emulator

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on Olimex ESP32-SBC-FabGL board runs DOS, offers VGA , PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors

Olimex ESP32-SBC-FabGL board runs DOS, offers VGA , PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors

Olimex ESP32-SBC-FabGL

Olimex ESP32-SBC-FabGL is an ESP32 single board computer that can serve as the brain of a retro computer with a VGA port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and two PS/2 ports for a keyboard and mouse that are handled by the open-source FabGL graphics library. The board also comes with a microSD card slot, a buzzer, and various expansion interfaces, and can be powered via its USB port or a LiPo battery.  FabGL implements several emulators including an Intel 8080 CPU emulator that allows the system to run various versions of DOS among other things. ESP32-SBC-FabGL specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROVER dual-core WiFi and Bluetooth module with 4MB flash, 8MB PSRAM Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – VGA connector, 12-pin LCD HAT connector to enable handheld designs Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, built-in buzzer USB – 1x USB-C port for power and programming User inputs – PS2 keyboard connector, PS2 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments on $25 Sipeed Tang Nano 20K FPGA board can simulate a RISC-V core, run Linux, retro games

$25 Sipeed Tang Nano 20K FPGA board can simulate a RISC-V core, run Linux, retro games

Sipeed Tang Nano 20K

The Sipeed Tang Nano 20K is a low-cost FPGA development board based on Gowin GW2AR-18 FPGA with 20,736 logic cells and 64Mbit RAM, which coupled with  64MBit QSPI flash provides enough resources to simulate a 32-bit RISC-V core booting Linux or playing retro games in an emulator. The FPGA board comes with a USB-C port for power and to load the FPGA bitstream through a BL616 microcontroller that also acts as a USB to serial chip, an HDMI port and an RGB LCD interface for video output, two user buttons, and two rows GPIOs to connect peripherals such as gamepads (through adapters). Sipeed Tang Nano 20K specifications: FPGA – Gowin GW2A-LV18QN88C8I7 with 20,736 logic units (LUT4) 15,552 flip-flops (FF) RAM 41,472 shadow SRAM (S-SRAM) 828K block SRAM (B-SRAM) Numbers of B-SRAM – 46 64Mbit 32-bit SDR SDRAM 48x 18×18 multipliers 2x PLLs 8x I/O Bank Onboard debugger – Bouffalo Labs […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments on Android RISC-V progress update, emulator support, and roadmap to 2023

Android RISC-V progress update, emulator support, and roadmap to 2023

Android 12 RISC-V

We’ve first covered Alibaba T-Head work on Android 10 for RISC-V in January 2021, and later that year they started selling the T-Head RVB-ICE dual-core RISC-V board with GPU for software development. The company has now provided an update for Android 12 RISC-V port, instructions to build Android RISC-V to run it in an emulator,  as well as a 2022-2023 roadmap. Alibaba T-head is working on hardware platforms, which appears to be similar to T-Head RVB-ICE board, with the following minimal specifications: CPU – At least Dual-core XuanTie C910 (rv64imafdcv) processor GPU – Compatible with OpenGL ES and OpenCL VPU – HW Video/Picture codec Neural Network Accelerator System Memory – 4GB or more DDR Memory Display – MIPI/HDMI Audio – Multi-Channel Audio output & input Camera – ISP with support for multiple MIPI CSI lanes USB interface(s) They built upon the work done on Android 10 to add support for […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on QEMU 7.0 released with support for RISC-V KVM, Intel AMX, and more

QEMU 7.0 released with support for RISC-V KVM, Intel AMX, and more

QEMU 7.0

QEMU (Quick EMUlator) is an open-source emulator used to run OS or programs on various architectures such as Arm, RISC-V, and many others when you don’t own specific hardware, or for quick testing. The developers have released QEMU 7.0 a few days ago with over 2500 commits from 225 developers. New features include support for RISC-V KVM and vector extensions, Intel AMX (Advanced Matrix Extension), improved flexibility for fleecing backups, various new features for Arm, and many more. QEMU 7.0 highlights listed by the developers: ACPI: support for logging guest events via ACPI ERST interface virtiofs: improved security label support block: improved flexibility for fleecing backups, including support for non-qcow2 images ARM: ‘virt’ board support for virtio-mem-pci, specifying guest CPU topology, and enabling PAuth when using KVM/hvf ARM: ‘xlnx-versal-virt’ board support for PMC SLCR and emulating the OSPI flash memory controller ARM: ‘xlnx-zynqmp’ now models the CRF and APU control […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Lakka 4.0 game emulator released with LibreELEC 10.0.2 and RetroArch 1.10.1

