The Black Art of DOS Emulation on Raspberry Pi

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Black Art of DOS Emulation on Raspberry Pi The Black Art of DOS emulation on Raspberry Pi Using FastDOSBox. By : [email protected] www.norisc-nofun.co.uk Version 1.0 – May 2013, Author : Franck / NoRiscNoFun , [email protected] – twitter : @Noriscnofun1 Table of Contents What is DOS emulation for who and for what ?..................................................................................3 Why choosing FastDOSBox for DOS emulation on the Rpi ?............................................................4 Installing FastDOSBox on the Raspberry Pi........................................................................................5 For RISC OS....................................................................................................................................5 For Raspbian....................................................................................................................................5 Recommended Raspberry Pi CPU settings for FastDOSBox..............................................................6 Recommended configuration settings for FastDOSBox......................................................................7 [dosbox] Section..............................................................................................................................7 [render] Section................................................................................................................................7 [cpu] Section....................................................................................................................................7 Sound Section..................................................................................................................................7 [dos] Section....................................................................................................................................8 Installing Windows 3.x (and others) with FastDOSBox......................................................................9 Requirements...................................................................................................................................9 Make an hard-drive image usable under FastDOSBox...................................................................9 Partitioning the Hard-Drive image................................................................................................10 Mount and Format the Hard-Drive image with FastDOSBox.......................................................11 Copy the Windows 3.x installation files on the Hard-drive image................................................13 Run Windows Installer from FASTDosBOX................................................................................16 Version 1.0 – May 2013, Author : Franck / NoRiscNoFun , [email protected] – twitter : @Noriscnofun1 What is DOS emulation for who and for what ? DOS (Disk Operating System) is / was the operating system for PC prior to the Microsoft Windows era. Between 1981 and 1995, DOS was dominating the market for the IBM PC platform (x86). During almost 15 years of technology all kind of applications and games have been released, probably thousands of games that constitute an invaluable legacy for any Retro Gamers. Many companies decided to re-release these old DOS games using the principle of emulation that simulates the behavior of a PC hardware and Operating System from the 1981-1995 era. Several DOS emulators have been released to work across modern platforms like Windows, OSX, Linux, Android. DOSBox is one of the most popular and most complete as it offers all the different features of these old-school PC. These last years DOSBox started to be a mandatory program for anyone who likes Retro gaming, this is why NoRisc-NoFun decided to bring to the Raspberry Pi community the best possible version of DOSBox called FastDOSBox (DOSBox Turbo name was already taken on Android platform). Raspberry Pi by its form factor, price and target audience is the perfect platform for Retro gaming. Looking at the RetroPie project is quite convincing. Reference : A proper definition of what is DOS about : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOS Reference : Official homepage of DOSBox : http://www.dosbox.com Reference : Good Old Games, selling DOS games : http://www.gog.com Reference : Excellent Blog about RetroPie : http://blog.petrockblock.com/retropie/ Version 1.0 – May 2013, Author : Franck / NoRiscNoFun , [email protected] – twitter : @Noriscnofun1 Why choosing FastDOSBox for DOS emulation on the Rpi ? The Raspberry Pi is an amazing small piece of hardware but no-one can say it is specially shining with its raw CPU power. There is not a single smartphone or tablet with a ARMv6 single core on the market today, that makes the emulation of a x86 PC pretty tough on the Raspberry Pi. Somebody told me recently : “The Raspberry Pi needs some special ARM code”, this is exactly where the challenge is : Straight ports of applications coming from the PC world won't run efficiently on ARM platforms, specially when it comes to emulate other architecture. NoRisc-NoFun (www.norisc-nofun.co.uk) is implementing the best possible routines and optimizations and aim to bring the most efficient version of software for the ARM platform. FastDOSBox is a fork of Dosbox based on the sources of the SVN and 0.74 version of Dosbox, this is the fruit of almost 9 month of work and the result can be consider as the little brother of DosBox Turbo available for Android. The features of FastDOSBox are the following : - All the standard features of DosBox as shown here : http://www.dosbox.com/status.php? show_status=1 Plus more specifically for the Raspberry Pi : - Dynrec emulation for ARM, offering the speed of a 386 DX at 25Mhz. - 1080p native resolution with upscale