Just triple checking before going 64bit on the main system: I have a 32-bit WindowsXP image in which I run a proprietary 32bit application I am dependent on for work. Are there any special considerations related to upgrading the host machine from 32bit to 64bit OS in order to still be able to run the 32bit qemu image?

Hi.

Nope, nothing to worry about. I'm running a Windows 2000 image that I was previously using on 32bit, on an x86_64 Fedora box.

Worst case scenario - you'll just have to run the 32 bit version of qemu on your x86_64 machine.

Dave

THIS IS SLACKWARE, Not Fedora (To me, the Windows wannabee Linux Distro). There ARE differences.


The issue is running 32-bit apps.

IF Slackware 64 has multi-lib support now, you shouldn't have a problem running 32 bit apps in SW64. If not (Haven't kept up on it), you won't be able to.

I'm not sure if qemu has a 64bit version. If so, you should be fine running whatever version of Windows you wish. If only 32-bit, you will need the multi-lib (32-bit libraries) version of SW64 to run it.

Check the regular Slackware Forum for answers about 32-bit library support in SW64

Thanks for answering!

Hmm - since Slackware64 is not multilib, I was under the impression that that isn't an option..

You can't run 32-bit qemu on SW64 (At present time, as-installed)

That's the issue with other distros thinking that their answers work...lol

Exactly - so I need a 64bit qemu to be able to run a 32bit guest OS,or I'm up the famous creek... According to the qemu website it should work,but given the vast differences (such as the purelib/multilib issues you pointed out) it'd be good to have a confirmation.

Try the 64 qemu, and see.. I'd use a "test" image, tho, JUST IN CASE.

That way, you won't lose anything valuable.

Remember, we're pioneering here on 64-bit for SW

Inter-distro slagging aside, the x86_64 version of qemu runs 32bit Windows fine. The emulated hardware is the same, but the processor type will change. Windows doesn't appear to care.

Last time I looked the kqemu kernel acceleration couldn't run a 32bit OS on x86_64, but qemu running in userland works fine.

Dave

When I use the "qemu-system-x86_64" executable (not "qemu"), it can use the kqemu kernel module (all compiled 64-bit). And it runs an old 32-bit XP image.

(A 32-bit qemu executable on a x86_64 kernel with 32-bit-compatibility libraries wasn't able to use kqemu. At least when I last checked, although I think it was on their TODO list.)

Ah! Happy days. I didn't update my qemu startup scripts when I switched to 64bit. That would explain why kqemu wasn't working.

slackware64 isn't multilib, but it's multilib-ready,
so if you need 32bit applications you can easily make it a true multilib distro with alien bob's howto,
than compile and run 32 and 64 bit.

Also, I would suggest you try running Virtual Box.

This machine is Slackware64 -current, multilib enabled. However, since
installing Virtual Box I am quite satisfied for it meeting my 32-bit
Adobe software needs. It has VirtualBox-3.0.4-50677-Linux_amd64.run
installed, and WinXP Pro installed faster, boots faster, and runs
faster than natively. Adobe InDesign and Photoshop seem to be a
bit faster, but the OS is magnitudes faster.

Also, my NFS shares are available, printing to my USB printer works,
and the internet is fine. I can't ask for more, and though I have
not run (k)qemu in a while, it was never nearly this fast.

I've also got wine (yes, 32-bit) running in the multilib enabled
Slackware64 -current. It works fine, also.

I do think my machine might be running VBox so well because it is
both AMD-V and PAE capable and working. It is using the PIIX4 disk
controller rather than ACHI, but I could not get the driver installed
for that just yet.

Just wanted to offer that as an option ... hope you don't mind.

I too sucessfully installed Xp Pro 32 bits in VirtualBox.

@ Bruce: could you get the sound to work in your guest OS with the alsa driver ?

Wow quite a few miss leading answers in this thread.

First, qemu is a complete emulator. Qemu can emulate different cpu's. Example-
qemu-system-x86_64 -cpu ?
x86 qemu64
x86 phenom
x86 core2duo
x86 qemu32
x86 coreduo
x86 486
x86 pentium
x86 pentium2
x86 pentium3
x86 athlon
x86 n270

That's a list of what my qemu can emulate. You can compile in other CPUs, like PPC and Arm. Don't recall ever seeing 64bit 486,pentium,pentium2,pentium3 - and qemu32 should be self explanatory. You can also compile in other CPUs, like PPC and ARM.

With qemu, you can be on any OS arch, and emulate any other CPU arch.

On Slackware64, I run Slackware32 just fine in a qemu-VM. My Girlfriend runs WindowsXP 32bit Home in a qemu-VM on Slackware64 as well. Her Windows qemu-img was created originally with Slackware 12.1-current. I use KVM with Qemu, she uses kqemu as her CPU doesn't have built in virt support.

No. I use the Null Audio Driver > ICH AC97. Sound in Windows in VBox is still better
than sound in native Slackware with ALSA. Always has been back to Slackware-9.1 when
I started and had to always compile ALSA from source to get it to work. My soundchip: