Using the SPIM S20: A MIPS R2000 Simulator


1. What is SPIM ?

SPIM S20 is a simulator that runs programs for the MIPS R2000/R3000 RISC computers. It was developed by James Larus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently the simulator runs, at IIT, on charlie, on the deltas cluster (all running a flavor of the the UNIX operating system called IRIX), and on the CSAM's network of PCs.

You can retrieve and install on your PC the simulator: see section 3.


2. Getting started on the UNIX platforms

The difference between charlie and the deltas is that you can dial in on charlie but you can't do it on the deltas. The first thing you have to do is to get an account on charlie; this is no problem as most students automatically get such an account when they enroll at IIT. If it turns out that you don't have an account, then you have to contact CNS (the Computing and Network Services department) in room SB-007 (Stuart Building).

Accounts on the deltas can be obtained on an individual basis or they may be class accounts as described in the deltas cluster home page.

For an introduction to UNIX and more details about charlie you can go to the CNS' home page.

2.1 On charlie

Before being able to use the simulator you have to do the following operations:

% mkdir Labs       (create the directory where you'll keep the lab stuff) 
% cd Labs 
% ln -s ~virgil/cs470/SPIM/bin/spim   .        (don't forget the dot) 
% ln -s ~virgil/cs470/SPIM/bin/xspim  .        (don't forget the dot) 
% ln -s ~virgil/cs470/SPIM/lib/trap.handler  . 
% ln -s ~virgil/cs470/SPIM/Documentation/spim.ps  . 
% ln -s ~virgil/cs470/SPIM/BLURB  . 

The sequence of operations above creates links to the files in subdirectories of the virgil's home directory. You'll be able to read most of the files but you won't be allowed to change them. If you now type ls at the % prompt you shall find the following files:

To print the documentation:

% lpr -P laser_ps spim.ps 

To start the simulator:

% spim       (this will start the command line oriented simulator)
or
% xspim      (this will start the windows oriented simulator).

2.2 On the deltas

To print the documentation:

% lpr -P laser_ps /a/apps/SPIM/Documentation/spim.ps 

You will pick up your printout from the same place you would do it if you printed from charlie.

To start the simulator:

% spim       (this will start the command line oriented simulator)
or
% xspim      (this will start the windows oriented simulator).

3. Running SPIM on your PC

You can download through anonymous ftp the necessary files from ftp.cs.wisc.edu:/pub/spim and then follow the instructions to install the simulator on your PC.


This page has been created (August, 1996) by: Virgil Bistriceanu - virgil@csam.iit.edu

This page is maintained by: Virgil Bistriceanu - virgil@csam.iit.edu

Last update: August 27, 1996