QEMU on FreeBSD

Excellent.  I don't quite understand the purpose of the qemu-ifup script though. When would it be run?

If I run it, whether qemu is running or not, I get the message that interface 0.0.0.0 does not exist.  The qemu Win2k install can't ping anything, but the Internet works.  (However, sad to say the main program for which I need Windows, a Nortel VPN client, doesn't work--it doesn't work in Win4BSD either, though they have said that their planned updates will fix that issue.)

Still you are right, it's come a long way since I last used it.  I think my main use for it will be to play with various Linux distros when I go through my distro swapping moods, which happens on occasion. 

Thank you for this howto it made it very simple.

Ok, this is fun.    I'm writing this from qemu, running a live CD of the Elive Linux distribution.

I am really glad you wrote this.

VMware3 boots up a little faster.  I'd say it's slightly faster than qemu.   I haven't kept the Win2k install on--I plan to use the qemu for playing with various Linux distros, perhaps for a flash site that just won't work with FreeBSD (though those are becoming far fewer.)

However, I've kept Win4BSD which is basically qemu, perhaps with a few enhancements to make it install more easily and an automatic mapping of your $HOME directory.

Depending upon what you need your Win2k to do, the difference has become far less than it was several months ago, the last time I tried qemu. 

I wouldn't use either one for playing games, those seem to be slow.  As I need Windows for some work related things, I don't even enable sound. 

As for the next topic--if there's some question that keeps popping up on forums and I know the answers, it seems worthwhile to write something.  Another thing is where I set something up, and it takes me more research than I think it should have to get it working, for example, doing various things in mutt. 

Actually, just think of things that catch your interest that you know, and write about them.   Try to take it from the perspective of someone who hasn't done it before--otherwise, you wind up taking mental shortcuts that will confuse the newcomer to the application (or whatever it is that you're covering in your howto.)

RoddieRod, yes, I put qemu on CURRENT.  It built for me without problems.

Hrrm.  If you like, I can do a pkg_create for you.  Would that help?  (I can do one for kqemu as well.)

On a side note, I noticed that I couldn't, on a Linux guest, get the Mod4 key working--one which I always use in my keyboard shortcuts in fluxbox.  I did a bit of reading--well, it didn't take much, it was in the qemu faq and found an old patch.  I repatched it for my Current FreeBSD installation and sent it off as a PR. 

If anyone wants it (it's a patch of sdl.c, a few lines to enable it to recognize the Mod4 key--useful in Windows for a few things as well) it's at http://www.scottro.net/patch.sdl.c

Here is my error:

atomizer# make install clean
===>  Building for qemu-0.8.2s.20061216
gmake -C i386-softmmu all
gmake[1]: Entering directory `/usr/ports/emulators/qemu/work/qemu-snapshot-2006-
12-16_05/i386-softmmu'
cc -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -DNO_MALLOC_EXTRAS -march=opteron  -fno-strict
-aliasing -I/usr/local/include -mpreferred-stack-boundary=2 -fomit-frame-pointer
 -falign-functions=0 -fno-gcse -fno-reorder-blocks -fno-optimize-sibling-calls -
I. -I.. -I/usr/ports/emulators/qemu/work/qemu-snapshot-2006-12-16_05/target-i386
 -I/usr/ports/emulators/qemu/work/qemu-snapshot-2006-12-16_05 -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_F
ILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -DSMBD=\"/usr/local/sbin/smbd\" -I/usr/po
rts/emulators/qemu/work/qemu-snapshot-2006-12-16_05/fpu -DHAS_AUDIO -I/usr/ports
/emulators/qemu/work/qemu-snapshot-2006-12-16_05/slirp -c -o op.o /usr/ports/emu
lators/qemu/work/qemu-snapshot-2006-12-16_05/target-i386/op.c
/usr/ports/emulators/qemu/work/qemu-snapshot-2006-12-16_05/target-i386/ops_sse.h
: In function `op_psrlq_mmx':
/usr/ports/emulators/qemu/work/qemu-snapshot-2006-12-16_05/target-i386/ops_sse.h
:213: error: unable to find a register to spill in class `GENERAL_REGS'
/usr/ports/emulators/qemu/work/qemu-snapshot-2006-12-16_05/target-i386/ops_sse.h                                                    :213: error: this is the insn:
(insn:HI 36 35 37 3 (parallel [
            (set (reg:DI 63 [ <variable>.q ])
                (lshiftrt:DI (reg:DI 63 [ <variable>.q ])
                    (subreg:QI (reg/v:SI 60 [ shift ]) 0)))
            (clobber (scratch:SI))
            (clobber (reg:CC 17 flags))
        ]) 309 {lshrdi3_1} (insn_list 33 (insn_list 35 (nil)))
    (expr_list:REG_DEAD (reg/v:SI 60 [ shift ])
        (expr_list:REG_UNUSED (reg:CC 17 flags)
            (expr_list:REG_UNUSED (scratch:SI)
                (nil)))))
/usr/ports/emulators/qemu/work/qemu-snapshot-2006-12-16_05/target-i386/ops_sse.h                                                    :213: confused by earlier errors, bailing out
gmake[1]: *** [op.o] Error 1
gmake[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/ports/emulators/qemu/work/qemu-snapshot-2006-1                                                    2-16_05/i386-softmmu'
gmake: *** [subdir-i386-softmmu] Error 2
*** Error code 2

Stop in /usr/ports/emulators/qemu.

And Scottro - I'll try a package. I seem to be getting strange errors building things lately. This is the only port I'm having trouble with

Yes it is also possible, but I focused to make everything without 'leaving' the shell prompt to any interactive app, like text editor for example.

What are Your CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS?

Also the code seems to broke on building SSE/MMX extensions, maybe try to build qemu with CPUTYPE=operton commented out in /etc/make.conf.

Thanks again Scottro.

I was thinking the same thing about my system. I debating a portupgrade -a....

good to know about vipw.

changes:
3. removed HACKS_CIRRUS from options [thx to scottro sugestion], reason here: http://forums.bsdnexus.com/viewtopic.ph … 036#p14036
4. sometimes OS installation requires unload of kqemu. short: install without kqemu and the use with kqemu

I thought I would add this bit of information.  If you are running qemu through vnc--that is, if you open a vnc server session on the host, go in with vnc, then launch qemu from the vnc session--the keyboard might be out of wack unless you specify it with the -k option covered in qemu's man page.  I want an English US layout.   The man page mentions this, but it's the sort of thing that you miss until you use it. 

(It's comment is that the -k option shouldn't be necessary save for certain special situations and mentions VNC as one of those situations).

At any rate, thought I'd pass this along as I was getting quite aggravated when my password wasn't working.   A bit of googling mentioned the -k option and only then did I go to the man page and see that they have this situation covered.