Release notes for mips64emul 0.3
================================

Copyright (C) 2003-2005  Anders Gavare.


mips64emul is a MIPS machine emulator, which can be used in experiments
involving MIPS binary code. Several emulation modes are available. For some
emulation modes, processors and surrounding hardware components are emulated
well enough to let unmodified operating systems run as if they were running on
a real machine.


The emulator can be used for many different things. One of the most interesting
uses is to run complete "guest" operating systems. I have verified that the
following operating systems can run inside the emulator:


       Guest operating system               Emulated machine
       ----------------------               ----------------

       NetBSD/pmax 2.0 (and 1.6.2)          DECstation 5000/200
       OpenBSD/pmax 2.8-BETA                DECstation 5000/200
       Ultrix 4.2-4.5                       DECstation 5000/200
       Sprite demo harddisk image           DECstation 5000/200
       Debian GNU/Linux for DECstation      DECstation 5000/200
       Redhat Linux 7.1 for mips            DECstation 5000/200
       NetBSD/arc 1.6.2                     Acer PICA-61
       OpenBSD/arc 2.3                      Acer PICA-61


A couple of other emulation modes exist (for SGI's MIPS-based machines,
Playstation 2, Cobalt, some other ARC machines, etc) but these modes are more
of a curiosity, and should not be considered working yet.

Apart from running guest operating systems, the emulator can also be used for
other experiments with MIPS-like code.


Summary of changes from version 0.2.4.1 to 0.3:

	x)  I've performed a major code clean-up.

	x)  Support for using "configuration files" has been added, so settings
	    do not have to be entered on the command line anymore. (Useful for
	    complex emulation setups.)

	x)  Multiple machines can now be emulated simultaneously. (This is
	    still experimental, though, and probably a bit buggy.)

	x)  Some command line options have changed since 0.2.4.1, most notable
	    the options to select the machine to be emulated. -E should now be
	    used to select the machine type, and if necessary, -e can be used
	    to select a subtype.

	x)  Many bugfixes, too many to mention here.


This release has a number of known bugs, listed in the BUGS file, but feel
free to drop me an email regarding other bugs.


Files included in this release are:

  BUGS                        A list of known bugs.
  HISTORY                     Detailed revision history / changelog.
  LICENSE                     Copyright message / license.
  README                      Quick start instructions, for the impatient.
  RELEASE                     This file.
  TODO                        TODO notes.
  configure, Makefile.skel    sh and make scripts for building mips64emul
  doc                         Documentation.
  experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)
  src, devices, and include   Source code.
  tests                       Regression tests.


To build the emulator, run the ./configure script, and then run make.

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.)


Regarding files in the include/ directory:  only some of these are written by
me, the rest are from other sources (such as NetBSD). The license text says
that "All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software"
must display acknowledgements. Even though I do NOT feel I mention features or
use of the header files (the "software") in any advertising materials, I am
still very grateful for the fact that these people have made their files
available for re-use, so regardless of legal requirements, I guess thanking
them like this is in order:

    This product includes software developed by the University of
    California, Berkeley and its contributors.

    This product includes software developed for the
    NetBSD Project.  See http://www.netbsd.org/ for
    information about NetBSD.

    This product includes software developed by Jonathan Stone for
    the NetBSD Project.

    This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project
    by Matthias Drochner.

    This product includes software developed by the NetBSD
    Foundation, Inc. and its contributors.

    This product includes software developed by Christopher G. Demetriou.
    [for the NetBSD Project.]

    This product includes software developed by Adam Glass.

    This product includes software developed by the PocketBSD project
    and its contributors.

    This product includes software developed by Peter Galbavy.

    Carnegie Mellon University   (multiple header files,
    no specific advertisement text required)

    This product includes software developed by Charles M. Hannum.

    This product includes software developed under OpenBSD by Per Fogelstrm.

    This product includes software developed by Per Fogelstrm.

    This product includes software developed at Ludd, University of
    Lule, Sweden and its contributors.

    This product includes software developed by Hellmuth Michaelis
    and Joerg Wunsch

    The font(s) in devices/fonts are Copyright (c) 1992, 1993, 1994
    by Hellmuth Michaelis and Joerg Wunsch.  ("This product includes software
    developed by Hellmuth Michaelis and Joerg Wunsch", well, the font
    is maybe not software, but still...)

    impactsr-bsd.h is Copyright (C) 2004 by Stanislaw Skowronek.

    This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project by
    Wasabi Systems, Inc.  [by Simon Burge]

    arcbios_other.h is Copyright (c) 1996 M. Warner Losh.


See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute
mips64emul or reuse code.

Thanks to everyone who has provided me with feedback.

If you have found mips64emul useful in some way, or feel like sending be 
comments or feedback in general, then send mail to anders(at)gavare.se.

