On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 07:01:15 -0800 (PST), Harshal Vaidya
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Has anybody used Bochs?
> http://bochs.sourcefoege.net
>
> Its a x86 platform simulator, much in functionality
> like VMWare.
>
> I'm currently having a hard time understanding how to
> set it up. All I wanted to know was whether anybody
> has used it. What were there experiences with it?
>
> Has anybody tried emulating knoppix on it ?
>
> Thanks and Regards,
> Harshal Vaidya.
>
Hi Harshal:
An emulator is a software
that imitates the function of (another system), as by modifications to
hardware or software that allow the imitating system to accept the
same data, execute the same programs, and achieve the same results as
the imitated system.
Bochs is an emulator as it imitates the
. x86 processor (for example)
. hardware devices
. I/O devices
- floppy disk
- hard disk
- cdrom
. parallel, serial ports
. NIC card
. memory (RAM etc.)
. custom BIOS
as specified in a configuration file (bochsrc)
Please take a detailed look at the bochsrc file at
http://bochs.sourceforge.net/doc/docbook/user/setup.html
bochs works well and it has alternatives like QEMU.
Just download a small linux.img (floppy disk image) to get a feel how
bochs works.
Emulators solve one interesting problem and that is:
"the economics of acquiring additional hardware".
For, example the typical M'board has IDE support with 2 IDE controllers.
Now lets say you want to design a IDE based entry level file server
storage appliance.
that begins at 640Gb. In the long run you *would* need to purchase the
IDE controller card
which will support 4 IDE connectors (8 channels).
However, today you can specify the same in your bochsrc file and get started.
bochsrc has a "little" strict syntax and if you spend a little time
reading it up
and imagining the devices that you need that will help you in the long run.
This is "necessary" because when adding a NIC card to the PCI expansion bus we
don't worry about it being detected but here we need to specify the details.
Just be with bochs and try out couple of configurations and it will seem easy!
Good luck.
thanks
Saifi.
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