Advice on available targets
lazarus / 77-Embedded

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leiradel · 2017-06-07 21:51

Hello,

I'm the gw-libretro author, a libretro core that runs simulations of
LCD handheld devices such as the Game & Watch games from Nintendo.

The simulators are conversions from games written by MADrigal, whom
provides me the Delphi projects and source code, and assets for the
games. The conversion works via a Pascal to Lua transpiler, which does
the bulk of the work. The Lua code is then run by the gw-libretro
core.

For reasons beyond the scope of this topic, I can't implement some
functionalities such as savestates and network play (Penguin Land has
a two-player competitive mode) with that setup. To remedy that, and to
ease the conversion process, I'm thinking about compiling the Pascal
source code using FPC to a CPU/OS which I can easily emulate. My main
issue is actually with the OS. I don't want to emulate a Windows or
Linux box (I'd be almost writing a Virtual Box app if I did), and the
simulators don't need a RTOS. DOS would do, but I believe this target
only works with a DOS extender, which means more complexity.

I know there's an embedded target, but I don't know what exactly it
is, which CPUs it supports, and how the final binary is produced.

Could someone give me a hand here? I know it's not possible, but
imagine if I could compile the source code to the Z80, and the final
linked binary is just a binary blob which I can load at, say, 0x4000,
and that expects that some routines exist in the 0-0x3fff range. I
won't be using actual Delphi components, but will write versions of
them just like I did for the existing gw-libretro, which have only the
minimal functionality required to run the simulations.

Thanks in advance,

Andre

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leiradel · 2017-06-07 22:46

I took a look at the DOS port and it's huge memory model is very close
to what I want. Unfortunately, I'm afraid the 1 MB limits are won't
accommodate the simulators.

I just wanted to give more perspective to readers as to what I'm
looking for.

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HeavyUser · 2017-06-08 00:42

I'm sorry but I'm a bit confused. Are you looking to build an OS
emulator or a hardware emulator or something along the lines of
dosbox? In any case have you seen ultibo? a small kernel for arm
rasberry Pi that supports network and threads (If I remember
correctly). It does not emulate any hardware though. You could use
that as your base. In any case I'm out of my comfort zone for this
one.
here is the developers announcement in this forum
http://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,31364.0.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thaddy · 2017-06-08 06:28

I have to check for AVR and others but for e.g. ARM (embedded), apart
from generic armv5 and higher, these specific processors are
supported:
Supported Microcontroller types:
  LPC810M021FN8,LPC811M001FDH16,LPC812M101FDH16,LPC812M101FD20
  LPC812M101FDH20,LPC1110FD20,LPC1111FDH20_002,LPC1111FHN33_101
  LPC1111FHN33_102,LPC1111FHN33_103,LPC1111FHN33_201,LPC1111FHN33_202
  LPC1111FHN33_203,LPC1112FD20_102,LPC1112FDH20_102,LPC1112FDH28_102
  LPC1112FHN33_101,LPC1112FHN33_102,LPC1112FHN33_103,LPC1112FHN33_201
  LPC1112FHN24_202,LPC1112FHN33_202,LPC1112FHN33_203,LPC1112FHI33_202
  LPC1112FHI33_203,LPC1113FHN33_201,LPC1113FHN33_202,LPC1113FHN33_203
  LPC1113FHN33_301,LPC1113FHN33_302,LPC1113FHN33_303,LPC1113FBD48_301
  LPC1113FBD48_302,LPC1113FBD48_303,LPC1114FDH28_102,LPC1114FN28_102
  LPC1114FHN33_201,LPC1114FHN33_202,LPC1114FHN33_203,LPC1114FHN33_301
  LPC1114FHN33_302,LPC1114FHN33_303,LPC1114FHN33_333,LPC1114FHI33_302
  LPC1114FHI33_303,LPC1114FBD48_301,LPC1114FBD48_302,LPC1114FBD48_303
  LPC1114FBD48_323,LPC1114FBD48_333,LPC1115FBD48_303,LPC11C12FBD48_301
  LPC11C14FBD48_301,LPC11C22FBD48_301,LPC11C24FBD48_301
 
LPC11D14FBD100_302,LPC1224FBD48_101,LPC1224FBD48_121,LPC1224FBD64_101
  LPC1224FBD64_121,LPC1225FBD48_301,LPC1225FBD48_321,LPC1225FBD64_301
  LPC1225FBD64_321,LPC1226FBD48_301,LPC1226FBD64_301,LPC1227FBD48_301
  LPC1227FBD64_301,LPC12D27FBD100_301,LPC1311FHN33,LPC1311FHN33_01
 
