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guest11527

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MuTools and more updated to V46
« on: December 15, 2016, 11:39:30 AM »
Hi folks,

yesterday, a major update of MuTools and the mmu.lib appeared in the Aminet, along with additional tools around it. Since the list of updates is so long, it's probably good to give an overview on what happened:

- mmu.library
Except minor bug fixes, the library introduces one new concept, namely that of "Context Windows". This is a set of memory regions whose MMU mapping can be rapidly changed between various pre-defined settings, as to map in hardware quickly or switch between multiple configurations quickly.

- MuManual
Reworked the manual completely. This is more a second edition which was proofread, extended and corrected. Especially, I added the documentation for the ContextWindows, and for the internal interface by which the library talks to "LIBS:mmu" commands and the MMUInit module.

The archive also contains example codes, e.g. that of MuSetCacheMode, or a demo of the context windows, along with all the includes, .fd files and prototypes.

- CPU libraries.
No major changes, except that the interface towards p5emu.library and P5Init was somehow reworked and is much looser now (the CPU libraries are not supposed to know, they are patched by p5init). The advantage of this design is that many (most? all?) P5 graphic cards should now work out of the box without further patching of the CGFx driver. P5 PPC hardware is still in the stage of being unsupported due to lack of documentation.

- MuFastROM:
Support of CD32 ROMs. In particular, MuFastROM can now also mirror the extension area of the ROM.

- MuScan, MuForce:
Support of context windows (see above, a new feature).

- MuProtectModules:
Supports V45 of LoadModule (see below). In addition, MuProtectModules can now also relocate loaded modules into faster 32 bit RAM if necessary. On some boards, modules can only be placed in autoconfiguring slow 16-bit RAM, but MuProtectModules now includes an option to mirror them to 32-bit RAM.

- Installer
Also recognizes now P5 PPC boards correctly now in case their ROM-based CPU libraries have been removed by BPPC fix. This was a last-minute change Harald ("Rotzlöffel") and I found two weeks ago.

Unfortunately, Hyperion reacted too slow for this release, but in the next release, I will be able to include the 3.9 Installer program to avoid the hassle of 3.1 users first requiring this binary for installation of the tools. The "go" came just hours too late.

License conditions for the installer were unacceptable before ("you need a written permission by Commodore Büromaschinen GmbH", yeah - right!)


- MuMapRom:
Reworked again to support additional boards and to enhance compatibility.


- MuFastChip,MuFastZero,MuMove4,MuSetCacheMode,MuRedox,MuGuardianAngel:
No changes necessary, work OOB with the new library due to its stable interface. The only thing I changed was my contact email.

Associated to the MuTools, but not exactly in the package, the following also appeared two days ago:


- LoadModule and Extractmodules:
Completely reworked and extended versios of the tools. The new feature is that "ExtractModules" now recognizes the contents of the modules it extracts, and can name and place them itself. If you call "ExtractModules" without any arguments, it will "spill" the contents of the ROM updates exactly in the right places on your disk (namely, LIBS:, DEVS: and L:) so that LoadModule can pick them up from there.

I didn't even know that the ROM Updates included an exec version for the walker. Well, here you go...

LoadModule became much more intelligent now. In addition to a string of module names, "LoadModule" takes now also a single argument "AUTO" which automatically scans your system for replacement modules and loads them. Thus, "just place the new layers.library into LIBS: and LoadModule will pick it for you". The same goes for the shell, the file system... and everything else ExtractModules found - or is somewhere in the ROM of the system. The modules are also sorted by system, so you can keep several versions of the same module on the disk, for multiple systems.

Hence, you no longer need to know which modules to replace, or edit the startup-sequence for that. Of course, the manual mode continues to work if you want to fine-tune.

In addition, LoadModule can now also replace the exec.library (provided the library has been prepared in the right way, the 3.9 version is). The mechanism for this stunt is a little bit different, but also a lot simpler than that in SetPatch, and also works in case the system placed exec in autoconfiguring memory.

The only library neither SetPatch nor LoadModule is able to replace consistently througout all boards is expansion. Lukely, there is not much about it that requires replacement, hence...

I hope "LoadModule" will gain some importance in the future, and will be able to replace the rather "closed" ROM-Updates mechanism of SetPatch. The functionality offered by LoadModule is much more flexible and open: Whenever you need a ROM module replaced, just put it in its right path (e.g. LIBS: or DEVS:) and the system will pick it up for you automatically. Details - as always - in the documentation.

