Lumina33: DDH=Dolphin Development Hardware

2024-07-24T07:25:02Z

DDH=Dolphin Development Hardware

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:25, 24 July 2024
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	=== CRT ===		=== CRT ===
	C Run Time. C/C++ program environment (libraries and startup calls).		C Run Time. C/C++ program environment (libraries and startup calls).

			=== DDH ===
			Dolphin Development Hardware

	=== DOL ===		=== DOL ===

Lumina33: XF=Transform Processor

2024-07-23T07:48:24Z

XF=Transform Processor

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:48, 23 July 2024
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	Gekko Write Gather Buffer. Small cache for burst memory transactions.		Gekko Write Gather Buffer. Small cache for burst memory transactions.
	Used together with graphics FIFO to send GP commands.		Used together with graphics FIFO to send GP commands.

			=== XF ===
			Transform Processor

	=== XFB ===		=== XFB ===

Lumina33: /* RSW */ typo fix

2024-07-21T02:22:06Z

RSW: typo fix

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:22, 20 July 2024
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	=== RSW ===		=== RSW ===
	"Reset Switch", same as reset button. Seems early development GC models		"Reset Switch", same as reset button. Seems early development GC models
	were equipped by switch, ~~insted~~ programmable reset button.		were equipped by switch, instead programmable reset button.

	=== RTC ===		=== RTC ===

Emu kidid: /* Add apploader link */

2012-01-31T00:08:23Z

Add apploader link

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:08, 30 January 2012
Line 19:		Line 19:
	sound effects are produced by DSP.		sound effects are produced by DSP.

	=== Apploader ===		=== [[Apploader]] ===
	Small program on DVD to load main DOL executable.		Small program on DVD to load main DOL executable.

Emu kidid: Created page with "== Gamecube hardware acronyms for CubeDocumented project == Documented by Andrei Shestakov (org). Version 1.1. (22 Jan 2006) (original document hosted here: http://dolwin.emulat..."

2012-01-31T00:07:34Z

Created page with "== Gamecube hardware acronyms for CubeDocumented project == Documented by Andrei Shestakov (org). Version 1.1. (22 Jan 2006) (original document hosted here: http://dolwin.emulat..."

New page

== Gamecube hardware acronyms for CubeDocumented project ==

Documented by Andrei Shestakov (org). Version 1.1. (22 Jan 2006)
(original document hosted here: http://dolwin.emulation64.com/docs/acronyms.txt)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=== AA ===
Antialiasing. Rendering method, that makes polygon edges seem less sharpen,
combining colors of nearby pixels.

=== AD16 ===
Mysterious EXI device.

=== AI ===
Audio Interface. Hardware responsible for DMA playback of PCM buffer and
DVD ADPCM streaming sound. AI hardware cannot mix sound channels or set
channel volume for PCM DMA playback. These operations and more advanced
sound effects are produced by DSP.

=== Apploader ===
Small program on DVD to load main DOL executable.

=== AR, ARAM ===
Auxiliary (Audio) Memory. 16 MB of slow (comapred to RAM) DRAM.
Used for raw DSP sound data and as temporary space for textures.
ARAM has DMA communication channel with main memory (RAM). Development
boards has "ARAM Expansion" (additional 4, 16 or 32 MBs).

=== BAT ===
Block Address Translation, PPC MMU translation mechanism. There are DBAT
and IBAT special-purpose registers for data and instruction address
translation respectively.

=== BBA ===
Broad-Band Adapter, GC's 10BaseT Ethernet Adapter.

=== BS ===
Bootstrap Stage (from analogy with UNIX). Very first code, executed after
GC hard reset.

=== BS2 ===
Bootstrap Stage 2. Same as IPL.

=== CR ===
PPC Condition Register, stores result of integer comare operation, for
conditional branch decision.

=== CRT ===
C Run Time. C/C++ program environment (libraries and startup calls).

=== DOL ===
Gamecube application (custom executable file format).

=== Dolphin ===
Early development work name of Gamecube.

=== Dolphin OS ===
Gamecube OS. Single user, single process, multithreaded. Linked together
with any GC application ("hard-linked"), as library.

=== DSP ===
Digital Signal Processor. Used to produce advanced sound on GC.
DSP is integrated with GP in Flipper chip and has its own ROM.
Developed by Macronix.

=== DI, DVD ===
DVD hardware interface. GC DVD is actually microcontroller, based on MN-102
CPU with proprietary firmware ROM. DVD is protected by non-standard barcodes
and data encryption, which is decrypted on-the-fly by DVD controller. GC DVD
cannot be read on usual PC hardware. Whole GC DVD stuff is developed by
Matsushita.

=== EFB ===
Embedded Framebuffer. 2MB of fast 1T-SRAM memory located inside Flipper.
Used by GP's pixel engine to draw pixels. Later copied into XFB, for final
TV-output.

=== EXI ===
Expansion Interface. Gamecube peripherial devices bus, sort of USB
architecture. Developed by Macronix. Devices drived by EXI: memory cards,
broad-band adapter, real-time clock, bootrom, SRAM.

=== FIFO ===
First-In-First-Out buffer to send GP commands and create GP command lists.