LPC1313FHN33,LPC1313FHN33_01,LPC1313FBD48,LPC1313FBD48_01,LPC1315FHN33
  LPC1315FBD48,LPC1316FHN33,LPC1316FBD48,LPC1317FHN33,LPC1317FBD48
  LPC1317FBD64,LPC1342FHN33,LPC1342FBD48,LPC1343FHN33,LPC1343FBD48
  LPC1345FHN33,LPC1345FBD48,LPC1346FHN33,LPC1346FBD48,LPC1347FHN33
  LPC1347FBD48,LPC1347FBD64,LPC2114,LPC2124,LPC2194,LPC1754,LPC1756
  LPC1758,LPC1764,LPC1766,LPC1768,AT91SAM7S256,AT91SAM7SE256,AT91SAM7X
256
  AT91SAM7XC256,STM32F030C6,STM32F030C8,STM32F030F4,STM32F030K6
  STM32F030R8,STM32F050C4,STM32F050C6,STM32F050F4,STM32F050F6,STM32F05
0G4
  STM32F050G6,STM32F050K4,STM32F050K6,STM32F051C4,STM32F051C6,STM32F05
1C8
  STM32F051K4,STM32F051K6,STM32F051K8,STM32F051R4,STM32F051R6,STM32F05
1R8
  STM32F100X4,STM32F100X6,STM32F100X8,STM32F100XB,STM32F100XC,STM32F10
0XD
  STM32F100XE,STM32F101X4,STM32F101X6,STM32F101X8,STM32F101XB,STM32F10
1XC
  STM32F101XD,STM32F101XE,STM32F101XF,STM32F101XG,STM32F102X4,STM32F10
2X6
  STM32F102X8,STM32F102XB,STM32F103X4,STM32F103X6,STM32F103X8,STM32F10
3XB
  STM32F103XC,STM32F103XD,STM32F103XE,STM32F103XF,STM32F103XG,STM32F10
7X8
  STM32F107XB,STM32F107XC,STM32F105R8,STM32F105RB,STM32F105RC,STM32F10
5V8
  STM32F105VB,STM32F105VC,STM32F107RB,STM32F107RC,STM32F107VB,STM32F10
7VC
  STM32F401CB,STM32F401RB,STM32F401VB,STM32F401CC,STM32F401RC,STM32F40
1VC
  DISCOVERYF401VC,STM32F401CD,STM32F401RD,STM32F401VD,STM32F401CE
  STM32F401RE,NUCLEOF401RE,STM32F401VE,STM32F407VG,DISCOVERYF407VG
  STM32F407IG,STM32F407ZG,STM32F407VE,STM32F407ZE,STM32F407IE,STM32F41
1CC
  STM32F411RC,STM32F411VC,STM32F411CE,STM32F411RE,NUCLEOF411RE
  STM32F411VE,DISCOVERYF411VE,STM32F429VG,STM32F429ZG,STM32F429IG
  STM32F429VI,STM32F429ZI,DISCOVERYF429ZI,STM32F429II,STM32F429VE
  STM32F429ZE,STM32F429IE,STM32F429BG,STM32F429BI,STM32F429BE,STM32F42
9NG
  STM32F429NI,STM32F429NE,STM32F446MC,STM32F446RC,STM32F446VC,STM32F44
6ZC
  STM32F446ME,STM32F446RE,NUCLEOF446RE,STM32F446VE,STM32F446ZE
  STM32F745XE,STM32F745XG,STM32F746XE,STM32F746XG,STM32F756XE,STM32F75
6XG
  LM3S1110,LM3S1133,LM3S1138,LM3S1150,LM3S1162,LM3S1165,LM3S1166,LM3S2
110
  LM3S2139,LM3S6100,LM3S6110,LM3S1601,LM3S1608,LM3S1620,LM3S1635,LM3S1
636
  LM3S1637,LM3S1651,LM3S2601,LM3S2608,LM3S2620,LM3S2637,LM3S2651,LM3S6
610
  LM3S6611,LM3S6618,LM3S6633,LM3S6637,LM3S8630,LM3S1911,LM3S1918,LM3S1
937
  LM3S1958,LM3S1960,LM3S1968,LM3S1969,LM3S2911,LM3S2918,LM3S2919,LM3S2
939
  LM3S2948,LM3S2950,LM3S2965,LM3S6911,LM3S6918,LM3S6938,LM3S6950,LM3S6
952
  LM3S6965,LM3S8930,LM3S8933,LM3S8938,LM3S8962,LM3S8970,LM3S8971,LM3S5
951
  LM3S5956,LM3S1B21,LM3S2B93,LM3S5B91,LM3S9B81,LM3S9B90,LM3S9B92,LM3S9
B95
  LM3S9B96,LM3S5D51,LM4F120H5,SC32442B,XMC4500X1024,XMC4500X768
  XMC4502X768,XMC4504X512,ALLWINNER_A20,MK20DX128VFM5,MK20DX128VFT5
  MK20DX128VLF5,MK20DX128VLH5,TEENSY30,MK20DX128VMP5,MK20DX32VFM5
  MK20DX32VFT5,MK20DX32VLF5,MK20DX32VLH5,MK20DX32VMP5,MK20DX64VFM5
  MK20DX64VFT5,MK20DX64VLF5,MK20DX64VLH5,MK20DX64VMP5,MK20DX128VLH7
 
