137 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
137 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
lib6502 - 6502 Microprocessor Emulator
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Version: 1.0
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WHAT IF I'M TOO LAZY TO READ 'README'S?
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make
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make install
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more examples/README
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WHAT IS LIB6502?
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lib6502 is a library that emulates the 6502 microprocessor. It
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comes with a small 'shell', run6502, that can execute 6502 programs
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from the command line.
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lib6502 is distributed under the MIT license: it is non-infectious
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and will not make your projects contagious to others the instant you
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choose to use lib6502 in them. See the file COPYING for details.
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WHERE IS THE LATEST SOURCE CODE?
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Source code for lib6502 is available from the author's home page at
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'http://piumarta.com/software'. You can download the most recent
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release or use Subversion to get the very latest sources.
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WHERE IS THE DOCUMENTATION?
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Manual pages for run6502 and lib6502 (and all the functions it
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exports) should be available once it is installed. Each includes a
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short 'examples' section. Use the 'man' command to read them.
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Your best place to start looking for documentation on the 6502
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itself is 'http://6502.org'. A google search of the web will also
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turn up vast quantities of information about (and programs for) the
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6502.
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HOW DO I INSTALL IT?
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It's not really big enough to warrant the whole 'configure' thing.
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Any system with an ANSI compiler and C library should be able to
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compile it out of the box. After unpacking the archive, just type:
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make
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to build it. If the compiler blows up immediately, edit the
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Makefile and play with the '-g' and '-O' flags and then try again.
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If you really can't make the compiler happy you've found a bug (read
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the next section but one). Otherwise, if you want it put it
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somewhere more permanent then type:
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make install
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(as root) to install it. It goes into /usr/local by default; if you
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want it elsewhere then set PREFIX in the make command. For example:
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make install PREFIX=/usr
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will put everything under '/usr'.
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When you get bored with it, go back to the source directory and
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type:
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make uninstall
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(with the same PREFIX you specified during the install, if
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necessary.)
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WHAT CAN I DO WITH IT?
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See the file EXAMPLES for some suggestions (all of them polite).
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If that leaves you wanting more, read the source for run6502 -- it
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exercises just about every feature in lib6502.
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HOW DO I REPORT PROBLEMS?^W^WCONTACT THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR?
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[If you wish to get in touch with the author of lib6502, this is the
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address to use. Since lib6502-jit is based on lib6502 but has been
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heavily modified, please do *not* report problems to this address;
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use the address in README instead. -- Steve]
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Send e-mail to the author at: firstName (at) lastName (dot) com
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(For suitable values of firstName and lastName, see the last section
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of this file.)
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If you're still confused, contact him at: http://piumarta.com
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HOW CAN I HELP?
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Use it. Find bugs. Fix bugs. Make it faster. Evangelism: spread
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it to as many other projects as possible, especially those that
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might be using a slower emulator! Read the manual pages to see
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what's considered missing, then add it, then send it in.
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(One thing that would be be really handy, and isn't mentioned in the
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manual pages, is a test suite. Figure out how to test every mode in
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every instruction with every possible combination of operand values
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and condition codes and verify the behaviour is correct. Then write
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it down in the form of a program and send it in. If it's a
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self-contained program that runs once to completion then we can
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probably find some real hardware to test against the test suite.)
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If you know how to write software that emulates peripheral hardware
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devices, google up some details on the popular 6502-based
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microcomputers (Acorn, Commodore, etc.) and add some serious system
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emulation to run6502. Make it all pluggable (think dynamic
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libraries over an 'agnostic' core), so we can change machines at the
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flip of a (command-line) switch. (The callback mechanism in lib6502
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was designed with this kind of 'pluggable hardware emulation' in
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mind.)
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WHO WROTE THIS STUFF, AND WHY?
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lib6502 was written by Ian Piumarta.
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While writing ccg (an entirely different project that creates
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runtime assemblers for dynamic code generators) he decided to
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include support for an 8-bit microprocessor, just for fun. He chose
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the 6502 because it was used in the first computer he owned and
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programmed (an Ohio Scientific Superboard II, when he was 14) as
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well as the second (an Acorn 'BBC Model B', about four years later).
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lib6502 started as a 'glorified switch statement' that ran some
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small test programs spewed into memory by ccg, but rapidly got out
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of control over the course of a weekend. You're looking at the
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result.
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