x86 Emulators

[anonymous]

I was a bit unsure about posting here or in the main forum, but anyway, here's a list of available x86 hardware emulators/virtualizers where you can test your OS (NOTE: all these run in windows, at least!):

- Bochs (http://bochs.sourceforge.net/)
+ Bochs Front End Debugger for Windows (http://www.volny.cz/xmojmr/)
- VMware (http://www.vmware.com/)
- Virtual PC (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/virtualpc/)
- Emu486 (http://rdos.net/sim/)
- Emu8086 (http://www.emu8086.com/)

For linux you also have the well known Plex86 (http://www.plex86.org/)!

[Pype.Clicker]

the best place is probably on the Wiki FAQ http://www.osdev.org/osfaq2/index.php/V ... 20Emulator

however, most of these simulators seems to be limited to realmode 8086, which will make them almost useless for most OS developers ...

[srg]

These days I personally think that Plex86 is a waste of time. I was looking forward to an open source virtualizer, so basically a fast bochs. But now it just runs linux. Anyway, I bought VMWare.

srg

[anonymous]

however, most of these simulators seems to be limited to realmode 8086, which will make them almost useless for most OS developers ...

Actually, as far as I know only Emu8086 is limited to real mode, all others support protected mode, including Leif's Emu486 (NOTE: I think latest emulator builds are only availale for RDOS)!

[Pype.Clicker]

so basically a fast bochs. But now it just runs linux.

i don't know what you exactly mean with "it just runs linux"... Bochs can execute anything you give him, including DOS or YourOwnKernel ... Though i haven't give it a try for a Windows kernel, indeed.

And it also works under a large variety of systems like MAC OSX or even my Sharp Zaurus PDA

[srg]

so basically a fast bochs. But now it just runs linux.

i don't know what you exactly mean with "it just runs linux"... Bochs can execute anything you give him, including DOS or YourOwnKernel ... Though i haven't give it a try for a Windows kernel, indeed.

And it also works under a large variety of systems like MAC OSX or even my Sharp Zaurus PDA

I was talking about Plex86. It was going to be a full virualizer but they cut it down to just running Linux.

Here's what the website says:

Plex86 has been rehashed/revitalized to offer a very lightweight Virtual Machine (VM) for running Linux/x86. Rather than implement a full and heavyweight VM which can run all guest Operating Systems (OSes), the new approach is designed to run only Linux VMs, making the new plex86 architecture on the order of 10x or 100x more simplistic.

I was hoping that Plex86 was going to be a fast Bochs, but now it's a waste of time.

srg

[ngkejriwal]

I am trying to get Bochs compiled with instrumentation option turned on ! Any body using TAXI ( Trace analysis for x86 interpretation) - X86 simulator .. ?? I am trying to make use of them with bochs 2.1.1 , on my windows box.

Any body who have compiled the bochs with debugger and intrumentation on , please guide.

Is there any way in extracting instruction trace and memory trace out of VMWare?

Looking forward to a quick reply !

thanks.

[Pype.Clicker]

Any body who have compiled the bochs with debugger and intrumentation on , please guide.

i did compiled for debugging, but that was under Linux, so i guess it will be of little help for you

i guess there should be more info on http://bochs.sf.net .

[Arto]

Don't forget QEMU, which is multi-platform and looks like it might overtake Bochs as the #1 open source emulator one day soon.

(I realize the thread is old and that this info is in the Wiki, but will add it just in case someone is searching.)

[srg]

Don't forget QEMU, which is multi-platform and looks like it might overtake Bochs as the #1 open source emulator one day soon.

(I realize the thread is old and that this info is in the Wiki, but will add it just in case someone is searching.)

Once that odd v86 mode problem is fixed, and they add some more flexibility (x86-64 support would be nice) it will be unbeatable.

srg

[df]

dont forget the SciTech Softwares'

http://www.scitechsoft.com/products/dev ... lator.html

gpl'd x86 emulator.

if i get time today i will try and add all these to the wiki

[Brendan]

Hi,

I'm currently evaluating VMware workstation, but I can't figure out how to start the debugger. I'm used to Bochs and QEMU where you can stop at any time and see what's in the CPU registers, etc..

Does VMware actually have a debugger??? If so where?


Thanks,

Brendan

[srg]

Hi,

I'm currently evaluating VMware workstation, but I can't figure out how to start the debugger. I'm used to Bochs and QEMU where you can stop at any time and see what's in the CPU registers, etc..

Does VMware actually have a debugger??? If so where?


Thanks,

Brendan

I have VMWare workstation 4 and it has no debugger! I also searched the manual and there's no meantion of it. So I'm afraid it doesn't have one.

VMWare's biggest short comming.

srg

[Brendan]

Hi,

I have VMWare workstation 4 and it has no debugger! I also searched the manual and there's no meantion of it. So I'm afraid it doesn't have one.

Hmm - no debugger, no way of finding out the cause of a triple fault, no way to set different CPUs (and won't emulate ET64), doesn't seem to do SMP, guest OS can't use more memory than the host OS has available.

It does look pretty though, and it's quick & stable. It'd be great for running a working OS, but IMHO it seems fairly limited for OS dev :-\.


Thanks,

Brendan

[srg]

Hi,

I have VMWare workstation 4 and it has no debugger! I also searched the manual and there's no meantion of it. So I'm afraid it doesn't have one.

Hmm - no debugger, no way of finding out the cause of a triple fault, no way to set different CPUs (and won't emulate ET64), doesn't seem to do SMP, guest OS can't use more memory than the host OS has available.

It does look pretty though, and it's quick & stable. It'd be great for running a working OS, but IMHO it seems fairly limited for OS dev :-\.


Thanks,

Brendan

I don't think it was designed for us osdevers in mind, it's meant so you can run multiple systems on one PC. I bet they had application and database developers in mind, not osdevers.

It's no better when it comes to osdeving than a normal test PC.

BTW IMHO the PC is desperately missing a method to do ICE on a normal motherboard.

srg