QEMU Accelerator Achieves Near-Native Performance

An anonymous reader writes "QEMU is a generic and open source processor emulator which achieves a good emulation speed by using dynamic translation. Its sporting a new module called the 'Accelerator' which can achieve near native speeds, and currently runs on Linux 2.4.x and 2.6.x kernels. This means you could theoretically run Windows (or another OS) on a Linux machine at near native speeds without buying a commercial emulator. The catch is that although QEMU is released under various open source licenses, the Accelerator uses a free (as in beer) license because the module is a 'closed source proprietary product.' Fabrice Bellard does mention that he would consider open sourcing the Accelerator under certain conditions."

Comments

This is great!

[Husgaard]

I am really looking forward to emulating an Opteron at near native speed on my good old 386sx processor...

Re:Processor emulator

[Lisandro]

You can. Just put the heatsink in the oven for 15 minutes at 400C before use.

Re:if only they could get this to run faster

[fabu10u$]

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[Just Some Guy]

I like the speedup table:

• Emulator
• Typical application slow down ratio compared to native

• QEMU
• 5 to 10

• QEMU + QEMU accelerator
• 1 to 2

I read those "ratios" as, well, ratios: "Wow, QEMU has a 5:10 slowdown, while the accelerator only has a 1:2 slowdown! I should write one with a .1:.2 slowdown! Oops, done."