Dolphin放棄32bit的版本? - 模擬器

既然聊起來了就吃飽閒著大略翻譯一下好了XD

看會不會拋磚引玉到專業人士講解

※ 引述《choan (八房龍之助)》之銘言：
: https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2014/05/19/obituary-32bit/#cuthere

: Ten years ago Dolphin was a very limited program designed to run in only one
: environment. It was a 32-bit Windows application that required Direct3D 9
: with no alternatives. A lot of things have changed since then as Dolphin has
: expanded its goals. The emulator has become much more robust over time with
: support added for 64-bit Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, and even Android
: phones and tablets!

十年前 Dolphin 還是個功能不多的程式，設計給唯一的環境使用─32 位元的 Windows
系統和D3D 9。十年來很多事情都改變了，Dolphin 的目標也變得更廣了，功能性上也在
加入了支援 64 位元 Windows、Linux、OS X、FreeBSD 甚至 Android 手機和平板後更
強大了！

註：32 位元以下簡稱 x86、64 位元簡稱 x64

: Sometimes though, changes must be made. Some choices require months of
: preparation, discussion, examination, while others are inevitable.
: Maintaining features is a balance between cost and reward. The cost being
: development time, maintenance, debugging, bandwidth, money and more, with the
: reward being a better, cleaner experience for our users. The reward was
: obvious for 4.0.

有的時候就是該下決定，Z>B，妳懂的。

: Well over one third of our Windows downloads for Dolphin 4.0 were the 32-bit
: variant; a huge share of our userbase. Despite that, we still find ourselves
: at a crossroads just a few months later.

雖然超過 1/3 的 Dolphin 4.0 版下載量都是 x86 版本，面對這麼大的用戶群我們還
是得做決定。

: Why consider dropping 32-bit builds?

為什麼是不再更新 x86 版本？

: The Dolphin Emulator team is constantly searching for ways to improve the
: development pipeline. From the insane to the mundane, hundreds of ideas will
: come and go every year as for how to make things better. But the past few
: months have seen a reoccurring theme: 32-bit builds break, and many of the
: developers question its worth.

x86 版本總是有問題，很多開發者質疑她的存在價值。

: Windows XP has been unsupported for months

我們已經停止支援 XP 好幾個月了

: Dolphin has already dropped Windows XP support. With a little under 10% of
: our users still using the OS, Windows XP was a significant share of our
: users, but at the same time the team made a decision not to let any
: particular OS hold us back. The only reason for dropping XP support is
: because the latest Microsoft Visual Studio Compiler doesn't support Windows
: XP. The aging operating system's days were numbered simply by that, and once
: the move was made to C++11, there was no going back. The unintended side
: effect to that drop is that Dolphin no longer supported any operating systems
: that were primarily 32-bit. Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 are all designed
: for 64-bit.

目前約有近 10% 的使用者是使用 XP，但我們不願意被單一作業系統拖住腳步。決定性
的關鍵是 XP 不支援最新的 Microsoft Visual Studio Compiler。我們換到 C++11 開
發之後就回不去惹~

有個副作用是專為 x86 設計的系統都不支援了，不過 Vista, 7, 8 都是 x64

: Dedicated 32-bit processors are very outdated and cannot run Dolphin at
: playable speeds

x86 CPU 都是古董了，沒一個能打的，沒辦法把 Dolphin 跑出能玩的速度

: On the hardware side of things, x86_32 processors died a long time ago. It's
: only thanks to Microsoft selling 32-bit versions of their operating system
: that any sizable number of Dolphin users need 32-bit builds at all! Since

x86 CPU 早就 GG 溜，要不是微軟一直賣 x86 版本的作業系統，我們早就不用
支援 x86 了！(換句話說很多使用者是用 x64 cpu跑 x86 系統玩 Dolphin)

: 2003 when x86_64 processors debuted, the newer architecture has proven itself
: far superior to the original specs it was based off of. Any computer that
: needs 32-bit due to memory constraints or processor limitations simply won't
: run Dolphin at usable speeds, so what use is there in supporting it? Any

2003 年亮相的 x64 cpu 的架構好太多了，還在用 x86 cpu 的系統跑 Dolphin 速度
根本呵呵，何必支援？懂？

: computer that can run Dolphin is already using a 64-bit processor.
: Dolphin's 32-bit builds are not indicative of the Dolphin experience
: Most programs can have 32-bit builds and 64-bit builds without trouble or
: more commonly host only 32-bit builds and let 64-bit users use it as well.
: For those programs, the benefits of 64-bit don't matter much at all, and the
: end users need not worry about any of it!
: This is not true with Dolphin, where some games still do not run full speed

大部分的程式跑 x86 或是 x64 刻意去支援使用者是感覺不出來差異的
但在 Dolphin 上原生 x64 的優勢差別非常明顯，特別是有些遊戲還無法全速進行的
狀態這差別更重要。

