QEMU

QEMU is a processor emulation and virtualization software solution that relies on dynamic binary translation in order to provide high emulation speed. With its help, you can simulate a complete system with one or more processors and peripheral components, as well as launch processes designed for a specific CPU in user mode.

Full platform virtualization allows you to launch different operating systems on a host machine, while the application level virtualization mode comes in handy for cross-compilation and debugging endeavors.

The application is compliant with a wide range of hardware devices, including PCs with 32-bit or 64-bit architectures, PowerPC processors (PREP, G3 Beige PowerMac), Sparc processors, Malta boards, MIPS Magnum, ARM Integrators and baseboards, PXA270 processors, Palm Tungsten PDAs, N800 and N810 tablets, MusicPal devices, Siemens SX1 smartphones, MicroBlaze, Xtensa and the list does not stop here.

The user emulation mode supports PCs, PowerPCs, ARM, MIPS, MicroBlaze, Sparc, ColdFire, Alpha and CRISv32 CPUs.

You can send various complex commands to the emulator. QEMU offers support for multiple disk image formats, but it is also capable of directly accessing host devices.

QEMU-based virtual machines allow network, USB and peripherals emulation and provide support for removable media images, such as CD-ROMs. You can view the state of the virtual machine without using an external debugger and save / restore its state from a disk file. Created VLANs can be connected throughout multiple program instances.

QEMU does not require a host kernel driver in order to run. Dynamic compilation usage offers acceptable performance and the wide range of supported platforms makes it a reliable alternative to other emulators.