#Cloning the Future
3 messages in this thread
I have no idea if that means that.
Personally – I doubt that _any_ risc processor is fast enough at
_this_ point in time to emulate the Amiga chipset in real time…
which means that games and similar apps would not work, or not work
as well. However, for many types of applications, it wouldn't hurt.
I could easily be wrong, as I've not studied this – it's an impression
garnered indirectly.
It does seem quite a bit for 1 RISC processor to handle all the
functions of Lisa, Alice, and Paula chips and still maintain a decent
speed. I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but it would be quite a
chore I would imagine.
To envision it, I think small. When a register is written, status
flags, for instance, must respond in time for the next CPU access.
thinking at (only) 7mhz, a bus cycle is still sub-microsecond – a
write can be immediately followed by a read, both of which may be
coming from cached instructions in the case of an 040, all of which
implies the RISC chip better have it's apples in a row to get
everything working "just like" the original was.
Of course, this deopends on how far you take it, too… the bus can be
stalled while Mr. RISC does its job, but then things begin to work
unlike the original… too much of that and it's noticable, or worse,
debilitating.
Anyway, I wouldn't do it that way. 🙂