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New Linux port for the Nintendo 64

lore.kernel.org

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Re: New Linux port for the Nintendo 64

#11

Post by corysama »

muterad_murilax wrote: post #7

Is it possible to use the texture memory/cache (including the Expansion Pak) as additional (albeit limited) system RAM? If so, is that the case here?

The expansion pak would double the effective memory from 4MB to 8. But, there is no separate memory for textures to take advantage of. Just a 4k cache that textures were loaded into from main RAM one at a time while rendering.

There were some games that manually implemented their own virtual memory paging system to map the cartridge ROM to RAM address space.

But, in general a feature that distinguished the N64 from the PS1 was that it had a single, unified block of RAM for all of the hardware to share however you like.

Re: New Linux port for the Nintendo 64

#13

Post by protoman3000 »

xwdv wrote: post #4

How do these sort of ports for niche systems get made?

Manuals for the system and it’s processor exist. The Linux kernel is pretty agnostic towards what it’s running on, as long as it supports the C Language. The difficult part is filling in the system specific blanks in the kernels’ source code, which is big work.

See here: https://www.linux-mips.org/wiki/Linux/MIPS_Porting_Guide

Re: New Linux port for the Nintendo 64

#14

Post by monocasa »

corysama wrote: post #11
muterad_murilax wrote: post #7

Is it possible to use the texture memory/cache (including the Expansion Pak) as additional (albeit limited) system RAM? If so, is that the case here?

The expansion pak would double the effective memory from 4MB to 8. But, there is no separate memory for textures to take advantage of. Just a 4k cache that textures were loaded into from main RAM one at a time while rendering. There were some games that manually implemented their own virtual memory paging system to map the cartridge ROM to RAM address space. But, in general a feature that distinguished the N64 from t…

TMEM isn't a cache unfortunately and has to be manually loaded and unloaded.

But because of that you might be able to use it for extra sort of like how the Factor 5 GC games would spill out to ARAM.

A lot of work for 4k of RAM though.

Re: New Linux port for the Nintendo 64

#15

Post by shakna »

muterad_murilax wrote: post #7

Is it possible to use the texture memory/cache (including the Expansion Pak) as additional (albeit limited) system RAM? If so, is that the case here?

> This is a port of Linux to the N64. Only native drivers for now, that is, no Everdrive or 64drive specials. Expansion pak required. [0]

It seems that this actually requires using the Expansion Pak as system RAM to even run.

[0] https://github.com/clbr/n64bootloader/tree/master/n64linux

Re: New Linux port for the Nintendo 64

#16

Post by pizzabearman »

atum47 wrote: post #6

I never had a relationship with the N64. After the Super Nintendo I was deep into computers and programming. The place I used to go to rent video games also started to rent CD ROMS. I went down there one time to rent a CD ROM and saw the N64. Back then video games stores also worked as an arcade, where you could play a system for 30 minutes paying a small fee. So I decided to try this new system, the N64. The game I…

This response sounds like it is made from an AI

Re: New Linux port for the Nintendo 64

#17

Post by atum47 »

pizzabearman wrote: post #16
atum47 wrote: post #6

I never had a relationship with the N64. After the Super Nintendo I was deep into computers and programming. The place I used to go to rent video games also started to rent CD ROMS. I went down there one time to rent a CD ROM and saw the N64. Back then video games stores also worked as an arcade, where you could play a system for 30 minutes paying a small fee. So I decided to try this new system, the N64. The game I…

This response sounds like it is made from an AI

sorry, When reading the news, if I remember something funny related to the subject I usually share.

Re: New Linux port for the Nintendo 64

#19

Post by MegaDeKay »

MegaDeKay wrote: post #2

I think something like this is so cool: the relative ease in which Linux can be ported to something combined with a new application for a retro console. His post sums it up. "But why... Most importantly, because I can."

Replying to my own post but want to give credit where it is due. First saw this on Phoronix.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Nintendo...

Re: New Linux port for the Nintendo 64

#20

Post by Causality1 »

rvz wrote: post #5

> "But why", I hear from the back. Having Linux available makes it easier to port emulators and fb or console games. > Most importantly, because I can. Good. All I can say is at least it is something different to what I keep seeing on HN. (React, Rust, Kubernetes, JAMstack, JavaScript, etc.) Probably present this somewhere in a conference (CCC, FOSDEM, etc). Who knows who could be looking at this.

Don't forget the many ways in which Machine Learning will revolutionize X.
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