supermario

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History

Elliot Nunn 1f6879c5d5 Remove trailing Git version number from patchsets		2019-10-01 17:28:45 +08:00
..
1-include-file-shims.patch	Remove trailing Git version number from patchsets	2019-10-01 17:28:45 +08:00
2-build-system.patch	Remove trailing Git version number from patchsets	2019-10-01 17:28:45 +08:00
3-amphibian-dna.patch	Remove trailing Git version number from patchsets	2019-10-01 17:28:45 +08:00
4-appletalk.patch	Remove trailing Git version number from patchsets	2019-10-01 17:28:45 +08:00
5-vm.patch	Remove trailing Git version number from patchsets	2019-10-01 17:28:45 +08:00
6-source.patch	Remove trailing Git version number from patchsets	2019-10-01 17:28:45 +08:00
7-filthy-hacks-for-newworld-rom.patch	Remove trailing Git version number from patchsets	2019-10-01 17:28:45 +08:00
readme.md	Split off Cube-E/NewWorld hackery	2019-04-16 11:32:02 +08:00

readme.md

I tried to get System 7.1 (Cube-E) running on top of a NewWorld ROM in QEMU. It was really fun. Some observations follow...

The NewWorld ROM is recognised as a SuperMario ROM ($077D).

The Linked Patches are easier to work with than they look. Just add an object file to LinkedPatchObjs that takes advantage of the LinkedPatchMacros (InstallProc, PatchProc, leaResident...) and the loader will make sure it becomes part of the System. Let there be no doubt, the Linked Patches are an integral part of System 7. They should be RE'd.

Relatively little of the on-disk System deals with hardware directly. The ROM kinda-sorta acts as a hardware abstraction layer. Only it has heaps of bugs and missing features that need to be worked around. For example, I expected hardware interrupts to ruin everything but this didn't happen.

MacsBug works! It's a bit nicer than spamming the NanoKernel log. MacsBug did eventually start giving me nonsense explanations for software exceptions. I thought this could be worked around by disabling the DR emulator, but this seemingly had no effect.

Developing the System and the ROM at the same time must have been a huge relief for the NewWorld devs. Being unable to edit the ROM directly (because my build system wasn't set up) was very frustrating.

Things that I couldn't figure out: Balloon Help wouldn't install despite much massaging, and this tripped up the Process Mgr. The global MenuList was, at a later stage, getting corrupted and I couldn't figure that out. Skipping over it, eventually the Memory Manager and Trap Dispatcher would die.

It was great fun! Definitely worth revisiting later.