84 lines
3.7 KiB
Text
84 lines
3.7 KiB
Text
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Bochs - The cross platform IA-32 (x86) emulator
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Updated: Sun Sep 2 13:10:00 CEST 2012
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Version: 2.6
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WHAT IS BOCHS?
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Bochs is a highly portable open source IA-32 (x86) PC emulator
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written in C++, that runs on most popular platforms. It includes
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emulation of the Intel x86 CPU, common I/O devices, and a custom
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BIOS. Bochs can be compiled to emulate many different x86 CPUs,
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from early 386 to the most recent x86-64 Intel and AMD processors
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which may even not reached the market yet. Bochs is capable of running
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most Operating Systems inside the emulation, for example DOS,
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Linux or Windows. Bochs was written by Kevin Lawton and is currently
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maintained by the Bochs project at "http://bochs.sourceforge.net".
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Bochs can be compiled and used in a variety of modes, some which are
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still in development. The 'typical' use of bochs is to provide
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complete x86 PC emulation, including the x86 processor, hardware
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devices, and memory. This allows you to run OS's and software within
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the emulator on your workstation, much like you have a machine
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inside of a machine. Bochs will allow you to run Windows
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applications on a Solaris machine with X11, for example.
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Bochs is distributed under the GNU LGPL. See LICENSE and COPYING for details.
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GETTING CURRENT SOURCE CODE
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Source code for Bochs is available from the Bochs home page at
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http://bochs.sourceforge.net. You can download the most recent
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release, use SVN to get the latest sources, or grab a SVN
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snapshot which is updated frequently. The releases contain the most
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stable code, but if you want the very newest features try the
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SVN version instead.
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WHERE ARE THE DOCS?
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The Bochs documentation is written in Docbook. Docbook is a text
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format that can be rendered to many popular browser formats such
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as HTML, PDF, and Postscript. Each binary release contains the
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HTML rendering of the documentation. Also, you can view the
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latest documentation on the web at
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http://bochs.sf.net/doc/docbook/index.html
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Some information has not yet been transferred from the older
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HTML docs. These can be found at http://bochs.sf.net/docs-html
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WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION? HOW DO I REPORT PROBLEMS?
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Both the documentation and the Bochs website have instructions on how
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to join the bochs-developers mailing list, which is the primary
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forum for discussion of Bochs. The main page of the website also
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has links to bug reports and feature requests. You can browse and
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add to the content in these areas even if you do not have a (free)
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SourceForge account. We need your feedback so that we know what
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parts of Bochs to improve.
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There is a patches section on the web site too, if you have made
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some changes to Bochs that you want to share.
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HOW CAN I HELP?
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If you would like contribute to the Bochs project, a good first step
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is to join the bochs-developers mailing list, and read the archive
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of recent messages to see what's going on.
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If you are a technical person (can follow hardware specs, can write
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C/C++) take a look at the list of open bug reports and feature
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requests to see if you are interested in working on any of the
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problems that are mentioned in them. If you check out the SVN
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sources, make some changes, and create a patch, one of the
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developers will be very happy to apply it for you. Developers who
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frequently submit patches, or who embark on major changes in the
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source can get write access to SVN. Be sure to communicate with the
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bochs-developers list to avoid several people working on the same
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thing without realizing it.
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If you are a Bochs user, not a hardware/C++ guru, there are still
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many ways you could help out. For example:
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- write instructions on how to install a particular operating system
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- writing/cleaning up documentation
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- testing out Bochs on every imaginable operating system and
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reporting how it goes.
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