using dispmanx (GPU aided). Version 1.0 – May 2013, Author : Franck / NoRiscNoFun , [email protected] – twitter : @Noriscnofun1 Installing FastDOSBox on the Raspberry Pi For RISC OS Only version 1.0 is available for RISC OS, this version is slightly slower than the Raspbian version, mainly due to the fact that dispmanx (the GPU routines) are not used. However it provides a serious boost over the official version of Dosbox available from riscos.info website. You can download freely !FastDosBox here : http://www.norisc-nofun.co.uk/downloads/fastdosbox_1.0.zip Just extract the !FastDosBox folder from the ZIP archive, and double click on the icon, ! FastDosBox will load automatically. On RISC OS !FastDosbox is not limited to the Raspberry Pi, it runs beautifully on a Beagleboard or even better on a Pandaboard. For Raspbian Version 1.5 is available on the Pi Store, to install it, you have to run the pistore application from X11 and download it from there. The direct link on the Pi Store is : http://store.indiecity.com/projects/fastdosbox Once the installation process is complete, the application is installed in this directory : /usr/local/bin/indiecity/InstalledApps/fastdosbox/Full/fastdosbox-1.5/ To do a first run of fastdosbox under the console (X11 is not supported) : $ /usr/local/bin/indiecity/InstalledApps/fastdosbox/Full/fastdosbox-1.5/fastdosbox Alternatively as FastDOSBox is under GPL v2.0, you can download the sources from norisc-nofun website : www.norisc-nofun.co.uk and try to compile your own version. Version 1.0 – May 2013, Author : Franck / NoRiscNoFun , [email protected] – twitter : @Noriscnofun1 Recommended Raspberry Pi CPU settings for FastDOSBox. Emulating is really CPU consuming no matter how good are the optimizations that have been implemented. To get the most performance out of FastDOSBox, we recommend you to overclock your Raspberry Pi. Edit the /boot/config.txt file and change the following parameters : arm_freq=1000 gpu_mem=64 core_freq=500 sdram_freq=600 over_voltage=6 The new parameters are applied after a reboot. You may also check that the scaling governor is set on “ondemand”, if not you can use this command : $ echo ondemand > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor Reference : http://elinux.org/RPi_config.txt Reference : http://megakemp.com/2013/02/26/adventures-in-overclocking-a-raspberry-pi/ Version 1.0 – May 2013, Author : Franck / NoRiscNoFun , [email protected] – twitter : @Noriscnofun1 Recommended configuration settings for FastDOSBox By default FastDOSBox is using the most efficient settings according to our tests. It does not mean that they are the best for a perfect faithful emulation, but they are “to our opinion” a good compromise between speed and accuracy. This section does not cover explanation for all the settings as the official Dosbox wiki page does a fantastic job at it : http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Dosbox.conf The default configuration file for fastDOSBox is located in ~/.fastdosbox/fastdosbox-1.5.conf [dosbox] Section [dosbox] machine=svga_et3000 memsize=16 In most documentation svga_s3 is recommended, however we noticed a boost of few FPS using svga_et3000 on the Raspberry Pi. [render] Section [render] frameskip=0 aspect=false scaler=none [cpu] Section [cpu] core=dynamic cputype=386 cycles=max cycleup=10 cycledown=20 Sound Section [mixer] Version 1.0 – May 2013, Author : Franck / NoRiscNoFun , [email protected] – twitter : @Noriscnofun1 nosound=false rate=22050 blocksize=2048 prebuffer=20 [midi] mpu401=intelligent mididevice=default midiconfig= [sblaster] sbtype=sb16 sbbase=220 irq=7 dma=1 hdma=5 sbmixer=true oplmode=auto oplemu=default oplrate=44100 [gus] gus=false gusrate=44100 gusbase=240 gusirq=5 gusdma=3 ultradir=C:\ULTRASND
Recommended publications
  • Virtual Machine Technologies and Their Application in the Delivery of ICT
    Virtual Machine Technologies and Their Application In The Delivery Of ICT William McEwan accq.ac.nz n Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology Christchurch, New Zealand [email protected] ABSTRACT related areas - a virtual machine or network of virtual machines can be specially configured, allowing an Virtual Machine (VM) technology was first ordinary user supervisor rights, and it can be tested implemented and developed by IBM to destruction without any adverse effect on the corporation in the early 1960's as a underlying host system. mechanism for providing multi-user facilities This paper hopes to also illustrate how VM in a secure mainframe computing configurations can greatly reduce our dependency on environment. In recent years the power of special purpose, complex, and expensive laboratory personal computers has resulted in renewed setups. It also suggests the important additional role interest in the technology. This paper begins that VM and VNL is likely to play in offering hands-on by describing the development of VM. It practical experience to students in a distance e- discusses the different approaches by which learning environment. a VM can be implemented, and it briefly considers the advantages and disadvantages Keywords: Virtual Machines, operating systems, of each approach. VM technology has proven networks, e-learning, infrastructure, server hosting. to be extremely useful in facilitating the Annual NACCQ, Hamilton New Zealand July, 2002 www. Annual NACCQ, Hamilton New Zealand July, teaching of multiple operating systems. It th offers an alternative to the traditional 1. INTRODUCTION approaches of using complex combinations Virtual Machine (VM) technology is not new. It was of specially prepared and configured OS implemented on mainframe computing systems by the images installed via the network or installed IBM Corporation in the early 1960’s (Varian 1997 pp permanently on multiple partitions or on 3-25, Gribben 1989 p.2, Thornton 2000 p.3, Sugarman multiple physical hard drives.
