Linux And Emulation


JohnnyDreadful

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Nov 2, 2009
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Ok, so the Pandora is running a customized disto of linux, right? Why can't you run just a typical emulator built for linux on the pandora? Is it because of the architecture? I'm sorry if this has been answered before, but i DID use search and didn't come up with anything.
 
You can, if it happens to rely purely on supported shared libs and is the right architecture (ARM.)

Why woudl you assume it couldn't? ;) (and of course not restricted to emus; shared libs or apps from other platforms may work, as long as their dependancies are satisfied.)

jeff
 
The real caveat to compiling straight linux emulators for the Pandora is the lack of optimization. Most emulators you're going to find are probably going to be optimized for x86. The reason people get so excited when people like Ari64 show up and make a specific port of Mupen64Plus for ARM (Or even more specifically the OMAP that's in the Pandora and Beagleboard) is because it will actually run at a playable speed. Unlike an unoptimized emulator.

For simpler machines, like the NES or 8bit computers, porting to ARM probably wouldn't benefit much from ARM optimizations. Mainly for smaller systems like that the point of optimizing is to reduce CPU usage and extend battery life, or to take advantage of hardware specific features like hardware scaling.

Skeezix is right though, there is nothing stopping you from compiling any emulator for an ARM based machine, given the right libs and as long as it doesn't contain any x86 specific assembly code. Someone taking the time to build an optimized port just yield better results.
 
skeezix said:
You can, if it happens to rely purely on supported shared libs and is the right architecture (ARM.)

Why woudl you assume it couldn't? ;) (and of course not restricted to emus; shared libs or apps from other platforms may work, as long as their dependancies are satisfied.)

jeff

Well, I looked at the emu ports on the wiki and there was a lot of wip's, so I just figured it wasn't as easy as you would think.
 
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