Amiga Emulator
Maxwell Daymon
what may be done about it (perhaps more development? etc.)
It would be nice to 'port' AmigaOS to the UNIX/X operating environment...
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I have uploaded uae-0.1.tar.gz to sunsite.unc.edu:pub/Linux/Incoming.
The file should move to pub/Linux/system/Emulators in a few months time.
"UAE" stands for "The Unusable Amiga Emulator". It is a partial software
emulation of the Amiga hardware. It is far from usable, since some vital
features are missing, and it is way too slow. However, it should put an end
to arguments that it can't be done. There is quite a bit of room for
improvements, I expect a full (usable) emulation can be done in about five
years time. Don't complain, C64 emulators need a P90, too, to run at full
speed, and an Amiga is somewhat more complex.
Although this is not a hoax emulator, it can't do more than that: It can
currently just display the Kickstart logo. I have not been able to get the
disk support working yet. Maybe someone would like to help me, I am rather
busy with other projects. The sources are there...
UAE runs on Unix systems with the X Window System. I am developing it using
Linux, but I have also been able to get it to run on a HP Apollo and a Sun
Sparcstation. You need a C++ compiler, or you have to make small
modifications
to turn it into a C program (nothing major). You also need to transfer a
Kickstart ROM image to your PC.
The following parts are emulated:
- MC68000 CPU: Almost done, some rare instructions (ABCD, ...) are not
emulated yet.
- Blitter: If there's no bug, it ought to be complete.
- Copper: Not much to emulate here
- Timers: I think these are fully working, too.
Not done properly:
- Playfield (display) hardware: Only black & white graphics, no dual
playfield support, no HAM.
- Sprites: None.
- Sound: None.
- Mouse, Keyboard, Joystick: None.
- Timing: The CPU and blitter cycles are counted, but I have not bothered
yet to adjust the timing to match the characteristics of a real A500
- Floppy disk: Broken.
I think the hardest parts are done, except the disk support, debugging and
speed improvements.
Just as a side note: Maybe it might be easier to turn this into an Atari
ST emulation first, and debug that. I think the ST has considerably less
hardware complexity. If some ST experts would like to work on that, please
feel free to contact me. Otherwise, mail me if you have comments, bug
reports or enhacements.
Regards,
Bernd Schmidt
cr...@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
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If ARDI's CPU emulation could be used in this, it would be a nice
development platform for system-compliant Amiga applications.
--
+------------------------------------+ you'll never believe me so,
| Maxx Daymon -+- mda...@rmii.com | why don't you find out for yourself
+------------------------------------+ then you'll see the glass
hidden in the grass... / Morrisey
Damien Groves
--
What type of drugs are you smoking? A 68000 emulator, I can see, I don't think
your going to emulate a whole Hardware architecture in software. Your systems doesn't
even support sprites. How are you going to do the mouse? What is a windowing
OS without a cursor? The copper is a main part of the OS, Are you going to try to
run the OS on top of that or are you going to try to emulate it as well. If you actually
do the OS, you could sell it to microsoft to finally get a true multitasking OS on the IBM.
Alan L.M. Buxey
: Although this is not a hoax emulator, it can't do more than that: It can
: currently just display the Kickstart logo. I have not been able to get the
ha ha ha!! a few lines of code to display an image from a ROM file???
i think so! :)
....its the famous joke emulator thats appeared on Unix instead of a
MSDOS PC
alan
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Jason Compton
: : Although this is not a hoax emulator, it can't do more than that: It can
: : currently just display the Kickstart logo. I have not been able to get the
: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
: ha ha ha!! a few lines of code to display an image from a ROM file???
: i think so! :)
: ....its the famous joke emulator thats appeared on Unix instead of a
: MSDOS PC
I don't think so, Alan. For one, you have to provide your own Kickstart
emulator. For another, the author readily admits that this is all it
does at present. If he was really trying to make a joke...why do it this
way?
--
Jason Compton jcom...@xnet.com
Editor-in-Chief, Amiga Report Magazine (708) 741-0689 FAX
You've got to go faster than that. Better start doing it right.
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AR on WWW - http://www.omnipresence.com/Amiga/News/AR
Maxwell Daymon
: : Although this is not a hoax emulator, it can't do more than that: It can
: : currently just display the Kickstart logo. I have not been able to get the
: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
: ha ha ha!! a few lines of code to display an image from a ROM file???
: i think so! :)
If you had read, it comes with ALL SOURCE CODE. Go check for yourself.
: ....its the famous joke emulator thats appeared on Unix instead of a
: MSDOS PC
Next time, read the post.
Maxwell Daymon
: In article <42a9k6$j...@natasha.rmii.com> mda...@rainbow.rmii.com (Maxwell Daymon) writes:
: > I saw this on another group. Someone might want to take a look and see
: > "UAE" stands for "The Unusable Amiga Emulator". It is a partial software
: > emulation of the Amiga hardware. It is far from usable, since some vital
: > features are missing, and it is way too slow. However, it should put an end
: What type of drugs are you smoking? A 68000 emulator, I can see, I don't think
Notice that I SAW THIS ON ANOTHER GROUP. It's not mine.
: your going to emulate a whole Hardware architecture in software. Your systems doesn't
: even support sprites. How are you going to do the mouse? What is a windowing
: OS without a cursor? The copper is a main part of the OS, Are you going to try to
Gee, the Picasso II, Spectrum, Retina, CyberVision, Piccolo, and who
knows how many other cards handle it just fine.
: run the OS on top of that or are you going to try to emulate it as well. If you actually
: do the OS, you could sell it to microsoft to finally get a true multitasking OS on the IBM.
I'm not interested in running hardware banging software. I'm interesting
in an OS level compatible system. With OS 3.1, that's a lot closer than
you think.
Alan L.M. Buxey
: I don't think so, Alan. For one, you have to provide your own Kickstart
: emulator. For another, the author readily admits that this is all it
....you have to supply your own kickstart ROM file actually....
...convieniently, this conatins the BOOT logo.
: does at present. If he was really trying to make a joke...why do it this
: way?
because its the best way! ;)
- the first thing a real emulation should strive for is I/O access to be
sorted (just like most speccy emulators work on tape sampling first)
....not some mythical instruction emulation.
Alan L.M. Buxey
: If you had read, it comes with ALL SOURCE CODE. Go check for yourself.
so?? Its quite easy to knock up a load of source code that looks like it
does useful things....or emulation tasks such as emulate a few simple
CPU inst.
: Next time, read the post.
oh, i did, i did....
Maxwell Daymon
: : I don't think so, Alan. For one, you have to provide your own Kickstart
: : emulator. For another, the author readily admits that this is all it
: ....you have to supply your own kickstart ROM file actually....
: ...convieniently, this conatins the BOOT logo.
Like I said, the SOURCE CODE is there. You can look for yourself.
: - the first thing a real emulation should strive for is I/O access to be
: sorted (just like most speccy emulators work on tape sampling first)
: ....not some mythical instruction emulation.
Are you getting scared or something? All someone did was put together a
basic skeleton for emulating the Amiga and made it available for anyone
to work on in whatever way they want. Why are you so reactionary to this?
He was simply sick of "it can't be done" so he released a quick hack.
He's not even pretending to call it a final release. People often make
projects available to the programming community to *accelerate*
development rather than try to tackle the whole thing alone. Why
criticise simply because he gives the source code and a nice start for free?