MK20DX128VLK7,MK20DX128VLL7,MK20DX128VMC7,MK20DX256VLH7,MK20DX256VLK7
  MK20DX256VLL7,MK20DX256VMC7,TEENSY31,TEENSY32,MK20DX64VLH7,MK20DX64V
LK7
  MK20DX64VMC7,MK22FN512CAP12,MK22FN512CBP12,MK22FN512VDC12
  MK22FN512VLH12,MK22FN512VLL12,MK22FN512VMP12,FREEDOM_K22F
  MK64FN1M0VDC12,MK64FN1M0VLL12,FREEDOM_K64F,MK64FN1M0VLQ12
  MK64FN1M0VMD12,MK64FX512VDC12,MK64FX512VLL12,MK64FX512VLQ12
  MK64FX512VMD12,ATSAM3X8E,ARDUINO_DUE,FLIP_N_CLICK,NRF51422_XXAA
 
NRF51422_XXAB,NRF51422_XXAC,NRF51822_XXAA,NRF51822_XXAB,NRF51822_XXAC
  NRF52832_XXAA,NRF52840_XXAA,THUMB2_BARE

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leiradel · 2017-06-08 11:45

Quote from: HeavyUser on June 08, 2017, 02:42:54 amI'm sorry but I'm a
bit confused. Are you looking to build an OS emulator or a hardware
emulator or something along the lines of dosbox? In any case have you
seen ultibo? a small kernel for arm rasberry Pi that supports network
and threads (If I remember correctly). It does not emulate any
hardware though. You could use that as your base. In any case I'm out
of my comfort zone for this one.
here is the developers announcement in this forum
http://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,31364.0.html

Since the simulator is converted to Lua, I'd have to serialize the
entire Lua VM state to implement savestates and netplay (netplay uses
savestates behind the scene.) Although there is a serialization
library for Lua, I'd rather implement it differently.

I'm not trying to simulate an entire machine, just the bare minimum
which allows me to run the simulators. Imagine the machine as a
console to run the simulators, and that each simulator would be a
cartridge. I don't even have to simulate the LCD or the audio, I can
abstract them from the machine as I/O ports i.e.

Code: ASM  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i mov al, 5;
5 is the intro musicout 34, al; 35 is the port that starts playing
soundsmov al, 17 ; 17 is the player at its initial positionout 35, al
; turn it onout 36, al ; turn it off
If I manage to specify such a machine and have FPC generate code for
its CPU, I can generate savestates by just writing the RAM contents of
the simulated machine, along with the LCD state.

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leiradel · 2017-06-08 11:47

Quote from: Thaddy on June 08, 2017, 08:28:35 amI have to check for
AVR and others but for e.g. ARM (embedded), apart from generic armv5
and higher, these specific processors are supported:
Supported Microcontroller types:
How is the memory model for the embedded target? I can use an existing
ARM emulator, but I need to emulate at least some of the target
machine to be able to use the binary produced by FPC.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
leiradel · 2017-06-08 12:04

Quote from: leiradel on June 08, 2017, 01:47:24 pmHow is the memory
model for the embedded target? I can use an existing ARM emulator, but
I need to emulate at least some of the target machine to be able to
use the binary produced by FPC.

I took a look at the Wiki page for the embedded target, and it looks
more limiting than the DOS target in terms of memory. Is it possible
to make FPC disregard these limits when linking the final binary, and
pretend the hardware has more flash and SRAM? Will the CPUs be able to
address more memory than the amount in the specs?