    [Show full text]
  • OLD PRETENDER Lovrenc Gasparin, Fotolia
    COVER STORY Bochs Emulator Legacy emulator OLD PRETENDER Lovrenc Gasparin, Fotolia Gasparin, Lovrenc Bochs, the granddaddy of all emulators, is alive and kicking; thanks to regular vitamin jabs, the lively old pretender can even handle Windows XP. BY TIM SCHÜRMANN he PC emulator Bochs first saw the 2.2.6 version in the Universe reposi- box). This also applies if you want to the light of day in 1994. Bochs’ tory; you will additionally need to install run Bochs on a pre-Pentium CPU, such Tinventor, Kevin Lawton, distrib- the Bximage program. (Bximage is al- as a 486. uted the emulator under a commercial li- ready part of the Bochs RPM for open- After installation, the program will cense before selling to French Linux ven- SUSE.) If worst comes to worst, you can simulate a complete PC, including CPU, dor Mandriva (which was then known always build your own Bochs from the graphics, sound card, and network inter- as MandrakeSoft). Mandriva freed the source code (see the “Building Bochs” face. The virtual PC in a PC works so emulator from its commercial chains, re- leasing Bochs under the LGPL license. Building Bochs If you prefer to build your own Bochs, or an additional --enable-ne2000 parameter Installation if you have no alternative, you will first to configure. The extremely long list of Bochs has now found a new home at need to install the C++ compiler and de- parameters in the user manual [2] gives SourceForge.net [1] (Figure 1). You can veloper packages for the X11 system. you a list of available options.
    [Show full text]
  • Running Telecom/TT-Link and Trafman Under Windows 7 (And Up) Using Dosbox
    Running Telecom/TT-Link and Trafman under Windows 7 (and up) using DOSbox 3/31/2014 Documentation written for: Telecom/TT-Link V3.97 or later. TrafMan V6.43 or later. DOSbox V0.74 or later. COM/IP V4.9.5 or later. TrafMan & Telecom/TT-Link on Windows 7 Page 1 of 10 I. Introduction and Initial Emulator Setup Microsoft discontinued support for MS-DOS level programs starting with Windows 7. This has made the operation of Telecom/TT-Link and TrafMan on systems with a Windows 7 or later operating systems problematical, to say the least. However, it is possible to achieve functionality (with some limits) even on a Windows 7 computer by using what is known as a “DOS Emulator”. Emulator’s simulate the conditions of an earlier operating system on a later one. For example, one of the most common emulators is called DOSbox (http://sourceforge.net/projects/dosbox/ ) and it is available as a free download for both PC and Mac computers. DOSbox creates an artificial MS-DOS level environment on a Windows 7 computer. Inside this environment you can run most DOS programs, including TrafMan and Telecom/TT-Link. This document describes how to utilize the DOSbox emulator for running Telecom/TT-Link and TrafMan. It should be noted, however, that other emulators may also work and this document can serve as a guide for setting up and using similar DOS emulators as they are available. Initial DOSbox Emulator Setup: 1) Download the latest release of DOSbox (0.74 or later) to your PC and install it.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Virtualization Virtualization
    Introduction to Virtualization Prashant Shenoy Computer Science CS691D: Hot-OS Lecture 2, page 1 Virtualization • Virtualization: extend or replace an existing interface to mimic the behavior of another system. – Introduced in 1970s: run legacy software on newer mainframe hardware • Handle platform diversity by running apps in VMs – Portability and flexibility Computer Science CS691D: Hot-OS Lecture 2, page 2 Types of Interfaces • Different types of interfaces – Assembly instructions – System calls – APIs • Depending on what is replaced /mimiced, we obtain different forms of virtualization Computer Science CS691D: Hot-OS Lecture 2, page 3 Types of Virtualization • Emulation – VM emulates/simulates complete hardware – Unmodified guest OS for a different PC can be run • Bochs, VirtualPC for Mac, QEMU • Full/native Virtualization – VM simulates “enough” hardware to allow an unmodified guest OS to be run in isolation • Same hardware CPU – IBM VM family, VMWare Workstation, Parallels,… Computer Science CS691D: Hot-OS Lecture 2, page 4 Types of virtualization • Para-virtualization – VM does not simulate hardware – Use special API that a modified guest OS must use – Hypercalls trapped by the Hypervisor and serviced – Xen, VMWare ESX Server • OS-level virtualization – OS allows multiple secure virtual servers to be run – Guest OS is the same as the host OS, but appears isolated • apps see an isolated OS – Solaris Containers, BSD Jails, Linux Vserver • Application level virtualization – Application is gives its own copy of components that are not shared • (E.g., own registry files, global objects) - VE prevents conflicts – JVM Computer Science CS691D: Hot-OS Lecture 2, page 5 Examples • Application-level virtualization: “process virtual machine” • VMM /hypervisor Computer Science CS691D: Hot-OS Lecture 2, page 6 The Architecture of Virtual Machines J Smith and R.
