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Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 10:56:47 -0800
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From: David Brodbeck <gull@gull.us>
To: "C. P. Ghost" <cpghost@cordula.ws>
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Cc: FreeBSD Mailing List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject: Re: Emulators to test non-x86 FreeBSD ports?
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On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 9:27 AM, C. P. Ghost <cpghost@cordula.ws> wrote:
> Hello list,
>
> are there any emulators out there that can run the non-x86 versions of FreeBSD
> on a FreeBSD/i386 or FreeBSD/amd64 host?
>
> I'm especially interested in trying FreeBSD/sparc64 port, but I'd also like to
> test the FreeBSD/powerpc and the FreeBSD/arm ports on an emulator, before
> seeking real hardware.

QEMU claims PowerPC and ARM emulation support, but I don't know if
it's good enough to run FreeBSD.  PearPC is another PowerPC emulator,
but it was mainly targeted at running MacOS and the project appears to
have been stagnant since 2005.

It depends a bit on what you're trying to determine.  If you're
looking to test stability or performance, the results you get from an
emulator are unlikely to have any real comparison to what you get on
real hardware.