I've posted a relatively short guide on how to run a s390x architecture Linux distribution as a QEMU guest. The instructions are available here:
https://ibm.biz/BdqyHE QEMU is a popular cross-processor emulator related to KVM, and it's available for a wide variety of devices running Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, and other operating systems. While there is some existing documentation explaining how to run s390x Linux on QEMU, much of the information is dated and scattered. I struggled a bit to figure out the correct QEMU parameters. I also wanted to see whether the just released Ubuntu 20.04 LTS would work since Ubuntu 20.04 LTS now requires an IBM z13/first generation LinuxONE minimum baseline. Fortunately the current release of QEMU (and a few releases prior) just barely meets this z13 baseline well enough. For certain software build processes, functional testing, and educational purposes, running s390x Linux via QEMU works pretty well. A real IBM Z or IBM LinuxONE machine offers much better performance and considerably more functionality, of course, so I prefer the LinuxONE Community Cloud and IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Virtual Servers as notable examples. However, s390x Linux on QEMU can be useful in certain contexts. It's also fun, especially on a 12 year old laptop. :-) Thanks to the many project contributors and maintainers who make this approach possible. - - - - - - - - - - Timothy Sipples I.T. Architect Executive Digital Asset & Other Industry Solutions IBM Z & LinuxONE - - - - - - - - - - E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www2.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390