    [Show full text]
  • Virtualizing Servers with Xen
    Virtualization Xen Features Escalabilidade Performance QoS Implementation Future Virtualizing servers with Xen Evaldo Gardenali VI International Conference of Unix at UNINET Virtualization Xen Features Escalabilidade Performance QoS Implementation Future Outline Virtualization Xen Features Scalability Performance Quality of Service Implementation Future of Xen Virtualization Xen Features Escalabilidade Performance QoS Implementation Future Overview Why? Support heterogeneous environments: Linux r 2.4 e 2.6, NetBSD r , Plan9 r FreeBSD r , OpenSolaris r Consolidate work Legacy Systems Gradual Upgrade Service Isolation Quality of Service Isolated testing and development Ease of administration Ease of relocation and migration Virtualization Xen Features Escalabilidade Performance QoS Implementation Future Virtualization Techniques Single System Image: Ensim r , Vservers, CKRM, VirtuozzoTM, BSD r jail(), Solaris r Zones √ Groups processes in “resource containers” Hard to get isolation × Emulation: QEMU, Bochs √ Portable Extremely slow × Virtualization: VMware r , VirtualPC r √ Runs unmodified Operating Systems Virtualizing x86 is inefficient × User Mode Kernel: User Mode Linux, CoLinux Guest runs as a process on the host OS × Low performance (I/O, context switches) × Paravirtualization: Xen r , Denali √ Excellent performance Requires port to special architecture × Virtualization Xen Features Escalabilidade Performance QoS Implementation Future Virtualization Techniques Single System Image: Ensim r , Vservers, CKRM, VirtuozzoTM, BSD r jail(), Solaris
    [Show full text]
  • Virtualization of Linux Based Computers: the Linux-Vserver Project
    VirtualizationVirtualization ofof LinuxLinux basedbased computers:computers: thethe LinuxLinux--VServerVServer projectproject BenoBenoîîtt desdes Ligneris,Ligneris, Ph.Ph. D.D. [email protected] Objectives:Objectives: Objectives:Objectives: 1)1) PresentPresent thethe availableavailable programsprograms thatthat cancan provideprovide aa virtualizationvirtualization ofof LinuxLinux computerscomputers withwith differentdifferent technologies.technologies. Objectives:Objectives: 1)1) PresentPresent thethe availableavailable programsprograms thatthat cancan provideprovide aa virtualizationvirtualization ofof LinuxLinux computerscomputers withwith differentdifferent technologies.technologies. 2)2) FocusFocus onon LinuxLinux--VServers:VServers: aa veryvery lightweightlightweight andand effectiveeffective technologytechnology forfor thethe regularregular LinuxLinux useruser notnot interstedintersted inin KernelKernel hacking.hacking. PlanPlan PlanPlan ● IntroductionIntroduction PlanPlan ● IntroductionIntroduction ● OverviewOverview ofof thethe availableavailable technologytechnology PlanPlan ● IntroductionIntroduction ● OverviewOverview ofof thethe availableavailable technologytechnology ● ClassificationClassification ofof thethe problems:problems: usageusage criteriacriteria PlanPlan ● IntroductionIntroduction ● OverviewOverview ofof thethe availableavailable technologytechnology ● ClassificationClassification ofof thethe problems:problems: usageusage criteriacriteria ● ComparativeComparative studystudy ofof thethe existingexisting
    [Show full text]
  • Parallels Desktop® Upgrade to Windows 7 User's Guide
