Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH] Z80 emulation updated again!

[Stuart Brady]

On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 11:45:08PM +0100, Alexander Graf wrote:
> 
> Since this just came up again - are you still working on this? It's be a 
> shame to see this target bitrot to extinction. Also, do you think it's a 
> valuable target to have in upstream qemu? If so, please create a proper patch 
> set out of it, so it can be reviewed.

I've placed a page on the status of this at:

 * http://wiki.qemu.org/Features/Z80

There are quite a few items on the TODO list that I feel would need to
be one for the target to be suitable for inclusion.  In particular,
execution from RAM that might be used for video is essential, but I'm
not really sure how to deal with that.  Also, not implementing flags
optimisation would be somewhat silly, really...

I feel that the main emphasis of a Z80 target would be on systems
running CP/M, or for CP/M user emulation.

For gaming and similar, most emulators can get by just fine without
dynamic translation, and dedicated emulators seem to do a better job
anyway (regarding UI, accuracy of emulation, and feature-completeness),
so whilst it'd be interesting to see whether dynamic translation could
help to reduce power consumption on mobile devices, this would more
likely be a matter of integrating TCG into existing emulators.

I won't let the Z80 target bitrot too badly, and do plan to merge back
into the fork pretty soon... but there's still quite a bit to do.

Cheers,
-- 
Stuart Brady