How easy to port WinUAE to non x86?

Silver · 17 November 2008, 14:43

Hey,

I'm curious as to how easy it would be to port WinUAE to a non-windows/non-x86 platform?

I'm aware this has been done with E-UAE (appears to be based on "winUae 1.3 Emulation core). Can updates since 1.3 easily be assimilated into E-UAE? (which does not appear to be maintained anymore).

I know a lot of features (gui/OS-interaction/JIT) will be hard/total re-writes, but what about the core emulation?

gimbal · 17 November 2008, 16:29

why not download the source and investigate yourself?

Toni Wilen · 17 November 2008, 16:31

Basically only JIT is x86-only.

NewDeli · 17 November 2008, 16:32

Well, I would say your question would best fit in the "other UAE" section of the forum.

The main difficulty of porting WinUAE is that the GUI is now tighly linked to the core. Apple & MorphOS UAE users have a distinct frontend to use with their favorite emulator. The challenge would not only lie in adding more & more features.

I know this is far from convincing as an argument since it only comes from an WinUAE enthousiast, that's my 2 cent anyway.
Don't forget that MacOS now runs stable on Intel CPUs.

alexh · 17 November 2008, 17:23

Surely E-UAE should be your first port of call and then pulling in the WinUAE core updates should be the next thing?

I tried to back-port some parts of WinUAE to the X-box port and believe me it's not easy because of the amount of changes that have taken place over the years. (Although you wouldn't have my problem which was that I did not want to take all updates or it would run too slow).

Toni Wilen · 17 November 2008, 17:35

GUI isn't "tightly integrated", you can easily rip all win32 dependencies and at least create non-GUI version without too many problems. (and get input,sound and graphics code from e-uae)

Silver · 17 November 2008, 20:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by gimbal

why not download the source and investigate yourself?

Already have, along with the latest E-uae source. I am completely unfamiliar with both sources, and at first glance and it's quite a sprawling set of code, hundreds of files, which appears to include stuff for X11, SDL and Dos-UAE which I suspect are not really supported, so thought I would ask...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Basically only JIT is x86-only.

Thanks, that appears to be labelled as such in the source too..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deleauvive

Well, I would say your question would best fit in the "other UAE" section of the forum.

Yes, you are quite correct. Happy for this to be moved..?

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexh

Surely E-UAE should be your first port of call and then pulling in the WinUAE core updates should be the next thing?

I tried to back-port some parts of WinUAE to the X-box port and believe me it's not easy because of the amount of changes that have taken place over the years. (Although you wouldn't have my problem which was that I did not want to take all updates or it would run too slow).

Yes, E-UAE is definately already where I'm heading, but it's not been updated in a while. WinUAE is clearly the most complete Amiga emu around, it would seem a shame not to use that!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

GUI isn't "tightly integrated", you can easily rip all win32 dependencies and at least create non-GUI version without too many problems. (and get input,sound and graphics code from e-uae)

Thanks for that. I will investigate further...

NewDeli · 17 November 2008, 20:36

The problem with E-UAE is that it doesn't need to be totally newbie friendly. I often cite those MorphOS users that are perfectly happy with using extensively E-UAE "command line" possibilites, and not caring for obvious omissions like a competent "video" tab.

E-UAE could be much better integrated with linux SDL libs, inmho... Some might even think it should even be rewritten from scratch.

WinAROS, the Win32 port of AROS, is another interesting, albeit a bit hopeless, project.

tonyyeb · 17 November 2008, 20:47

The GUI isn't the problem. I could write a GUI for E-UAE in about 2 hours. All it needs to do is limit the user to possible choices (max chip ram, floppy emu speed etc...) make sure they don't conflict then call the correct command line parameters.

FOL · 18 November 2008, 19:48

E-UAE is still being updated. Although the main site doesnt reflect this, the SVN does.

A project was started to incorperate the code needed to compile for both PSP and GP2x. I think this has been dumped, would need to check with GnosTiC.

Silver · 19 November 2008, 03:21

Thanks for that FOL....

Yes there are CVS updates from 20-10-08 (emu core from WinUAE 1.4.3), and a post about working towards a stable release, so looks like E-UAE is still going...

chiark · 19 November 2008, 13:35

Is it still Rich Drummond running with e-uae?

