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944 points 6a74 | 13 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
1. bee_rider ◴[] No.41800275[source]
The M-series chips from Apple have some special hardware to help emulate x86 with near-native performance, right? I wonder if they take advantage of those features (actually I forget exactly what the features were).

I mean this is an incredible achievement either way. Everything is emulated, but they are still running AAA games. Wow.

replies(4): >>41800448 #>>41800526 #>>41800562 #>>41800952 #
2. captn3m0 ◴[] No.41800448[source]
Rosetta 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_(software)#Rosetta_2
3. vyskocilm ◴[] No.41800526[source]
I believe libkrun is the tech behind.

https://fosstodon.org/@slp/113283657607783321

Sergio Lópéz has more info in his blog

https://sinrega.org/2024-03-06-enabling-containers-gpu-macos...

https://sinrega.org/2023-10-06-using-microvms-for-gaming-on-...

4. saagarjha ◴[] No.41800562[source]
No reason they can’t.
replies(2): >>41800835 #>>41801500 #
5. bee_rider ◴[] No.41800835[source]
If every layer of abstraction and emulation is set up to allow it to pass through. It still seems really impressive to me, like lining up a bunch of targets and shooting an arrow through to get multiple bullseyes or something, haha.
replies(2): >>41803722 #>>41805625 #
6. sumuyuda ◴[] No.41800952[source]
They are using it:

Other than the page size issue, FEX and Rosetta are comparable technologies (both are emulators, despite what Apple marketing might have you believe). Both FEX and Rosetta use the unique Apple Silicon CPU feature that is most important for x86/x86_64 emulation performance: TSO mode. Thanks to this feature, FEX can offer fast and accurate x86/x86_64 emulation on Apple Silicon systems.

From: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-asahi-remix/x86-...

7. rowanG077 ◴[] No.41801500[source]
Why not? In fact they are using it right now.
replies(1): >>41802492 #
8. bee_rider ◴[] No.41802492{3}[source]
I think the comment was saying “there isn’t any reason they can’t.” Which is true in theory, but in the practice it seems to be a lot of stuff to line up.
9. dontdoxxme ◴[] No.41803722{3}[source]
Hardly, the benefit of binary is if everything lines up once, it always will. It’s not an analog world with pesky things like wind resistance.
replies(1): >>41804845 #
10. thfuran ◴[] No.41804845{4}[source]
Maybe if you happen to own the control stack from hardware, OS, drivers, to client software and are willing to never change any of it once you get things lined up.
11. saagarjha ◴[] No.41805625{3}[source]
It’s not really all that hard
replies(1): >>41808050 #
12. ramon156 ◴[] No.41808050{4}[source]
Would you say this is not impressive work? Or how come you're saying it's not hard?
replies(1): >>41817926 #
13. saagarjha ◴[] No.41817926{5}[source]
It’s just exposing a couple bits in ACTLR_EL1 to userspace, nothing to it really