This article, is a description of my efforts to build a minimal FreeBSD system from scratch and run it under the Bochs emulator. Inspired by “FreeBSD From Scratch” by Jens Schweikhardt, this article extends its ideas by using a file backed virtual disk, as the installation directory and harddisk image under Bochs.
I used this technique to develop a floppy boot image for creating a bootable CD. I booted Win 98 in Bochs and created a boot floppy image by formatting a virtual floppy from bochs. Then I could add and remove files via mounting the image with mdconfig or from Win 98 in Bochs. This is neat for systems like mine without floppy drives.
Is there a reason to use Bochs over Qemu or is it just a matter of taste between the two?
I’ve grown fond of Qemu, for it has very acceptable speed, but word is that it’s emulation is not as precise as Bochs’ emulation.
Bochs provides more precise control of its emulation engine than qemu does (at least from what I’ve seen). That’s enough reason for me to continue using Bochs.
I just installed Win98 under qemu. I tried that several times under bochs and failed every time. And it was dog slow. Sorry, I don’t remember where it failed. Qemu runs win98 decently on my system (Celeron 1.7Ghz, 256M RAM).
The only thing that I’ve noticed that doesn’t work well is sound-blaster emulation. Win98 detected the device, but something prevented it from getting set up right. I was also able to boot Knoppix. This was rather slow, but it makes sense. I ran it off a CDROM, and it uses KDE, which too forever to start. Nothing against, Bochs, but I really like qemu.