    Parallels Desktop® Upgrade to Windows 7 User's Guide Copyright © 1999-2010 Parallels Holdings, Ltd. and its affiliates. All rights reserved. Parallels Holdings, Ltd. c/o Parallels International GMbH. Parallels International GmbH Vordergasse 49 CH8200 Schaffhausen Switzerland Tel: + 49 (6151) 42996 - 0 Fax: + 49 (6151) 42996 - 255 www.parallels.com Copyright © 1999-2010 Parallels Holdings, Ltd. and its affiliates. All rights reserved. This product is protected by United States and international copyright laws. The product’s underlying technology, patents, and trademarks are listed at http://www.parallels.com/trademarks. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Server, Windows NT, Windows Vista, and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Mac is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. 3 Contents Introduction 5 About Parallels Desktop Upgrade to Windows 7......................................................................................... 5 About This Guide......................................................................................................................................... 6 Organization of This Guide .............................................................................................................. 6 Documentation Conventions............................................................................................................. 7 Getting Help................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Virtualization Technologies Overview Course: CS 490 by Mendel
    Virtualization technologies overview Course: CS 490 by Mendel Rosenblum Name Can boot USB GUI Live 3D Snaps Live an OS on mem acceleration hot of migration another ory runnin disk alloc g partition ation system as guest Bochs partially partially Yes No Container s Cooperati Yes[1] Yes No No ve Linux (supporte d through X11 over networkin g) Denali DOSBox Partial (the Yes No No host OS can provide DOSBox services with USB devices) DOSEMU No No No FreeVPS GXemul No No Hercules Hyper-V iCore Yes Yes No Yes No Virtual Accounts Imperas Yes Yes Yes Yes OVP (Eclipse) Tools Integrity Yes No Yes Yes No Yes (HP-UX Virtual (Integrity guests only, Machines Virtual Linux and Machine Windows 2K3 Manager in near future) (add-on) Jail No Yes partially Yes No No No KVM Yes [3] Yes Yes [4] Yes Supported Yes [5] with VMGL [6] Linux- VServer LynxSec ure Mac-on- Yes Yes No No Linux Mac-on- No No Mac OpenVZ Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes (using Xvnc and/or XDMCP) Oracle Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes VM (manage d by Oracle VM Manager) OVPsim Yes Yes Yes Yes (Eclipse) Padded Yes Yes Yes Cell for x86 (Green Hills Software) Padded Yes Yes Yes No Cell for PowerPC (Green Hills Software) Parallels Yes, if Boot Yes Yes Yes DirectX 9 Desktop Camp is and for Mac installed OpenGL 2.0 Parallels No Yes Yes No partially Workstati on PearPC POWER Yes Yes No Yes No Yes (on Hypervis POWER 6- or (PHYP) based systems, requires PowerVM Enterprise Licensing) QEMU Yes Yes Yes [4] Some code Yes done [7]; Also supported with VMGL [6] QEMU w/ Yes Yes Yes Some code Yes kqemu done [7]; Also module supported
    [Show full text]
  • International Journal for Scientific Research & Development
    IJSRD - International Journal for Scientific Research & Development| Vol. 2, Issue 02, 2014 | ISSN (online): 2321-0613 Virtualization : A Novice Approach Amithchand Sheety1 Mahesh Poola2 Pradeep Bhat3 Dhiraj Mishra4 1,2,3,4 Padmabhushan Vasantdada Patil Pratishthan’s College of Engineering, Eastern Express Highway, Near Everard Nagar, Sion-Chunabhatti, Mumbai-400 022, India. Abstract— Virtualization provides many benefits – greater as CPU. Although hardware is consolidated, typically efficiency in CPU utilization, greener IT with less power OS are not. Instead, each OS running on a physical consumption, better management through central server becomes converted to a distinct OS running inside environment control, more availability, reduced project a virtual machine. The large server can "host" many such timelines by eliminating hardware procurement, improved "guest" virtual machines. This is known as Physical-to- disaster recovery capability, more central control of the Virtual (P2V) transformation. desktop, and improved outsourcing services. With these 2) Consolidating servers can also have the added benefit of benefits, it is no wondered that virtualization has had a reducing energy consumption. A typical server runs at meteoric rise to the 2008 Top 10 IT Projects! This white 425W [4] and VMware estimates an average server paper presents a brief look at virtualization, its benefits and consolidation ratio of 10:1. weaknesses, and today’s “best practices” regarding 3) A virtual machine can be more easily controlled and virtualization. inspected from outside than a physical one, and its configuration is more flexible. This is very useful in I. INTRODUCTION kernel development and for teaching operating system Virtualization, in computing, is a term that refers to the courses.
