AMD ships Linux 64-bit Hammer x86-64 simulator

AMD has released its Linux-based 'Hammer Sim' - a simulator that allows developers to run and debug code written for Chimpzilla's upcoming x86-64 64-bit processor technology.

SimNow! - available free from AMD's Web site - lets coders test their software on a regular 32-bit x86 CPU. AMD's Hammer family of chips, the successors to Sledgehammer, will be unveiled in full at the end of 2001. The company's 64-bit technology was first introduced this time last year as a spoiler for Intel's own 64-bit Itanic - sorry, Itanium - launch.

AMD's Hammer chips are designed to sense what kind of addressing mode x86-compatible code is written for - 32-bit or 64-bit - and handle the software accordingly.

Interestingly, SimNow! runs under Linux - CodeSourcery did the work - so you can see the audience AMD is targeting its technology at. It is, after all, a great way of ensuring that one of the key server operating systems is made ready to support Hammer CPUs come their eventual release.

The simulator itself models an Athlon CPU augmented with x86-64. As Chimpzilla puts it: "The simulator contains all the classic pieces of a PC system (CPU, memory, Northbridge, Southbridge, display, IDE drives, floppy, keyboard and mouse support)" and is "designed to give BIOS vendors, tools developers, operating system manufacturers [who they? - Ed] and application providers the ability to evaluate their x86-64 technology based software code." ®

Related Link

SimNow! is available free of charge here

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