Silver · 19 November 2008, 13:39

Yes looks like he posted to the UAE mailing list in August 08....

FOL · 19 November 2008, 20:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiark

Is it still Rich Drummond running with e-uae?

He is indeed.

17 November 2008, 14:43	#1
Silver Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: London Age: 46 Posts: 118	How easy to port WinUAE to non x86? Hey, I'm curious as to how easy it would be to port WinUAE to a non-windows/non-x86 platform? I'm aware this has been done with E-UAE (appears to be based on "winUae 1.3 Emulation core). Can updates since 1.3 easily be assimilated into E-UAE? (which does not appear to be maintained anymore). I know a lot of features (gui/OS-interaction/JIT) will be hard/total re-writes, but what about the core emulation?

17 November 2008, 17:35	#6
Toni Wilen WinUAE developer Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Hämeenlinna/Finland Age: 49 Posts: 26,567	GUI isn't "tightly integrated", you can easily rip all win32 dependencies and at least create non-GUI version without too many problems. (and get input,sound and graphics code from e-uae) Last edited by Toni Wilen; 17 November 2008 at 18:00.

18 November 2008, 19:48	#10
FOL PSPUAE DEV Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Wales / UK Age: 45 Posts: 6,045	E-UAE is still being updated. Although the main site doesnt reflect this, the SVN does. A project was started to incorperate the code needed to compile for both PSP and GP2x. I think this has been dumped, would need to check with GnosTiC. Last edited by FOL; 18 November 2008 at 20:00.

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17 November 2008, 16:29	#2
gimbal cheeky scoundrel Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Spijkenisse/Netherlands Age: 42 Posts: 6,969	why not download the source and investigate yourself?

17 November 2008, 16:31	#3
Toni Wilen WinUAE developer Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Hämeenlinna/Finland Age: 49 Posts: 26,567	Basically only JIT is x86-only.

17 November 2008, 16:32	#4
NewDeli Banned Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Paris / FRANCE Age: 50 Posts: 1,248	Well, I would say your question would best fit in the "other UAE" section of the forum. The main difficulty of porting WinUAE is that the GUI is now tighly linked to the core. Apple & MorphOS UAE users have a distinct frontend to use with their favorite emulator. The challenge would not only lie in adding more & more features. I know this is far from convincing as an argument since it only comes from an WinUAE enthousiast, that's my 2 cent anyway. Don't forget that MacOS now runs stable on Intel CPUs.

17 November 2008, 17:23	#5
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,460	Surely E-UAE should be your first port of call and then pulling in the WinUAE core updates should be the next thing? I tried to back-port some parts of WinUAE to the X-box port and believe me it's not easy because of the amount of changes that have taken place over the years. (Although you wouldn't have my problem which was that I did not want to take all updates or it would run too slow).

17 November 2008, 20:36	#8
NewDeli Banned Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Paris / FRANCE Age: 50 Posts: 1,248	The problem with E-UAE is that it doesn't need to be totally newbie friendly. I often cite those MorphOS users that are perfectly happy with using extensively E-UAE "command line" possibilites, and not caring for obvious omissions like a competent "video" tab. E-UAE could be much better integrated with linux SDL libs, inmho... Some might even think it should even be rewritten from scratch. WinAROS, the Win32 port of AROS, is another interesting, albeit a bit hopeless, project.

17 November 2008, 20:47	#9
tonyyeb Has the Amiga bug again Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Hull, UK Age: 44 Posts: 791	The GUI isn't the problem. I could write a GUI for E-UAE in about 2 hours. All it needs to do is limit the user to possible choices (max chip ram, floppy emu speed etc...) make sure they don't conflict then call the correct command line parameters.

19 November 2008, 03:21	#11
Silver Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: London Age: 46 Posts: 118	Thanks for that FOL.... Yes there are CVS updates from 20-10-08 (emu core from WinUAE 1.4.3), and a post about working towards a stable release, so looks like E-UAE is still going...

19 November 2008, 13:35	#12
chiark Needs a life Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: England Posts: 1,707	Is it still Rich Drummond running with e-uae?

19 November 2008, 13:39	#13
Silver Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: London Age: 46 Posts: 118	Yes looks like he posted to the UAE mailing list in August 08....

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