From Newsgroup: comp.sys.cbm
Yep. I've seen it in action.
I am not a whiz at the electronics stuff but from what I understand the
main part of the C-1 is that it uses FPGA (field programmable gate
arrays) which have the properties of RAM to hold information but also of microprocessors as it uses the information it holds in it's RAM to
virtually create circuitry functions. Much more efficient than current
cross hardware emulation on PCs where the computer has to work with the processor and then has an emulation program on top of it's own operating
system to adapt the emulated computer to work, here's a simple diagram:
Game System/PC/Mac/Etc. Emulation:
PC Hardware + BIOS + OS + (Software Emulation of 8-bit chips) = Virtual computer
On the C-1 It's more like this:
C1 Hardware + (Emulation BIOS) = Virtual Computer
Since the emulation is just after the hardware things happen a lot
quicker and there is less 'battling' the restraints of the PC BIOS and
OS to get things done. The BIOS is the emulation and interface to the
C1s hardware so it can do just about anything with what circuits it has available. So it makes recreating a computer a lot more efficient
programming wise and execution wise.
Check out the site:
http://www.c64upgra.de/c-one/
and see what the features are. When reading it to see how flexible it
is - keep in mind the sound voices and screen colors/resolutions are the creation of the FPGA software not set by on-board solid state chips.
The physical limits are the data bus width/speed, memory, interfaces and capacities of the FPGA chips on the C1.
Larry
Godfather wrote:
Aloha,
I just saw the specs on the C1 official website, and it says the
hardware
is re-configureable, in a way that it can run other computer software.
(I think it says something about Atari 800. Apple IIe, etc.)
Is it for real ? I mean, can this be considered something that we will
see in reality, or is it just plain theory ? How does the hardware
change takes place ? Is it right to call it semi-emulation ?
The Godfather
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