Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH] Z80 emulation updated again!

[Alexander Graf]

On 21.12.2010, at 02:24, Andreas Färber wrote:

> Am 21.12.2010 um 01:10 schrieb Alexander Graf:
> 
>> On 21.12.2010, at 01:06, Andreas Färber wrote:
>> 
>>> Am 20.12.2010 um 23:45 schrieb Alexander Graf:
>>> 
>>>> On 31.05.2009, at 17:20, Stuart Brady wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Here's an update of the Z80 system emulator, which currently emulates
>>>>> the ZX Spectrum only. [...]
>>>> 
>>>> [...] do you think it's a valuable target to have in upstream qemu?
>>> 
>>> The z80 was also used in the more modern TI-83 Plus programmable calculator 
>>> [1], for instance
>> 
>> The general I/O framework is heavily geared towards server and desktop use. 
>> The main use case of the Z80 that I'm aware of is the GameBoy. Not sure that 
>> one fits in there too well :).
>> 
>> The Spectrum however does fit the desktop case, so it certainly has my 
>> blessings.
> 
> Knowing the ZX Spectrum only from the attic, I agree that emulating game 
> consoles is not the primary purpose or strength of QEMU.
> (Although I wouldn't mind if someone wanted to contribute a PS3 machine for 
> Cell B.E. emulation!)
> 
> Fwiw mips, arm, m68k, cris, microblaze seem to form a growing third category 
> of QEMU targets though, embedded systems.

Oh, sure. I'd count in embedded systems here too. My main point was that we 
don't have frameworks to deal with Joysticks, 3D or other stuff real game 
system emulation would need.

To be honest, maybe creating a library out of the CPU emulation code that 
projects like MAME could then use might prove more beneficial. I've thought 
about this for plenty other projects too. GBA emulation could use ARM TCG, 
Dolphin could use PPC TCG, etc. But none of these actually require our device 
model - they already have their own.


Alex