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FEX-emu – Run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux devices

fex-emu.com

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Re: FEX-emu – Run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux devices

#91

Post by aengelke »

stevefan1999 wrote: post #87
LeonM wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It would be cool if we can use LLVM to lift the x86 code into LLVM bitcode and go to different platforms easily with ostate of the art optimizations, won't it?

Been there, done that during my PhD (code: [1]). Works reasonably well, except for compile times (for which I implemented a caching strategy). However, due to calling conventions, using LLVM isn't going to give the best possible performance. Some features like signal handling are extremely hard to implement with LLVM (I didn't, therefore). Although the overall performance results have been good, it's not an approach that I could strongly recommend.

[1]: https://github.com/aengelke/instrew

Re: FEX-emu – Run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux devices

#92

Post by neobrain »

stevefan1999 wrote: post #87
LeonM wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It would be cool if we can use LLVM to lift the x86 code into LLVM bitcode and go to different platforms easily with ostate of the art optimizations, won't it?

Sadly compile times of LLVM-based recompilers make it impractical for competitive x86 emulation. We're not just talking a few single-frame stutters here and there, but considerable startup delays and pauses in-game.

LLVM's optimization passes also are less useful than you might think, since the vast majority of them is motivated by source->binary translation (like clang). They don't have much effect when recompiling an already optimized binary to another architecture.

Re: FEX-emu – Run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux devices

#94

Post by systematizeD »

yonatan8070 wrote: post #84
systematizeD wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No different. Box64 only drm free game first, later they support drm games. Fex straight drm games.

Are you referring to Linux's Direct Rendering Manager or to Digital Rights Management in this context?

Digital Rights Management

Re: FEX-emu – Run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux devices

#95

Post by pjmlp »

cultofmetatron wrote: post #4

I'n incredibly impressed by valve's commitment to playing the long game. It makes sense to have the frame by arm since the system is lighter and its clear this is just the trojan horse to get arm linux into every gamer's house. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with an arm steamdeck 1-2 version from now when the tech is ready.

I would appreciate more if they also would take devs into SteamOS water, instead of relying on Microsoft kindness.

Re: FEX-emu – Run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux devices

#96

Post by [deleted] »

rounce wrote: post #79
dralley wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of online games work fine. Rocket League, Squad, Arc Raiders etc. are just the ones that I play.

In the case of those which use EAC/EOS they need to be explicitly approved to run under Wine/Proton by the developer. There are some cases (eg. iRacing) where the developer refuses to enable support for whatever reason, and on those we’re still stuck.

[deleted]

Re: FEX-emu – Run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux devices

#97

Post by LeFantome »

sitkack wrote: post #6
cultofmetatron wrote: post #4

I'n incredibly impressed by valve's commitment to playing the long game. It makes sense to have the frame by arm since the system is lighter and its clear this is just the trojan horse to get arm linux into every gamer's house. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with an arm steamdeck 1-2 version from now when the tech is ready.

Too bad Arm doesn't allow architectural licenses, because this is exactly the kind of thing Valve and the FEX developers would want to extend the ISA to support. I bet we see a RISC-V backend to FEX in the next 6 months, it probably already exists in a private repo. FEX is the shootstring, extra special discount budget (not maligning) version of Rosetta. Apple should sell Rosetta to Valve.

You are looking for Felix86

https://felix86.com/

Re: FEX-emu – Run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux devices

#98

Post by LeFantome »

hydroreadsstuff wrote: post #88

Some companies like to stress the efficiency or performance of Arm SoCs, but really this is a hedge against more expensive x86 hardware. AMD has increased prices of mobile SoCs radically recently. I'm looking forward to having more affordable SoC options for laptops, handhelds and desktops, perhaps from Mediatek or other lower-cost vendors. The history of the PC is one of commoditization. A fractured multi-polar land…

This is for the Steam Frame

Re: FEX-emu – Run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux devices

#100

Post by LeFantome »

cubefox wrote: post #55

One problem I see is that (e.g.) Qualcomm Adreno GPUs don't even run most Windows games well when executed natively under Windows, due to games only being optimized for GeForce and Radeon. I assume this problem only gets worse when trying to run DirectX games through some sort of translation layer with FEX/DXVK.

The GPU is not run through a translation layer. The GPU is not an x86-64 CPU.

Only the CPU code has to be emulated. The GPU runs natively.

That does not help with poorly supported GPUs of course.

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