBSD/cats onto harddisk images.  
   
 There have also been lots of other small changes, too small to mention here.  
   
 The 0.3.6.1 release fixes some issues related to ARM emulation:  
   
     x)  The emulator can now be compiled inside NetBSD/cats or OpenBSD/cats,  
         inside the emulator itself. (In 0.3.6, some bugs prevented this.)  
   
     x)  Performance increase:  A non-scientific but realistic test, measuring  
         the real-world time it takes to do a full NetBSD/cats installation,  
         seems to indicate that 0.3.6.1 can be twice as fast as 0.3.6 was.  
46    
47  Files included in this release are:  Files included in this release are:
48    
   BUGS                        A list of known bugs.  
49    HISTORY                     Detailed revision history / changelog.    HISTORY                     Detailed revision history / changelog.
50    LICENSE                     Copyright message / license.    LICENSE                     Copyright message / license.
51    README                      Quick start instructions, for the impatient.    README                      Quick start instructions, for the impatient.
52    RELEASE                     This file.    RELEASE                     This file.
53    TODO                        TODO notes.    TODO                        TODO notes.
54    configure, Makefile.skel    sh and make scripts for building GXemul.    configure, Makefile.skel    sh and make scripts for building GXemul.
55      demos                       Tutorial-like demos of testmachine functionality.
56    doc                         Documentation.    doc                         Documentation.
57    experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)    experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)
58    src                         Source code.    src                         Source code.
59    
60  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
61    should work on most Unix-like systems.
62    
 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.)  
63    
64  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
65  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 153  them like this is in order: Line 130  them like this is in order:
130      This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe      This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe
131      for the NetBSD Project.      for the NetBSD Project.
132    
133        This product includes software developed by TooLs GmbH.
134    
135        This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer.
136    
137        This product includes software developed by the Alice Group.
138    
139        This product includes software developed by Ichiro FUKUHARA.
140    
141  Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following:  Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following:
142    
143      Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University.      Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University.
# Line 169  Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires t Line 154  Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires t
154  See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul  See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul
155  or reuse code.  or reuse code.
156    
157  Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Juli Mallett, Juan Romero  
158  Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and everyone  Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Olivier Houchard, Juli Mallett,
159  else who has provided me with feedback.  Juan Romero Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and
160    everyone else who has provided me with feedback.
161    
162  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
163  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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