[Libre-soc-dev] video assembler

[Lauri Kasanen]

On Mon, 10 May 2021 15:35:23 +0100
Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl at lkcl.net> wrote:

> > Is it able to run an actual binary,
>
> yes.
>
> > with input, output
>
> only by pre-prearing the registers and memory (as the "input") then
> extracting those afterwards, and reviewing the registers (and memory)
> afterwards.
>
> very similar to gdb.
>
> > and file access?
>
> file access? no.  this is absolute basic "bare metal".  concepts like
> "files" require vast and i do mean vast amounts of infrastructure.
>
> the best we can do right now is at the level of gdb "$print".  or equivalent.

By file access I meant "load the contents of this file to the simulated
memory here" and "save the contents of simulated memory here, size N, to
this file". Which is comparable to other hw simulators of similar
ability. I'm sure it can be hacked by directly editing the python when
running, but explicit support is user-friendly.

Such an isolated simulator is on the edge of whether it makes sense to
act now or not. Having to isolate each func, and extract various test
data gets old fast (vs running a full binary against full files).
Running a full ffmpeg binary is certainly not possible under it. I will
think about it.

- Lauri