Simics
Encyclopedia
Simics is a full-system simulator
used to run unchanged production binaries of the target hardware at high-performance speeds. Simics was originally developed by the Swedish Institute of Computer Science
(SICS), and then spun off to Virtutech
for commercial development in 1998. Virtutech was acquired by Intel in 2010 and Simics is now marketed through Intel's subsidiary Wind River Systems
.
Simics can simulate systems such as Alpha
, x86-64
, IA-64, ARM
, MIPS
(32- and 64-bit), MSP430, PowerPC
(32- and 64-bit), POWER
, SPARC-V8 and V9
, and x86 CPUs. Many operating systems have been run on various varieties of the simulated hardware, including MS-DOS
, Windows
, VxWorks
, OSE
, Solaris, FreeBSD
, Linux
, QNX
, and RTEMS
. The NetBSD
AMD64 port was initially developed using Simics before the public release of the chip. The purpose of simulation in Simics is often to develop software for a particular type of embedded hardware, using Simics as a virtual platform.
The current version of Simics is 4.6 and it is available for Microsoft Windows
and Linux
platforms.
Full system simulation
A full-system simulator is a computer program that simulates computer systems at such a level of detail that complete software stacks from real systems can run on the simulator without any modification. A full system simulator effectively provides virtual hardware that is independent of the nature...
used to run unchanged production binaries of the target hardware at high-performance speeds. Simics was originally developed by the Swedish Institute of Computer Science
Swedish Institute of Computer Science
The Swedish Institute of Computer Science, SICS, is an independent non-profit research organization with a research focus on applied computer science. The institute carries out research in a number of areas, including networked embedded systems, future Internet technologies, large scale...
(SICS), and then spun off to Virtutech
Virtutech
Virtutech was founded in 1998 as a spin-off from the Swedish Institute of Computer Science , in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2004, the headquarters was moved to San Jose, California, USA. The Stockholm site remains the company's R&D center. The company's main product is Simics software, used by teams of...
for commercial development in 1998. Virtutech was acquired by Intel in 2010 and Simics is now marketed through Intel's subsidiary Wind River Systems
Wind River Systems
Wind River Systems, Inc. is a company providing embedded systems, development tools for embedded systems, middleware, and other types of software. The company was founded in Berkeley, California in 1981 by Jerry Fiddler and David Wilner. On June 4, 2009, Wind River announced that Intel had bought...
.
Simics can simulate systems such as Alpha
DEC Alpha
Alpha, originally known as Alpha AXP, is a 64-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation , designed to replace the 32-bit VAX complex instruction set computer ISA and its implementations. Alpha was implemented in microprocessors...
, x86-64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
, IA-64, ARM
ARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
, MIPS
MIPS architecture
MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies . The early MIPS architectures were 32-bit, and later versions were 64-bit...
(32- and 64-bit), MSP430, PowerPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
(32- and 64-bit), POWER
Power Architecture
Power Architecture is a broad term to describe similar RISC instruction sets for microprocessors developed and manufactured by such companies as IBM, Freescale, AMCC, Tundra and P.A. Semi...
, SPARC-V8 and V9
SPARC
SPARC is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems and introduced in mid-1987....
, and x86 CPUs. Many operating systems have been run on various varieties of the simulated hardware, including MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
, Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, VxWorks
VxWorks
VxWorks is a real-time operating system developed as proprietary software by Wind River Systems of Alameda, California, USA. First released in 1987, VxWorks is designed for use in embedded systems.- History :...
, OSE
Operating System Embedded
The Operating System Embedded is a real-time embedded operating system created by the Swedish information technology company ENEA AB. Bengt Eliasson, who at the time was a consultant from ENEA with an assignment at Ericsson, wrote the basic parts of the kernel...
, Solaris, FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, QNX
QNX
QNX is a commercial Unix-like real-time operating system, aimed primarily at the embedded systems market. The product was originally developed by Canadian company, QNX Software Systems, which was later acquired by Canadian BlackBerry-producer Research In Motion.-Description:As a microkernel-based...
, and RTEMS
RTEMS
RTEMS is a free open source real-time operating system designed for embedded systems....
. The NetBSD
NetBSD
NetBSD is a freely available open source version of the Berkeley Software Distribution Unix operating system. It was the second open source BSD descendant to be formally released, after 386BSD, and continues to be actively developed. The NetBSD project is primarily focused on high quality design,...
AMD64 port was initially developed using Simics before the public release of the chip. The purpose of simulation in Simics is often to develop software for a particular type of embedded hardware, using Simics as a virtual platform.
The current version of Simics is 4.6 and it is available for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
platforms.