DIGITAL FX!32 running 32-Bit x86 applications on Alpha NT

Author

Hookway, R.

Author_Institution

Digital Equipment Corp., USA

fYear

1997

fDate

23-26 Feb. 1997

Firstpage

37

Lastpage

42

Abstract

DIGITAL FX!32 is a unique combination of emulation and binary translation which makes it so that any 32 bit program which runs on an x86 system running Windows NT 4.0 will install and run on an Alpha Windows NT 4.0 system. After translation, x86 applications run as fast under DIGITAL FX!32 on a 500 Mz Alpha system as on a 200 Mz Pentium-Pro. The emulator and its associated runtime provide for transparent execution of x86 applications. The emulator uses translation results when they are available and produces profile data which is used by the translator. The translator provides native Alpha code for the portions of an x86 application which have been previously executed. A server manages the translation process for the user, making the overall process completely transparent.

Keywords

computer communications software; microprocessor chips; network operating systems; program interpreters; terminal emulation; 32 bit; 32 bit program; 500 MHz; Alpha Windows NT 4; DIGITAL FX!32; Pentium-Pro; Windows NT; binary translation; emulator; native Alpha code; profile data; translation process; translation results; transparent execution; x86 system; Application software; Availability; Emulation; Microprocessors; Runtime; Software performance;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Compcon '97. Proceedings, IEEE

Conference_Location

San Jose, CA, USA

ISSN

1063-6390

Print_ISBN

0-8186-7804-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CMPCON.1997.584668

Filename

584668