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One could emulate those 8 bit CPU's and get good performance too. The bonus being able to continue using well tuned, mature routines. An emulation done once,
by ddingus 4y ago
One could emulate those 8 bit CPU's and get good performance too.
The bonus being able to continue using well tuned, mature routines.
An emulation done once, would bring the whole works onto a new CPU.
- adhesive_wombat 4y agoMaybe, but a well-tested routine running in a new emulator is no longer well-tested. There's a careful value judgement to be made there. For example, if you have many products all in some dying 8-bit architecture, and it's easier to write the emulator once and then all the products are rescued, then good. If you spend 6 months writing the emulator to save yourself from 6 weeks of porting one simple program, less good. This is when "hey wouldn't it be really cool if" meets the cold realities of commercial engineering.
- ddingus 4y agoI have seen all sorts of stuff done small scale commercial. I agree with you. I took this particular case to mean there are lots of products. Could also just put the CPU into an FPGA, which would be a choice I would look hard at personally. Many 8 bitters are out there, some cycle exact. Then one has a hardware solution to build. Could go quicker.
- adhesive_wombat 4y agoWatch out for FPGAs this year: the prices are running something like 200x normal, if you can buy them at all. A $5 part is over $1000 on the grey market.
- ddingus 4y agoYes, prices and availability are all over the place. I personally would emulate. Over all, the take away is portability has more flex in it than is often recognized.