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Old 04-20-2011, 12:17 PM   #1
zhjim
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Emulate a processor feature


Hi folks,

I wanted to know if it's somehow possible to add a processor feature inside of a virtualised host?

My problem is I have a PIII with SSE feature, but a programm I want to run (namely steam) needs the SSE2 feature. To solve this problem I wanted to virtualise some enviroment with the SSE2 feature on the cpu inside the virtualised enviroment.

As one can tell the solution should not need Virtualisation technique inside the original cpu. PIII just does not have it

I've got some knowledge about xen, but dunno if it's possible with it. The other programm I know a bit about is qemu. But also no knowledge if possible.

Any one up for this?
 
Old 04-20-2011, 06:57 PM   #2
unSpawn
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Maybe in a parallel universe but here AFAIK one can't emulate what the host hasn't got. As mister Pratchett would say it has to do something with quantum :-]
 
Old 04-22-2011, 04:27 AM   #3
zhjim
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Thanks for the answer unspawn.
By any chance you have a gateway to a parallel universe lying around? I lend mine to a friend but he broke it .
Fun aside. Seems I have to wait till they fix the binary...
 
Old 04-22-2011, 05:11 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by unSpawn View Post
Maybe in a parallel universe but here AFAIK one can't emulate what the host hasn't got.
True in this special case, but not in general. Otherwise it would not be possible to use qemu for emulating an ARM, PPC or SPARC system. So if the OP can convince the qemu team to write SSE2 emulation it should be possible. But I think it would be so slow that it would be useless.
 
Old 04-22-2011, 05:17 PM   #5
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In a very real sense any processor can be emulated by any processor. The question is more of what emulator do you have? That would decide how that VM works to create the processor. Some use parts of the real computer while others do it all in software.

The terms may be the sticking point. Virtualization and paravirtualization and emulation need to be defined maybe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualization

Last edited by jefro; 04-22-2011 at 05:19 PM.
 
Old 04-23-2011, 05:11 AM   #6
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I dig a bit deeper and found bochs. It's an emulator and the doc show config options for sse in various forms. I just give it a try.
 
Old 04-23-2011, 04:18 PM   #7
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Consider qemu also.
 
Old 04-28-2011, 04:59 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jefro View Post
Consider qemu also.
Hm, does it have a processor emulator/simulator within? As I read TobiSGD it does not...
 
Old 04-28-2011, 07:27 AM   #9
TobiSGD
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Than you have misread my post. Qemu can emulate several different processor architectures.
 
Old 04-28-2011, 04:08 PM   #10
zhjim
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So if the OP can convince the qemu team to write SSE2 emulation it should be possible.
Okay, guess the fine print got us. For sure qemu can emulate cpu ARCHITECTURE'S but I need a cpu FEATURE. I guess I just have to see if there is the option of sse in some variant for the -cpu option of qemu. (The manual only shows +svm).
 
Old 04-28-2011, 04:18 PM   #11
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OK, I had a look at the technical documentation for Qemu and found this. So qemu can emulate SSE up to version 4.
 
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Old 04-28-2011, 04:21 PM   #12
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Qemu setup script or batch file has this option.
-cpu model
Select CPU model (-cpu ? for list and additional feature selection


The current default choices may suite your needs. But see this also.

http://wiki.qemu.org/Features/CPUModels

Last edited by jefro; 04-28-2011 at 04:26 PM.
 
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Old 04-29-2011, 12:46 AM   #13
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Now were rolling Thank you all for your help. I dig on this the weekend and tell you the outcome.
 
  


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