From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Dec 30 22:23:34 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6348616A4CE for ; Tue, 30 Dec 2003 22:23:34 -0800 (PST) Received: from pilchuck.reedmedia.net (pilchuck.reedmedia.net [209.166.74.74]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0F47C43D1F for ; Tue, 30 Dec 2003 22:23:33 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from reed@reedmedia.net) Received: from reed by pilchuck.reedmedia.net with local-esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 1AbZlP-0003QV-00; Tue, 30 Dec 2003 22:23:27 -0800 Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 22:23:27 -0800 (PST) From: "Jeremy C. Reed" To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Subject: looking for virtual machine for testing booting ISO images X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 06:23:34 -0000 I am looking for a method where I can boot ISO images in a chroot-like environment. (I understand that VMware and Virtual PC may be able to do this, but I'd prefer to use an open source product.) I was told on the plex86 list to look at bochs. I did look at some bochs documentation that mentioned making and using an ISO image for Windows (which I don't use). But my guest operating system will be Linux or NetBSD. I didn't find any bochs documentation on using FreeBSD as the host system and booting Linux or NetBSD ISO images. I asked the bochs-developers list (because I didn't see a "general" bochs discussion forum) but didn't get any feedback. For example, I make bootable NetBSD and Linux CDs, and I can test the executables and environment by mounting the ISO image and chrooting to it. (But this doesn't test the boot and init.) I want to test the entire bootup starting with the ISO image's embedded bootable 2.88 floppy image, booting kernel, running /sbin/init, et cetera (without wasting time having to physically burn a CD and rebooting using that new CD on a test system each time). Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas on what I can use to boot a bootable ISO image? I see ports/emulators/bochs ... does anyone know how to get it to boot a bootable ISO image (where host is FreeBSD and ISO is Linux or NetBSD)? Thank you for any advice, Jeremy C. Reed http://bsd.reedmedia.net/