=== Flipper ===
Gamecube Northbridge+Peripheral Hardware+Graphics Processor+Audio DSP.

=== FPR ===
Floating Point Register. Gekko has 32 64-bit FPRs, named f0-f31.

=== FPSCR ===
Floating Point Status and Control Register.

=== JTAG ===
Hardware debug interface to CPU. You can connect some wires to CPU pins,
to overwhelm it. Gekko has full support of IEEE 1149-1a-1993 JTAG standard.

=== GC, GCN, NGC ===
Nintendo Gamecube.

=== GCM ===
Gamecube Master Data (official term). GC DVD Image files.

=== Gekko ===
Gamecube CPU, PowerPC 750-derivative processor with FPU extensions, called
"Paired Single".

=== GP, GX ===
Graphics Processor, the major part of Flipper chip. GP is fixed point
state-machine. Developed by ArtX team.

=== GPR ===
General Purpose Register. Gekko has 32 32-bit GPRs, named r0-r31. r1 often
used as stack pointer (sp).

=== GX ===
Software library, developed by Nintendo and ArtX, to drive GP hardware.
Has many crossways with OpenGL (but more advanced).

=== HW2 ===
Common name of GC hardware. Number state for revision ("2" is production
board).

=== IPL ===
Initial Program Loader. Graphics shell, used to load game from DVD.

=== MC ===
Memory Card, EXI device.

=== MI ===
Flipper memory interface, plays role of "Nothbridge".

=== MMU ===
PPC Memory Management Unit. Translates virtual address to physical.
MMU has two translation mechanisms: block address translation and page table
translation. Address translation for data access and instruction fetch is
processed separately in DMMU and IMMU.

=== MSR ===
Machine State Register. CPU status and control register.

=== MX ===
Macronix Ltd. chips index. GC has many hardware parts, developed
by Macronix, like DSP, EXI and bootrom chip.

=== PC ===
Program Counter. PowerPC architecture does not define such term, but
everyone is using it anyway, instead "CIA" (Current Instruction Address).

=== PCM ===
Pulse Code Modulation, method commonly used in digital sound hardware.
PCM sound parameters are: playback rate, bits per sample, sample format.
GC AI can playback 32000/48000 Hz, 16-bit big-endian stereo samples via
DMA.

=== PI ===
Peripheral Interface. Set of hardware registers to control interrupts and
hardware reset. There also "PI FIFO": hardware-driven FIFO buffer in RAM.

=== PM ===
PowerPC Performance Monitor. Set of PPC special purpose registers used for
speed profiling of applications.

=== PPC ===
IBM PowerPC Architecture.

=== PTE ===
Page Table Entry. Page table record, used to translate virtual address to
physical.

=== RAM ===
Main memory. GC has 24 MB of fast 1T-SRAM. Development boards has RAM
extended up to 48 MB. Developed by MoSys.

=== ROM ===
Read-only memory. GC has following ROMs: 2 MB encrypted bootrom, 128 KB
DVD firmware, 4 KB DSP DROM, 8 KB DSP IROM.

=== RSW ===
"Reset Switch", same as reset button. Seems early development GC models
were equipped by switch, insted programmable reset button.

=== RTC ===
Real-time clock. EXI device, counting seconds since 00:00 AM 2000.

=== SDK ===
Software Development Kit. Full set of compilers, libraries and documentation
for development on specified platform. Gamecube SDK contain development tools,
like sound and texture convertors, and set of libraries for OS and hardware.
Compiler is provided by Metrowerk's CodeWarrior. There also huge development
board and paper documentation.

=== SI ===
Serial Interface. Hardware responsible for communication with serial devices,
such as GC controller and keyboard via serial I/O buffer.

=== SPR ===
Special-purpose register. Set of registers, dedicated to operating system.
Gekko has about 60 SPRs.

=== SR ===
Segment Registers, used by MMU for virtual address translation.

=== SRAM ===
Small amount of battery backuped memory for OS misc settings.

=== TLB ===
PPC MMU Translation Lookaside Buffer, used to keep recently used page
address translations. Gekko has 128 two-way set associative TLB for each
MMU (DMMU and IMMU).

=== VI ===
Video Interface. Hardware responsible for TV-out of framebuffer (XFB),
and generating VBlank interrupt (actually can be configured to interrupt
CPU at any beam location). Has support for light-gun, antialiasing of XFB
by tap-filters and progressive video mode (480p).

=== WBUF ===
Gekko Write Gather Buffer. Small cache for burst memory transactions.
Used together with graphics FIFO to send GP commands.

=== XFB ===
External Framebuffer, located in main memory. Used for final TV-out by VI.

[[Category:CubeDocumented]]
[[Category:Technical Info]]
[[Category:Reverse Engineering]]

Hardware Acronyms - Revision history

Lumina33: DDH=Dolphin Development Hardware

Lumina33: XF=Transform Processor

Lumina33: /* RSW */ typo fix

Emu kidid: /* Add apploader link */

Emu kidid: Created page with "== Gamecube hardware acronyms for CubeDocumented project == Documented by Andrei Shestakov (org). Version 1.1. (22 Jan 2006) (original document hosted here: http://dolwin.emulat..."