: on any existing configuration. Dolphin sees very important and observable
: benefits in its 64-bit builds! With a 64-bit address space, Dolphin can
: reserve a 4GB area that maps to GCN/Wii memory boosts performance greatly
: and, more importantly, 64-bit has twice as many registers. This brings the
: emulator much closer to the number of registers to that of the PPC processor.
: Plus, since 64-bit is large enough to fit the DSP's 40-bit registers, it can
: run DSP JIT (Just In Time) recompiler for a nice speedup. 32-bit has to fall
: back on the CPU-intensive interpreter functions for most DSP instructions. In
: addition to all of that, compilers even generate better code thanks to the
: ability to do 64-bit memory operations without needing special alignment.
: In preparation for this announcement, we did thorough performance testing to
: compare 32-bit builds and 64-bit builds with no idea how they would actually
: turn out. While we knew that 32-bit was a little slower, the results were
: shocking.

用 x64 的定址空間，Dolphin 可以用 4GB 的空間去 map GCN/Wii memory，大幅提
升表現，同時 x64 有 x86 兩倍的 register，更接近 PPC processor 的 register
數量... (都是技術性的東西翻來翻去名詞大概都會用原文，乾脆略過XD)

: Maintenance
: One of the more annoying aspects of 32-bit Windows support is that the
: operating system lacks critical features for development. This means that
: menial changes that work on other other platforms break it again and again.
: For Dolphin's Just In Time Compiler (JIT), that means making special code for
: 32-bit builds all the time. This is not only is frustrating, but also stunts
: development as it slows down developers and prevents them from undertaking
: projects in the first place!

x86 系統支援起來最麻煩的是它缺少一些重要的開發功能，所以一些別的平台沒有的
問題會在 x86 系統上層出不窮。像 Dolphin 的 JIT 就要一直為 x86 版本寫專屬的
code，既煩人又拖慢開發進度，甚至把一些開發者嚇走！

: Worse yet, there is a severe lack of testing on the 32-bit builds. For 100
: revisions, there were a total of zero issue reports despite the fact that
: 32-bit builds were totally nonfunctional! This makes it harder for developers
: to figure out what broke the builds, and forces them to go back into old
: projects that were already considered complete.

更悲劇的是，x86 版本的測試超少，改版了一百次居然零個問題回報，而且這版本根本
完全不能用都沒人回報！

: There is also the case of compiling the builds themselves. Windows requires
: twice as many buildbots thanks to requiring 32-bit support, taking twice the
: space and using twice the processing power of our servers. To put it simply,
: it has become very difficult to maintain 32-bit builds. This even causes
: confusion among many users; according to advanced statistics gathered from
: the downloads page, more than 60 percent of the 32-bit downloads are done by
: 64-bit OSes. The majority of 32-bit users are 64-bit users needlessly using
: an inferior build!

x86 版本佔用很多資源維護，造成伺服器和使用者的困擾。

最新的數據顯示，超過六成的 x86 版本是由使用 x64 系統的使用者下載的，所以大部
分使用者根本就下載了效能比較差的版本。

: In Conclusion
: 32-bit support is one of Dolphin's oldest features. But just like D3D9 before
: it... times change. 32-bit has become a weight around all of our necks,
: slowing down users and developers alike. With the 32-bit userbase shrinking
: quickly, the builds becoming harder and harder to maintain and the benefits
: dwindling, the developers have decided to discontinue the 32-bit Windows
: buildbot, and cut away 32-bit support entirely. 32-bit ARM devices are not

總之 Z>B，我們要跟 x86 Windows 說掰掰了，x86 ARM 平台則會繼續維護。

: affected by this decision and will continue to be supported. For loyal users
: that are stuck on 32-bit Windows machines, the current builds are not going
: anywhere and will be archived permanently, and Linux is a free 64-bit
: operating system with full Dolphin support.

至於還在用 x86 Windows 的朋友，Linux x64 免費唷，好 Linux 不換嗎？

: For any console, emulation progresses in stages. First is initial support,
: grasping at straws fighting for even basic functionality. Then comes playable
: games. As time progresses, accuracy and compatibility become the goal. And
: finally, it reaches enhanced emulation, where emulation is not only accurate,
: but improved upon through advanced features like netplay and HD graphics. In
: all other consoles that have been emulated, each of these stages was
: fulfilled by a different emulator. But for the GameCube and Wii? Dolphin has
: fulfilled them all. It is the freedom to change and grow that has allowed
: Dolphin to continue to evolve and grow in this manner. Shedding hindrances,
: cleaning code, attracting new talent; Dolphin excels at these things,
: allowing it to grow and evolve in ways no emulator before has ever achieved.
: Removing 32-bit support is just one more step on this journey.

Dolphin 好棒棒，請大家繼續支持
捨棄 x86 支援式進步必要之惡~

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