Date   : Thu, 20 May 2010 17:30:37 -0700
From   : kieran@... (Kieran Mockford)
Subject: ARM7TDMI Emulation preview for BeebEm

Hi Folks,

Here's a preview of the Windows version of BeebEm with support
added for Sprow's amazing ARM7TDMI Co-Processor.
Details here: http://www.sprow.co.uk/bbc/armcopro.htm

Find the (temporarily modified version of BeebEm) here:
http://home.kindredintellect.com/beeb/Software/ARM7TDMI/BeebEm

Please do give it a try and let me know if you find problems.

There are two .zip files on the server:

1. BeebEm_ARMCoPro_src.zip
   This contains all the sources required to build the version
   of BeebEm, including the Visual Studio 2008 project/solution
   etc.
   
2. BeebEm_ARMCoPro_bin.zip
   A compiled binary (with the optimization turned all the way
   up).
   
NOTE: In order for the ARM7TDMI entry on the Second Processor
menu to become enabled, you must get a ROM image from your
actual ARM7TDMI Co-Processor equipped machine.

You can get this in the following way:

1. Enable the real Co-Pro on your Beeb
2. *SAVE SPROWRM C8000000+80000

This will create a 512kB file which needs to be placed into
your BeebFile directory (next to 6502Tube.rom etc.) and renamed
from 'SPROWRM' to 'SPROW.ROM'.

Which ARM emulator is being used?

The code is the ARMulator that ARM distribute under the GPL. 
Including a couple of minor modifications that I found
necessary to make it work correctly.

How much of the Co-Pro hardware is supported?

Enough of the OKI SoC to run all of the code I've tried that
works on the real hardware. See below.

If something doesn't work, then let me know and I'll do my
best to fix it!

Here's what I've tried:
- Built-in ROM software including BASIC.
- All the C samples from Sprow's website compiled with Yagarto)
- Various test code from Sprow
- My own extended NewLib support for C-Library using the latest
  Yagarto (EABI, 4.5.0)
- I even have Microsoft's .NET Micro Framework ported and working with
  a basic framebuffer->host system for graphics.
  
Why did I do this?

Debugging of my Co-Processor code! Cross compiling and wandering
back and forth with a USB key was a barrier to productivity!

In the future it might be interesting to incorporate ARM 
debugging support into BeebEm.

Also on the server is an extended set of support files for using
Yagarto's GCC toolchain with the CoPro.

Find it here:
http://home.kindredintellect.com/beeb/Software/ARM7TDMI/Programming/

Credits where credits are due:
sprow:  for a splendid piece of hardware that everyone with
        a Beeb should get, i.e. the ARM7TDMI Co-Processor :)
        Also, a serious thanks for Sprow's support in getting
        this emulation going.
          
Changelog
========

v0.1a: 20th May 2010
 - Initial Preview