[Ql-Users] SMSQmulator 1.25
Hi all, SMSQmulator 1.25 is out. There are some bugfixes, so you should upgrade. Have fun. Wolfgang ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] New QL
Hello again and thanks for your kind wishes. Tobias gets closest to my idea. I was planning not to write a single ARM instruction. I'd guessed that all the assembler would already be present in the Linux. As much as of the bare bones of Linux as necessary would be kept: file-system support, task-scheduling, /dev, /etc, all pure Linux. The QDOSMSQ part would do little more than provide a call-mapping interface to the SBASIC shell and other apps, though the calling convention would change to stack-based from register-based. The whole thing would be done in C to keep it portable. This would not be a system for QL assembler fans, but a 68k emulator could follow if someone got around to it. Eventually people might rewrite their favourite QL utilities, but in the meantime all the Linux utilities would still be there (but the built-ins would have to go in the new shell). This would not be a one man project - I know little about the inner workings of any current OS but I would make a start by looking at current SMSQ/E source code & doco and see if I can make a list of dependencies: Linux kernel code that needs to be retained, and that which could be used. Trouble is I've never looked at the source code of a Linux kernel. Still, I'll have plenty of time on my hands...but then it does take 12 hours to consume a nutritious bag of fermented rabbit pellets through the tube with all the flushing out and hygiene rigmarole...perhaps I'm biting off more than I am not presently allowed to chew. All the best, Ian. - Tobias Fröschle wrote: > Ian, > > best wishes for getting well soon also from me. > > If re-implementing SMSQ/E on ARM one would probably try to use the least > possible ARM assembler portion possible - Maybe a re-write should rather use > the QDOS /concepts/ instead of trying to 100% copy it. (ARM assembler isn’t > even half as much fun as 68k assembler…). > > I could imagine a re-implementation in C with small assembler routines where > inevitable. It should, however, include a 68k emulator to be able to execute > native programs if desired. (Concept similar to ppc Macs). Stuff like that > isn’t, however, a week-end job…. > > > Tobias > > > Am 23.03.2014 um 12:29 schrieb Norman Dunbar : > > > Ian, > > > > First of all, get well soon. > > > > Rewriting SMS for the Raspberry Pi would be a whole new enterprise. You can > > easily (!) replace the kernel but all of SMS would need to be rewritten in > > ARM assembly. > > > > That doesn't mean it cannot be done of course, there's a pretty good "How > > To" do bare metal assembly on a Pi online. There is a link from the forums > > somewhere. (Sorry, I'm typing this on my phone while sitting outside the > > changing rooms of yet another clothes shop, waiting for my wife! ) > > > > I wonder if there is an MP 8080 to ARM converter! > > > > Take care. > > > > Cheers, > > Norm. > > > > > > Sent from my phone - please excuse brevity and any obvious "auto > > corrections" that were just plain wrong! > > ___ > > QL-Users Mailing List > > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm > > ___ > QL-Users Mailing List > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] SMSQE 3.20
Hi all, SMSQE 3.20 is out. this corrects a bug which might arise when trying to write to a read-only file. Have fun Wolfgang ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] New QL
Daniele Terdina wrote: > Marcel, do you know if any free VHDL simulation/analysis tools > exist that may be close to a code debugger (breakpoints etc., if that makes > sense)? No idea, I've last worked with FPGAs 10 years ago and that was with actual hardware, some Altera evaluation board running a Nios soft core. After grading an IT paper that concerned itself with chip design for a College in Stuttgart last fall I read up on it again, but soon realized that I just don't have enough time to follow through... one day perhaps. But if the the core already sort-of-works I guess it might even be easier to check with actual hardware than in usually much slower simulation. Cheers, Marcel ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] New QL
