Software Emulator

[Richi Plana]

On Sat, 2007-02-17 at 17:36 +0100, Koen Kooi wrote:
> > Seems one of the more common sentiments around here (myself included). I
> > was wondering if we could get a statement from Sean et al. on where a
> > software emulator 
> 
> What do you want to emulate?
> 
> If it's the cpu, qemu can do that, but not 100%, so you still need a real arm920t device
> to test on.
> If it's the screen, you don't have a 300dpi screen on your desk, so you still need a real
> device to see if the gui makes sense.
> If it's the touchscreen, you also need a real device.
> If it's the gsm modem, you still need a external modem.

Software phone emulator for the ARM binaries. And yes, I'm aware that
there are emulators out there which emulate the processor, but not
necessarily the machine. I wasn't asking if FIC was developing their own
emulator, but rather what their plans where with regards to providing an
emulator for software developers. One possibility is that they could
package up qemu and add the things (configuration, etc.) needed to
emulate the Neo1973.

> If it's just the apps, Xoo is good enough.
> 
> Running openmoko built natively inside Xoo/Xephyr/Xnest is Good Enough(tm) for the biggest
> part of people trying to get an idea of openmoko.

"For the biggest part" may be true, but I've done extensive work on
embedded software development for phones and I can tell you there are
just a lot of things that you'd think was alright because they worked
well when natively compiled on the host machine but which functioned
very differently on the hardware platform. We've gotten complaints of
engines being too slow or too fat. And software development WILL include
low level subsystems like developing IMEs, integer pixops, etc. "Good
enough" is relative.

I wouldn't recommend writing something from scratch. Reuse qemu, yes,
but I don't think qemu is at that point where it emulates all the
hardware and functionality of the Neo1973, and that's what I was asking
about. This "planning" includes exactly how the various bits of hardware
(touchscreen, modem, etc.) will be emulated using qemu. I'm wondering if
FIC will initiate a concerted effort into doing so.
--

Richi Plana