Author Topic: z80 emulation on 68k  (Read 6440 times)

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Offline Ancient Power

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z80 emulation on 68k
« on: June 30, 2010, 07:08:00 pm »
I've come across this article on ticalc several times:

http://www.ticalc.org/community/articles/17.html

I myself had wondered before I saw it if it was possible. The article is dated 1998, and since then we've gotten two 68k calcs that are more powerful, three GB emulators, and many other things that can prove this possible. The 12MHz 68k processor is actually faster than the 15MHz z80(but we'd be emulating the 6MHz models anyways), and the z80 can emulate the weaker z80s(although slowly and on extremely similar hardware), but it wouldn't hurt to ask anyways, is it possible now? If it's possible, how well would it work? Is anyone willing to make an emulator to try it?

Offline apcalc

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Re: z80 emulation on 68k
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2010, 08:08:17 pm »
I am by no means an expert on programming (all I know is TI-BASIC and a little C) but I question if this would be possible.  I think calc84mainiac, who is writing a TI-89 emulator for the TI-Nspire, said that it would run slower than the actual calc despite the fact that the Nspire is (i think) 150 MHz.  Also, since TI is essentinally phasing out all 68k calcs in favor of the Nspire, I don't know how many 68k programmers are left. The number of new good programs for 68k calcs has dropped dramatically in the past few years.  I would love to try to do this, but I only know a little bit of C (I am in the process of learning) and I don't think a good emulator can be written in C; likewise, I would have no idea where to start when writing an emulator.


Offline bwang

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Re: z80 emulation on 68k
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2010, 08:13:10 pm »
Considering that the 89 can emulate a Gameboy at acceptable speed, I believe this is possible.

Offline Ancient Power

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Re: z80 emulation on 68k
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2010, 08:30:23 pm »
I think calc84mainiac, who is writing a TI-89 emulator for the TI-Nspire, said that it would run slower than the actual calc despite the fact that the Nspire is (i think) 150 MHz.
He updated it, and actually had to slow it down because it ran so fast.

Offline calc84maniac

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Re: z80 emulation on 68k
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2010, 10:30:03 pm »
I think calc84mainiac, who is writing a TI-89 emulator for the TI-Nspire, said that it would run slower than the actual calc despite the fact that the Nspire is (i think) 150 MHz.
He updated it, and actually had to slow it down because it ran so fast.
What? I never said anything like that.
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: z80 emulation on 68k
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2010, 11:12:09 pm »
It was still much slower, if I recall. I guess it has to do with having to emulate a 15-16 MHz processor and a more complex processor than z80.

Also, there is already a z80 emulator for 68k calcs, altough it only runs ASM games, not emulate the entire calc. There's also a GB emu.

http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/388/38820.html
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/369/36950.html

Offline Ancient Power

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Re: z80 emulation on 68k
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2010, 11:32:38 pm »
I think calc84mainiac, who is writing a TI-89 emulator for the TI-Nspire, said that it would run slower than the actual calc despite the fact that the Nspire is (i think) 150 MHz.
He updated it, and actually had to slow it down because it ran so fast.
What? I never said anything like that.
I looked back at it and realized that I misread the thread, several other people implied it would need to be slowed down :<

Also, I have the GB emulator and it is amazing considering what it's running on.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2010, 01:09:57 am by Ancient Power »

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Re: z80 emulation on 68k
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2010, 11:35:36 pm »
It was probably some misconception about the processor speeds. Many people assume that a processor of a certain speed can emulate every single slower MHz processors, regardless of the hardware to emulate and the processor architecture.

Offline Lionel Debroux

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Re: z80 emulation on 68k
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2010, 07:17:52 am »
chronomex (Duncan Smith of ticalc) is currently working on a TI-Z80 emulator for TI-68k calculators, it's in a fairly early stage. See http://github.com/chronomex/680
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Re: z80 emulation on 68k
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2010, 07:31:45 am »
That seems interesting, I would like to see this come out

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Re: z80 emulation on 68k
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2010, 08:22:38 am »
Me too. Maybe this is just what the 68k community needs...


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Re: z80 emulation on 68k
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2010, 06:35:25 pm »
Me too. Maybe this is just what the 68k community needs...
It also need less trolling from a person I will not name (most people who have been in the community for a while knows who I am talking about). That person pretty much killed the entire 68k community, starting with the French one. Sadly, the issue cannot be solved unless the person is banned from the sites where other developers gather. :(