Lakka 4.0 game emulator released with LibreELEC 10.0.2 and RetroArch 1.10.1

Lakka 4.0 release

Lakka 4.0 is the latest release of the game emulator based on LibreELEC 10.0.2 and RetroArch 1.10.1 frontend GUI for LibRetro game emulators cores. While Lakka was initially designed for Raspberry Pi boards in a way similar to RetroPie, it also works just fine on many other Arm platforms and PCs. Main changes to Lakka 4.0 compared to version 3.7: Build system based on LibreELEC 10.0.2 RetroArch updated to 1.10.1 Cores updated to their most recent versions superbroswar: added new libretro core sameduck: added new libretro core Mesa updated to 22.0.0 Mainline kernel updated to 5.10.103 (PC, Amlogic, Allwinner, NXP) Raspberry kernel updated to 5.10.95 Most arm devices switched to aarch64 Rockchip RK3288, RK3328 and RK3399 switched to mainline kernel 5.10.76 Added support for additional Allwinner and Amlogic devices (not tested on our side, as we do not own many of these devices) Nintendo Switch: complete rewrite of the port […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments on Phytium D2000 ARMv8 Mini PC runs Linux, supports gaming with Box64 emulator

Phytium D2000 ARMv8 Mini PC runs Linux, supports gaming with Box64 emulator

Phytium D2000 Armv8 mini PC

Dragonbox is now taking pre-orders for a “Phytium D2000 ARMv8 Mini PC” with an octa-core 64-bit Arm processor, 16GB RAM, a 512GB NVMe, and an AMD Radeon RX550 GPU that makes it powerful enough to play older PC gaming like Crysis through Box64 x86_64 emulator, the 64-bit version of Box86 x86 emulator compatible with Raspberry Pi and other 32-bit Arm platforms. If the Dragonbox name sounds familiar, it’s because that’s the community that developed the Pyra handheld Linux game console/PC, except now they are offering a mini PC based on Phytium D2000 processor based on the same FTC663 Armv8 cores as found in the earlier Phytium FT2000/4 processor, with both Pythium SoC specifically designed for desktop PCs, contrary to most other Arm SoCs on the market. Phytium D2000 mini PC specifications: SoC –  Phytium D2000 ARMv8 octa-core custom Armv8 (FTC663) desktop processor @ 2.3 – 2.6 GHz with 8MB L2 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments on ODROID-N2+ review with Ubuntu 21.10 using Wayland and Panfrost

ODROID-N2+ review with Ubuntu 21.10 using Wayland and Panfrost

ODROID N2+ Ubuntu 21.10 review

ODROID-N2+ was launched in July 2020, but I only got the Amlogic S922X Rev C SBC recently with Hardkernel wanting me to test their latest Ubuntu 21.10 image with the Panfrost open-source GPU driver. ODROID-N2+ Kit Unboxing Let’s start by checking out the kit I received from the Korean SBC manufacturer. The package includes ODROID-N2+ single board computer fitted with a 32GB eMMC flash module, a 12V/2A power supply with an EU plug adapter, an 80mm fan kit, and a USB 3.0 to eMMC reader. ODROID-N2+ is now only available with 4GB RAM, as the old ODROID-N2 with 2GB was deprecated, and we get four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI 2.0 video output,  Gigabit Ethernet networking, and a 40-pin GPIO header with the board cooled by a larger heatsink attached to the bottom of the board. Fan installation, first boot, and system information As we’ll see below the fan is not […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on Raspberry Pi CM4 handheld console looks like a Nintendo Switch Lite

Raspberry Pi CM4 handheld console looks like a Nintendo Switch Lite

Nintendo Switch Lite Raspberry Pi CM4

StonedEge and Dmcke5 have come up with an incredibly well-designed Raspberry Pi CM4 handheld console that looks like a Nintendo Switch Lite “clone”, and that can run Dreamcast and PSP emulators at full speed using RetroPie. The RetroLite CM4 The design includes a 5-inch display, speakers, all buttons, joysticks, and D-PAD controlled via a custom Arduino board, a micro HDMI port to connect an external display, and a 4000 mAh LiPo battery charged over the USB Type-C port, and it seems to work, albeit we are told there’s still some more work to do. RetroLite CM4 specifications include: Linux capable SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 Lite module with custom copper heatsink and fan Storage – MicroSD card slot All-on-one PCB with Arduino for inputs, TI bq24292i for battery management controlled via a PIC16F15234 MCU, and backlight boost converter circuitry Display – ~5-inch LCD IPS screen Audio – Stereo speakers User […]

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