commit 86fcf540fee66d7c7526b7232637ffad7b6b11d7
parent c9868211fa092aadf0ea0d8a525f9ef49f498833
Author: viznut_web <viznut_web@web>
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2022 13:28:39 +0200
Diffstat:
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/bedrock_platform.mdwn b/bedrock_platform.mdwn
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@ Some possible criteria for bedrock hardware:
* There have been several independent manufacturers for each component.
* Multiple emulators for the platform are commonly available for many different environments.
* There are no copyright issues in regards to the hardware design, firmware IP, etc.
+* It is possible to pinpoint a "standard configuration" that is supposed to run all the programs and can be used for testing software compatibility (usually this means the original version of the hardware or the de-facto most popular variant).
Candidates for bedrock hardware:
-* [[IBM PC]]: Widely cloned, remains ubiquitous, every type of common component has had multiple manufacturers in different parts of the world (with the exception of OPL2/OPL3 common in classical soundcards). Can be emulated by open-source software such as [[QEMU]], Dosbox or Bochs. There are also several different [[DOS]]-compatible operating systems, including FreeDOS.
+* [[IBM PC]]: Widely cloned, remains ubiquitous, every type of common component has had multiple manufacturers in different parts of the world (with the exception of OPL2/OPL3 common in classical soundcards). Can be emulated by open-source software such as [[QEMU]], Dosbox or Bochs. There are also several different [[DOS]]-compatible operating systems, including FreeDOS. Standard configurations may be difficult to pinpoint.
* [[NES]]/Famicom: Widely cloned especially in China/Taiwan without any of the original Japanese components. Huge amount of available emulators, and running a ROM file with one is very straightforward. No software dependencies (as there's no internal firmware ROM).
* [[ZX Spectrum]]: Simple design that was easy enough to duplicate in Eastern-block countries even with 100% non-Western components. Clones are still manufactured, emulators are widely available.
-* [[MSX]]: Standardized platform, every chip used in MSX-1 computers has had both U.S.American and a Japanese manufacturers. (MSX-2 on the other hand depends on specific Yamaha chips). Emulators widely available. The firmware ROMs may pose issues as long as Microsoft exists.
+* [[MSX]]: Standardized platform, every chip used in MSX-1 computers has had both U.S.American and a Japanese manufacturers. (MSX-2 on the other hand depends on specific Yamaha chips). Emulators widely available. The firmware ROMs may pose issues as long as Microsoft exists. Also, there's no obvious standard configuration.
[[Raspberry Pi]] is an example of a platform that fails the criteria. It depends on a single-manufacturer SoC chip (Broadcom BCM2835) that doesn't have full documentation available. QEMU emulates some versions of the platform to some extent but this emulation does not cover the undocumented parts of the chip (e.g. running the GPU firmware code).
