ODROID-XU Does: QEMU Virtualized (Emulated) FreeDOS 1.1: ARM Device Emulating x86 CPU
3Wallpaper: The yandere clock eyed girl from Date A Live. Nice wallpaper, ikr?
Sorry, no aussie voiceover today - wasn't in the mood (shame, I know).
Today, in the Coburn Labs:
ODROID-XU Does: FreeDOS emulated on a x86 target using ARM QEMU Host.
The ODROID-XU uses a smartphone ARM HardFloat CPU. This is typical, it uses an instruction set like the iPhone and other Android devices. ARM is a Mobile Platform, and DOES NOT share instruction sets with x86. Therefore, to run x86 programs on ARM, we must emulate a x86 platform by using, in this example, QEMU.
The problem is, emulating a x86 platform can really bog down the embedded CPU on your device. The ODROID-XU has 4 cores partnered with 4 companion cores, which makes it technically 8 core CPU. Only 4 real cores are reported, but all 8 cores do get used.
For more information about the ODROID-XU, please see Hardkernel at http://hardkernel.com .
As you can see, the ODROID-XU handles this task very well. Installing FreeDOS took a while (mainly due to MicroSD I/O speed), but it was done within 30 minutes or so.
I intend to get Windows 95 running inside QEMU, before jumping into the fray and trying to put Windows XP on the ODROID-XU. Remember, we're talking about a emulated platform. That means the target (FreeDOS/95/XP) will run slower than it would natively on a true x86 platform.