Author: Evan Langlois (c-67-187-51-187.hsd1.tx.comcast.net)
Date: 03-31-2005 22:25
Well, the Pentium has a fast processor to throw at things, and the Falcon and TT don't. More importantly, when you emulate on an intruction per instruction basis like the PCs do, you have a bit of flexibility since you are in total control.
For a Falcon or TT, you wouldn't want to emulate the CPU since you have a compatible one and you don't have the power to emulate one, but there are slight differences in the CPUs that could be a problem.
Secondly, emulation of the rest of the hardware requires very careful use of a hardware MMU - and not the ST MMU, I mean a real one that can do memory protection. This requires some cooperation of the OS as the memory map of the application under emulation has to be virtualized, and then all the hardware and exception vectors have to be mapped so that the emulator gets control.
So ... its entirely possible with an MMU, but its a pretty big task. Its also something that really will have to be done sooner or later if anyone ever does any new Atari hardware as the only real new CPU that is compatible is the ColdFire line (which newer ones have an MMU to do hardware emulation) and even some of the CPU instructions will have to emulated, plus all the hardware differences!
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RE: Emulation vs the real deal