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Release notes for GXemul 0.3.3.2 |
Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.3.8 |
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Copyright (C) 2003-2005 Anders Gavare. |
Copyright (C) 2003-2006 Anders Gavare. |
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GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. It can be |
GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several |
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used to run binary code for (among others) MIPS-based machines. Several |
emulation modes are available. In some modes, processors and surrounding |
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emulation modes are available. For some emulation modes, processors and |
hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating |
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surrounding hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified |
systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine. |
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operating systems run as if they were running on a real machine. |
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I have verified that the following "guest" operating systems can run |
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inside the emulator: |
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Guest operating system Emulated machine |
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NetBSD/pmax 2.0 (and 1.6.2) DECstation 5000/200 |
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OpenBSD/pmax 2.8-BETA DECstation 5000/200 |
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Ultrix 4.2-4.5 DECstation 5000/200 |
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Sprite demo harddisk image DECstation 5000/200 |
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Debian GNU/Linux for DECstation DECstation 5000/200 |
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Redhat Linux 7.1 for mips DECstation 5000/200 |
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NetBSD/arc 1.6.2 Acer PICA-61 |
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OpenBSD/arc 2.3 Acer PICA-61 |
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NetBSD/hpcmips 2.0 NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, 880 |
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NetBSD/cobalt 2.0 Cobalt |
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A couple of other emulation modes exist. Some of these modes are almost |
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working well enough to run complete guest operating systems, but most are |
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just skeletons. The modes that work are listed in the documentation. |
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The emulator can also be used in other experiments; it does not have to |
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run entire guest operating systems. It is important to remember, though, |
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that GXemul does not simulate things smaller than an instruction; this |
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means that pipe-line stalls, penalties caused by branch-prediction misses, |
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and other effects are not simulated. |
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Summary of changes between release 0.3.2 and 0.3.3.2: |
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x) When booting from an ISO9660 (CDROM) filesystem image, the kernel |
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can now in some cases be read directly from the image, so there is |
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no need any longer to supply an external kernel. (It is a quick, |
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buggy, and very ugly hack, but it sometimes works.) |
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x) Mixing more than one disk image type (SCSI, IDE, PC-style floppy) |
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within one emulated machine is now possible. (There is however no |
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stable emulation mode yet that uses this.) |
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x) Many minor updates and bugfixes. |
The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can |
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be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best supported guest operating |
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systems are probably NetBSD/pmax, NetBSD/cats, and OpenBSD/cats. |
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The user-visible changes between release 0.3.7 and 0.3.8 include: |
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o) The IQ80321 (Xscale) machine mode is now working well enough to |
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run NetBSD/evbarm 2.1. |
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o) Faster framebuffer output in some situations. |
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Source code related changes include: |
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o) I've finally begun to reimplement the MIPS emulation mode using the |
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new dyntrans system. It will be quite some time until it can run |
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anything, but things are moving in the right direction. |
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o) Some changes to the concepts of input-only, output-only, and |
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input-output consoles. |
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o) Some more clean-up of PCI bus concepts. |
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o) Machine definitions have been moved out of src/machines.c, and into |
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individual files in a new sub-directory (src/machines/). |
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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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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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tests Regression tests. |
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To build the emulator, run the ./configure script, and then run make. |
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Building the emulator should work on most Unix-like systems. (One system which |
To build the emulator, run the ./configure script, and then run make. This |
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is specifically known to NOT work is Ultrix/RISC inside the emulator; Ultrix |
should work on most Unix-like systems. |
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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 Marc Horowitz. |
This product includes software developed by Marc Horowitz. |
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This product includes software developed by Brini. |
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This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe |
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for the NetBSD Project. |
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This product includes software developed by TooLs GmbH. |
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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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Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following: |
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Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University. |
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All rights reserved. |
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Author: Keith Bostic, Chris G. Demetriou |
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Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and |
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its documentation is hereby granted, provided that both the copyright |
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notice and this permission notice appear in all copies of the |
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software, derivative works or modified versions, and any portions |
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thereof, and that both notices appear in supporting documentation. |
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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 everyone who has provided me with feedback. |
Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Olivier Houchard, Juli Mallett, |
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Juan Romero Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and |
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everyone 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. |