The device_rom_interface

1. Capabilities

This interface is designed for devices which expect to have a rom connected to them on a dedicated bus. It's mostly designed for sound chips. Other devices types may be interested but other considerations may make it impratical (graphics decode caching for instance). The interface provides the capability of either connecting a ROM_REGION, connecting an ADDRESS_MAP or dynamically setting up a block of memory as rom. In the region/block cases, banking is automatically handled.

2. Setup

device_rom_interface<AddrWidth, DataWidth=0, AddrShift=0, Endian=ENDIANNESS_LITTLE>

The interface is a template that takes the address bus width of the dedicated bus as a parameter. In addition the data bus width (if not byte), address shift (if not 0) and endianness (if not little endian or byte-sized bus) can be provided. Data bus width is 0 for byte, 1 for word, etc.

MCFG_DEVICE_ADDRESS_MAP(AS_0, map)

Use that method at machine config time to provide an address map for the bus to connect to. It has priority over a rom region if one is also present.

MCFG_DEVICE_ROM(tag)

Used to select a rom region to use if a device address map is not given. Defaults to DEVICE_SELF, e.g. the device tag.

ROM_REGION(length, tag, flags)

If a rom region with a tag as given with MCFG_DEVICE_ROM if present, or identical to the device tag otherwise, is provided in the rom description for the system, it will be automatically picked up as the connected rom. An address map has priority over the region if present in the machine config.

void override_address_width(u8 width)

This method allows to override the address bus width. It must be called from within the device before config_complete time.

void set_rom(const void *base, u32 size);

At any time post- interface_pre_start, a memory block can be setup as the connected rom with that method. It overrides any previous setup that may have been provided. It can be done multiple times.

3. Rom access

u8 read_byte(offs_t byteaddress)
u16 read_word(offs_t byteaddress)
u32 read_dword(offs_t byteaddress)
u64 read_qword(offs_t byteaddress)

These methods provide read access to the connected rom. Out-of-bounds access results in standard unmapped read logerror messages.

4. Rom banking

If the rom region or the memory block in set_rom is larger than the address bus, banking is automatically setup.

void set_rom_bank(int bank)

That method selects the current bank number.

5. Caveats

Using that interface makes the device derive from device_memory_interface. If the device wants to actually use the memory interface for itself, remember that AS_0/AS_PROGRAM is used by the rom interface, and don't forget to upcall memory_space_config.

For devices which have outputs that can be used to address ROMs but only to forward the data to another device for processing, it may be helpful to disable the interface when it is not required. This can be done by overriding memory_space_config to return an empty vector.