Happy new year Earthlings!
(...and Ufonauts, in case any of you is reading this post.)
I have an awesome news, the most awesome that have been landed for this project so far:
It is done!
Yes, finished, version 1.0.0 is completed. The final round was about some bug fixes and tiny improvements.
There are still minor outstanding issues and features I dreamed of while I was busy with bug fixing, these are postponed to v1.1 release for now.
This was a long run, I agree. My original estimation was 1 year for completing the project. What I haven't considered that I have a life, unlike back in the uni days... Finally, it took almost 4 years to complete the project.
But on the other hand, what I was planning to do for the bounty was surpassed by a magnitude thanks to all the helping hands and my constant desire to improve things. So, it took some time, but it all worth the wait, I believe.
You, who followed the project closely enough know already that the last half year was spent on polishing the release rather than actual development. All the features were ready a year ago, but it needed some more love (and mostly testing).
About the future
Speaking of Marty, I invite you to have a quick look at the tickets for the upcoming release. Just like any good open source software project: there is always room for improvements.
When will it be finished - sorry, I couldn't tell. And I don't want to fall into the same mistake again, of course. ;)
If you had found any bugs, please do report. I intend to fix any issues which was discovered in the meanwhile.
Further dreams
This project was set up specifically to implement JIT compiling for PowerPC processors, due to the current state of AmigaOS4 and MorphOS. Since the JIT compiling was already available for x86 it was never a goal for me to come up with a generic solution which supports multiple architectures.
But more than 4 years passed since I started to think about it and lots of things have changed. Nowadays smart phones are standing tall, probably even more important than desktop computers. These are mostly running on ARM compatible processors, so PPC or x86 JIT implementations are completely useless for these devices.
When I had a few email rounds with Toni Wilen, maintainer of WinUAE, he complained about the x86 implementation and mentioned that it is completely outdated in the era of x64 architecture. Unfortunately, the ancient x86 implementation is so complicated and messy that nobody is brave enough to touch it. (This is why I started my own implementation instead of porting the x86 version.)
AmigaOS4 is running on PowerPCs, but let's be realistic: PowerPC is dead. (Or is it? Yes, it is at desktop computing.) Sooner or later AmigaOS4 will migrate to a new architecture probably.
So, what is the bottom line of my ramblings? This JIT implementation was made for PowerPC, but it can be changed to support multiple processor architectures. I don't think that it would be too complicated, the majority of the code can be reused, it just needs some restructuring.
Am I going to do that? Errr... no? I don't know. Sounds challenging enough, but I have spent enough time on JIT compiling already in my life to look for something new instead.
Big Thanks
Finally, I would like to mention a few folks around the globe who helped me in any way while I have been working on the E-UAE JIT.
(Let me know if I mistyped anybody's name...)
Thank you for your great help!
First special thanks:
Robert Trevor Dickinson - special thanks for making me do the JIT, you have talked me into it, so this is all your fault now! ;)
Stephen Fellner - thanks for lending me the µAmigaOne I am still using after my AmigaOne-XE did not survive the moving to New Zealand. Without this machine I wouldn't be able to do any development at all.
Michael Trebilcock (MickJT) - you have helped me a lot with the scattered around source code of E-UAE, building, testing, AmigaOne X1000 support and plenty of other things. Without your contribution this project wouldn't be in this good shape at all.
Tobias Netzel - thanks for picking up the G5 support, Tobias. I had no opportunity implementing the required changes, your handiwork made plenty of MacOSX, MorphOS and AmigaOne X1000 user smiling ear-to-ear.
Mike Blackburn Heltne - great work on improving the build script and Linux support! I always neglected the Linux support, I was too lazy to deal with it, but you picked it up. Also merging fixes from other UAE derivatives helped a lot. (And finally, I have written down your full name. :)
Chris Handley - thanks for all your help in testing and for maintaining RunInUAE, which brings the obscure art of E-UAE configuration closer to the average user.
kas1e, Luigi Burdo, Samir Hawamdeh, Thunder - thanks for all the beta testing results and useful comments you have sent to me. Without testing software is always buggy and I don't have the energy for running hundreds of apps under the emulation.
Fabien Coeurjoly (Fab) - thanks for MorphOS-related help and for your time you are investing into proper MorphOS builds. I am an AmigaOS4 fan, so what do I know about MorphOS... :)
And thanks to everybody who helped me directly or indirectly:
Allan Ullmann;
Andreas Loong;
Davide Palombo; Douglas McLaughlin;
Frank Wille;
Fredrik Wikstrom;
hostcove;
itix;
Massimiliano Tretene (Soft3);
Michael C. Battilana and Cloanto;
Noel Fuller;
Philippe Ferrucci;
Sebastian Bauer;
Sven Ottemann;
Timothy De Groote;
Tommysammy;
Troels Ersking and all the staff at AmigaBounty.net;
Zerohero.
I would like to thank the donations to all who supported the project on AmigaBounty.net.
I would like to mention the main donors here, just to commemorate their significant contribution:
William Morris and Robert Trevor Dickinson.
Thank you for supporting this project with your hard-earned money.
Am I missing something?
I have almost forgotten, here is the release... ;)
See you soon.