So long,

Thomas
 

Offline kolla

Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2016, 03:32:28 PM »
I like the description of new LoadModule - great, thanks! MuFastROM for CD32 also sounds good, I suppose the SX32 Pro with full MMU 030 is the only system where it can be useful? Well, I just happen to have one :)
B5D6A1D019D5D45BCC56F4782AC220D8B3E2A6CC
---
A3000/060CSPPC+CVPPC/128MB + 256MB BigRAM/Deneb USB
A4000/CS060/Mediator4000Di/Voodoo5/128MB
A1200/Blz1260/IndyAGA/192MB
A1200/Blz1260/64MB
A1200/Blz1230III/32MB
A1200/ACA1221
A600/V600v2/Subway USB
A600/Apollo630/32MB
A600/A6095
CD32/SX32/32MB/Plipbox
CD32/TF328
A500/V500v2
A500/MTec520
CDTV
MiSTer, MiST, FleaFPGAs and original Minimig
Peg1, SAM440 and Mac minis with MorphOS
 

Offline utri007

Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2016, 05:19:51 PM »
Quote from: kolla;817755
I like the description of new LoadModule - great, thanks! MuFastROM for CD32 also sounds good, I suppose the SX32 Pro with full MMU 030 is the only system where it can be useful? Well, I just happen to have one :)

It is usefull with any Amiga wich have 1mb custom kickstart.
ACube Sam 440ep Flex 800mhz, 1gb ram and 240gb hd and OS4.1FE
A1200 Micronic tower, OS3.9, Apollo 060 66mhz, xPert Merlin, Delfina Lite and Micronic Scandy, 500Gb hd, 66mb ram, DVD-burner and WLAN.
A1200 desktop, OS3.9, Blizzard 060 66mhz, 66mb ram, Ide Fix Express with 160Gb HD and WLAN
A500 OS2.1, GVP+HD8 with 4mb ram, 1mb chip ram and 4gb HD
Commodore CDTV KS3.1, 1mb chip, 4mb fast ram and IDE HD
 

guest11527

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Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2016, 07:53:39 PM »
Quote from: utri007;817759
It is usefull with any Amiga wich have 1mb custom kickstart.

Yes, and many thanks for testing!

Be reminded, however, that only A1200 and A4000 (besides the CD32) can take 1MB ROMs. Even then, at least a couple of 1MB ROMs are "wrong" in a particular sense. The ROM size (at ROMEnd) does *not* indicate the total size of the ROM, but only the size of the upper ROM area, hence can be at most indicate a size of 512K. I currently added a workaround to the tools, though I would prefer if people would stop playing with it.
 

Offline Gulliver

Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2016, 03:27:21 AM »
Thank you Thomas.
 

Offline Drummerboy

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Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2016, 07:47:38 AM »
I am testing Muforce and MuGuardianAngel, and work very nice, providing stability to M1230XA Accelerator.
Amiga 1000, 500, 600, 2000, 1200, 4000...

C= VIC 20 / 64 /SX64/ 128

Atari 600XL (SIC Cartdridge)
Atari 800XL (SIO2SD unit)

Jay Miner`s Atari 2600 - Wood front -

\\"Amiga, this Computer have a Own Live\\"--\\"Silence When the Drums are Talking\\".... DrummerBoy
 

Offline AmiDude

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Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2016, 11:11:44 AM »
Quote from: Drummerboy;817774
I am testing Muforce and MuGuardianAngel, and work very nice, providing stability to M1230XA Accelerator.


I've an M1230XA up and running here, and it's very stable without the MU software. I figure: the more little hacks and commands, the more unstable the system becomes.
At least, that's my experience. I'd like to keep my systems simple & original.
:cool:
 

guest11527

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Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2016, 12:13:59 PM »
Quote from: AmiDude;817776
I've an M1230XA up and running here, and it's very stable without the MU software. I figure: the more little hacks and commands, the more unstable the system becomes.

The 68030 has a particular bug that becomes most apparent on bridgeboards where it causes hangs and that can be successfully worked around by using the MMU, so I wouldn't really call this "becoming more unstable".

The bug is that the 68030 caches long-word aligned long-word writes in its data cache even if the cache-inhibit pin of the CPU signals that it should not to. Typically, the data cache of the 030 is small enough to let programs get away with it, but in particular situations interesting and strange things can happen due to this problem. For example, the CBM bridgeboard software had a loop that was tight enough to run into the issue.
 