    [Show full text]
  • MX-19.2 Users Manual
    MX-19.2 Users Manual v. 20200801 manual AT mxlinux DOT org Ctrl-F = Search this Manual Ctrl+Home = Return to top Table of Contents 1 Introduction...................................................................................................................................4 1.1 About MX Linux................................................................................................................4 1.2 About this Manual..............................................................................................................4 1.3 System requirements..........................................................................................................5 1.4 Support and EOL................................................................................................................6 1.5 Bugs, issues and requests...................................................................................................6 1.6 Migration............................................................................................................................7 1.7 Our positions......................................................................................................................8 1.8 Notes for Translators.............................................................................................................8 2 Installation...................................................................................................................................10 2.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................10
    [Show full text]
  • Kvm – Kernel Based Virtual Machine
    KVM – KERNEL BASED VIRTUAL MACHINE BACKGROUND Virtualization has begun to transform the way that enterprises are deploying and managing their infrastructure, providing the foundation for a truly agile enterprise, so that IT can deliver an infrastructure that is flexible, scalable, and most importantly economical by efficiently utilizing resources. 10 years ago virtualization was unheard of in the x86 market it was reserved for mainframe and high end UNIX systems. Over the last 3 to 4 years there has been exponential growth in the virtualization market both in terms of customer adoption and in terms of the rise of the number vendors in the virtualization space; from new hypervisor vendors to virtualization management vendors too numerous to mention. VIRTUALIZING THE X86 ARCHITECTURE The x86 architecture has proven to be the dominate platform in enterprise computing, moving from its humble beginnings in desktop systems to now, powering the large enterprise applications that run businesses across the globe. The current generation of x86 CPUs include features such as large scale multi-threading with 8 or more processing cores, support for large memory systems with NUMA and integrated memory controllers, high speed CPU interconnects and chipset for support for advanced reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features. These features were once reserved for mainframe and high end UNIX systems, today x86 servers with 2 or 4 sockets are replacing expensive UNIX/RISC systems while delivering better performance and 4 and 8 socket servers are challenging mainframe class systems. While the x86 platform has evolved significantly over it's lifetime it has maintained it's core architecture to provide backward compatibility.
    [Show full text]
  • Operating System Support for Virtual Machines Samuel T
    Proceedings of the 2003 USENIX Technical Conference Operating System Support for Virtual Machines Samuel T. King, George W. Dunlap, Peter M. Chen Computer Science and Engineering Division Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science University of Michigan http://www.eecs.umich.edu/CoVirt Abstract: A virtual-machine monitor (VMM) is a use- VMM is called a virtual machine. The hardware emu- ful technique for adding functionality below existing lated by the VMM typically is similar or identical to the operating system and application software. One class of hardware on which the VMM is running. VMMs (called Type II VMMs) builds on the abstrac- tions provided by a host operating system. Type II Virtual machines were first developed and used in VMMs are elegant and convenient, but their perfor- the 1960s, with the best-known example being IBM’s mance is currently an order of magnitude slower than VM/370 [Goldberg74]. Several properties of virtual that achieved when running outside a virtual machine (a machines have made them helpful for a wide variety of standalone system). In this paper, we examine the rea- uses. First, they can create the illusion of multiple vir- sons for this large overhead for Type II VMMs. We find tual machines on a single physical machine. These mul- that a few simple extensions to a host operating system tiple virtual machines can be used to run applications on can make it a much faster platform for running a VMM. different operating systems, to allow students to experi- Taking advantage of these extensions reduces virtualiza- ment conveniently with building their own operating tion overhead for a Type II VMM to 14-35% overhead, system [Nieh00], to enable existing operating systems to even for workloads that exercise the virtual machine run on shared-memory multiprocessors [Bugnion97], intensively.
    [Show full text]