[Gems-users] GEMS Release v1.1 and ISCA Tutorial Slides available

[Mike Marty <mikem@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The slides from the ISCA 2005 tutorial can be found at
the GEMS website:  http://www.cs.wisc.edu/gems

GEMS Release v1.1 is now available for download.  The notable changes are
listed below:

  * GEMS compiles and functions with both Simics 2.0.x and 2.2.x

  * Ruby is now significantly faster than Release v1.0 due to an optimized
    implementation of Set (OptBigSet.C), which avoids the heap in the
    common case and uses a better data structure.  When stressing Ruby
    with the random tester, simulation time is up to 60% faster.  Your
    mileage will vary depending on the configuration, protocol, and use of
    Opal which still dominates overall simulation time.

  * Pseudo-random perturbations in Ruby are now added to the simulation in
    a single variable (MEMORY_LATENCY) instead of several.  This also
    corresponds to Alameldeen et. al in HPCA 2003.

  * Setting g_PRINT_TOPOLOGY to true, in ruby/config/rubyconfig.defaults,
    will generate better output so you can understand the network
    topology.  The latencies between individual components are generated
    and printed.

  * 2 more SLICC protocols:
     - MOESI_SMP_token:  SMP-based token coherence
     - MI_example:  simple example protocol used for ISCA tutorial

  * Some spurious warning messages have been removed, however some still
    remain (such as when initializing Opal).


--Mike