Ian, best wishes for getting well soon also from me. If re-implementing SMSQ/E on ARM one would probably try to use the least possible ARM assembler portion possible - Maybe a re-write should rather use the QDOS /concepts/ instead of trying to 100% copy it. (ARM assembler isn’t even half as much fun as 68k assembler…). I could imagine a re-implementation in C with small assembler routines where inevitable. It should, however, include a 68k emulator to be able to execute native programs if desired. (Concept similar to ppc Macs). Stuff like that isn’t, however, a week-end job…. Tobias Am 23.03.2014 um 12:29 schrieb Norman Dunbar : > Ian, > > First of all, get well soon. > > Rewriting SMS for the Raspberry Pi would be a whole new enterprise. You can > easily (!) replace the kernel but all of SMS would need to be rewritten in > ARM assembly. > > That doesn't mean it cannot be done of course, there's a pretty good "How To" > do bare metal assembly on a Pi online. There is a link from the forums > somewhere. (Sorry, I'm typing this on my phone while sitting outside the > changing rooms of yet another clothes shop, waiting for my wife! ) > > I wonder if there is an MP 8080 to ARM converter! > > Take care. > > Cheers, > Norm. > > > Sent from my phone - please excuse brevity and any obvious "auto corrections" > that were just plain wrong! > ___ > QL-Users Mailing List > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] New QL
Ian, First of all, get well soon. Rewriting SMS for the Raspberry Pi would be a whole new enterprise. You can easily (!) replace the kernel but all of SMS would need to be rewritten in ARM assembly. That doesn't mean it cannot be done of course, there's a pretty good "How To" do bare metal assembly on a Pi online. There is a link from the forums somewhere. (Sorry, I'm typing this on my phone while sitting outside the changing rooms of yet another clothes shop, waiting for my wife! ) I wonder if there is an MP 8080 to ARM converter! Take care. Cheers, Norm. Sent from my phone - please excuse brevity and any obvious "auto corrections" that were just plain wrong! ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] New QL
I'm sitting next to my hospital bed at 9am on a sunny Sunday 7 days after an 8 hour operation to remove tumours from my tongue and neck (and me a lifelong non-smoker too) plus facial reconstruction. When I go home I'll have many months with not much to do; however I'm not sure testing 68k cores is the way I'll want to spend it :o) Anyway I was thinking of going in a different direction. Obviously, assembler and the QL are like a horse and carriage so projects like these are definitely time well invested, but I think SMSQ/E could have a bright future not locked into one cpu or limited by emulation. Look how easily Linux gets ported to other CPUs. Taking the Raspberry Pi as an example, could we make, rather like me, a Frankensteinesque creature comprising Linux from boot to loading the kernel, redoing SMSQ/E as a replacement kernel, SBASIC as the shell, ditch X it's too slow anyway - go for direct screen handling? I could do some of the coding if in C (but not the integrating into Linux or the screen handling). This would not be an emulator but a completely new version "based on" the original, with necessary differences take them or leave them. Ian. It's taken me half an hour to type this on their worn-out bouncy rubber keypad. - Daniele Terdina wrote: > Marcel, do you know if any free VHDL simulation/analysis tools exist that may > be close to a code debugger (breakpoints etc., if that makes sense)? > > I wouldn't mind giving the occasional look and fix some instructions, but > only if there is an efficient way of doing it. Going through countless > iterations of experiments and/or needing the hardware would exceed my > available time. > > Thanks, > > Daniele > > > Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 01:35:26 +0100 > > From: ql-us...@mail.kilgus.net > > To: ql-us...@q-v-d.com > > Subject: Re: [Ql-Users] New QL > > > > pg...@q40.de wrote: > > > In case you are thinking about hiring someone to design a better > > > CPU, I'm not sure if software developers are the ones to ask. This > > > is not software, it's hardware design. I'm sure folks like Daniele, > > > Richard and Marcel know a lot about 68K instructions, but it seems > > > unlikely one of them would also like to learn chip design. > > > > Actually I have dabbled with VHDL in University and would love to do > > more with FPGAs, but no, I have enough pet projects going as it is. > > Perhaps in another life ;-) > > > > Without even having seen the code I guess the remaining bugs are in > > the processor flag handling. If you don't get them exactly right > > everything kind of works, but then after a few million flawless > > instructions some tiny thing breaks and things go down from there. I > > remember tracing thousands of lines side by side with a real QL to > > catch the remaining differences. But it did pay off, in the 18 years > > since the first release only a handful bugs have been found in the > > emulation core, most by George Gwilt. You should send him a board ;-) > > > > Cheers, Marcel > > > > ___ > > QL-Users Mailing List > > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm > > ___ > QL-Users Mailing List > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