Offline utri007

Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #8 on: December 16, 2016, 12:28:12 PM »
Thomas : Would MU libraries help with 68060 and Bridgeboard? I have 8088 bridgeboard wich has a latest bios.
ACube Sam 440ep Flex 800mhz, 1gb ram and 240gb hd and OS4.1FE
A1200 Micronic tower, OS3.9, Apollo 060 66mhz, xPert Merlin, Delfina Lite and Micronic Scandy, 500Gb hd, 66mb ram, DVD-burner and WLAN.
A1200 desktop, OS3.9, Blizzard 060 66mhz, 66mb ram, Ide Fix Express with 160Gb HD and WLAN
A500 OS2.1, GVP+HD8 with 4mb ram, 1mb chip ram and 4gb HD
Commodore CDTV KS3.1, 1mb chip, 4mb fast ram and IDE HD
 

Offline AmiDude

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Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #9 on: December 16, 2016, 01:58:52 PM »
Quote from: Thomas Richter;817777
The 68030 has a particular bug that becomes most apparent on bridgeboards where it causes hangs and that can be successfully worked around by using the MMU, so I wouldn't really call this "becoming more unstable".

The bug is that the 68030 caches long-word aligned long-word writes in its data cache even if the cache-inhibit pin of the CPU signals that it should not to. Typically, the data cache of the 030 is small enough to let programs get away with it, but in particular situations interesting and strange things can happen due to this problem. For example, the CBM bridgeboard software had a loop that was tight enough to run into the issue.


I don't own a bridgeboard and my system is véry stable and doesn't need software workarounds or any other hacks. Ofcourse, I can't speak for other people with different configurations.
 

guest11527

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Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #10 on: December 16, 2016, 02:50:35 PM »
Quote from: utri007;817778
Thomas : Would MU libraries help with 68060 and Bridgeboard? I have 8088 bridgeboard wich has a latest bios.

Well, the 68060 requires the MMU anyhow, no matter whether you have a bridgeboard installed or not.

So, in one way or another, you need a 68060.library. I provide one, but not the only one of course. Probably the only one that is still maintained.
 

guest11527

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Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #11 on: December 16, 2016, 02:52:41 PM »
Quote from: AmiDude;817779
I don't own a bridgeboard and my system is véry stable and doesn't need software workarounds or any other hacks.
Actually, where is the hack here?

Well, believe it or not, this 68030 bug is reality. You probably haven't triggered it in your setup, or you haven't noticed or correlated a problem with this bug, but it doesn't go away from not looking. I'm only giving you a particular well-known manifestation of it.
 

Offline Oldsmobile_Mike

Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #12 on: December 17, 2016, 12:26:03 AM »
Quote from: AmiDude;817776
I'd like to keep my systems simple & original.
:cool:

And some people like to push their systems "to the limits".  Your point is?  :p
Amiga 500: 2MB Chip|16MB Fast|30MHz 68030+68882|3.9|Indivision ECS|GVP A500HD+|Mechware card reader + 8GB CF|Cocolino|SCSI DVD-RAM
Amiga 2000: 2MB Chip|136MB Fast|50MHz 68060|3.9|Indivision ECS + GVP Spectrum|Mechware card reader + 8GB CF|AD516|X-Surf 100|RapidRoad|Cocolino|SCSI CD-RW
 Amiga videos and other misc. stuff at https://www.youtube.com/CompTechMike/videos
 

Offline Drummerboy

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Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2016, 03:43:32 AM »
In fact this system (from where i´m writing right now) is very stable and original. But extremely rare times could crash on Internet. On the other hand,  few WHDload games have problems even changing some commands as "noautovec" and others. With MuForce some WHDload games with problems are working now.
Amiga 1000, 500, 600, 2000, 1200, 4000...

C= VIC 20 / 64 /SX64/ 128

Atari 600XL (SIC Cartdridge)
Atari 800XL (SIO2SD unit)

Jay Miner`s Atari 2600 - Wood front -

\\"Amiga, this Computer have a Own Live\\"--\\"Silence When the Drums are Talking\\".... DrummerBoy
 

Offline AmiDude

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Re: MuTools and more updated to V46
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2016, 12:27:50 PM »
Quote from: Thomas Richter;817781
Actually, where is the hack here?

Well, believe it or not, this 68030 bug is reality. You probably haven't triggered it in your setup, or you haven't noticed or correlated a problem with this bug, but it doesn't go away from not looking. I'm only giving you a particular well-known manifestation of it.


So, you solved a 68030 bug. Good for you. I don't need it. As I said earlier;
My 030 based A1200 system is working perfect. Why change things then?
It's more logical to change things when a problem occurs. Maybe other people
have some use for your little program, but I don't. OK, clear now?