plan9fox/sys/man/1/vmx

.TH VMX 1
.SH NAME
vmx \- virtual PC
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B vmx
[
.B -D
]
[
.B -M
.I mem
]
[
.B -c
.I com1
]
[
.B -C
.I com2
]
[
.B -n
.I nic
]
[
.B -d
.I blockfile
]
[
.BR -v | -w
.I vga
]
[
.B -m
.I bootmod
]
kernel
[
.I args ...
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Vmx
uses Intel VT-x through
.IR vmx (3)
to simulate a virtual PC, running the specified kernel (see below for supported formats).
.PP
By default the virtual PC has 64 MB of memory.
The amount of memory can be changed with the
.B -M
option,
the argument of which is interpreted in bytes unless suffixed by
.BR K ,
.BR M ,
or
.B G
to change the unit to kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes, respectively.
.PP
.I Args
is passed to the kernel as its command line.
Boot modules can be specified with the
.B -m
argument.
.PP
.B -D
enables debug messages.
.PP
If
.B -v
is specified, a graphics device, PS/2 keyboard and mouse are simulated.
The
.B -w
flag behaves the same as
.B -v
but also creates a new window for the screen.
Clicking on the screen "grabs" the mouse; pressing Ctrl and Alt simultaneously releases the grab.
Valid values for the argument are
.TP
.B text
Simulate a VGA text-mode console.
.TP
\fIwidth\fLx\fIheight\fR [ \fLx\fIchan\fR ] [ \fL@\fIaddr\fR ]
Simulate a framebuffer at address \fIaddr\fR of the specified size and channel format \fIchan\fR (see
.IR image (6)).
\fLx\fIchan\fR and \fL@\fIaddr\fR are optional, in which case they default to \fLx8r8g8b8\fR and \fL0xf0000000\fR, respectively
(in this mode there is no way to change the resolution and accesses to VGA registers have no effect).
.TP
\fLvesa:\fImodes\fR [ \fL@\fIaddr\fR ]
(\fImodes\fR is a comma separated list of modes of the format \fIwidth\fLx\fIheight\fLx\fIchan\fR with the \fLchan\fR optional as before.)
Simulate a VESA-compatible PCI graphics adapter, initially in text mode.
The guest can use VESA functions to switch the mode to one of those listed, which are assigned consecutive mode numbers starting with \fL0x120\fR.
The first mode is indicated as the preferred mode of the monitor.
.PP
The
.B -c
and
.B -C
options specify the targets for the COM1 and COM2 devices.
The argument consists of two fields separated by a comma, which specify the file to be used for input and output, respectively.
Either field can be left empty.
If there is no comma in the argument, the same value is used for both fields.
.PP
A
.B -n
option adds a network card.
The argument to
.B -n
specifies a physical network device (such as
.BR ether0 )
to use.
Alternatively, a dial string such as \fLudp!\fIhost\fL!\fIport\fR can be used.
It can also be prefixed by \fLfile!\fR to interpret the argument as a file instead and it can be prefixed by \fLhdr!\fR to enable headers matching the binary
.IR snoopy (8)
format.
The MAC address can be specified with the \fLea:\fInnnnnnnnnnnn\fL!\fR prefix,
otherwise a random address is used.
.PP
A
.B -d
option adds a
.I virtio
block device (a hard disk)
with the argument as a disk image.
.SS "Multiboot kernels"
.PP
If the specified kernel complies with the Multiboot specification, then \fIargs\fR is concatenated with spaces and passed as the \fIcmdline\fR; the \fL-m\fR modules are passed as boot modules.
.PP
Note that 9front is Multiboot compliant and interprets the first boot module as
.IR plan9.ini (8).
.SS "OpenBSD kernels"
.PP
If the specified kernel is an OpenBSD kernel, the boot modules are ignored and the \fIcmdline\fR is interpreted as
.IP
[ \fL-asdc\fR ] [ \fIvar\fL=\fIvalue\fR ... ]
.PP
where the options correspond to the \fLboot\fR options and the assignments to the boot variables, which are defined in the OpenBSD manpage \fIboot\fR(8).
.SS "Linux kernels"
.PP
If the specified kernel is a Linux kernel (which must be 2.6.22 or newer and in \fLbzImage\fR format), \fIargs\fR are concatenated with spaces and passed as the \fIcmdline\fR (see \fLDocumentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt\fR).
The first boot module is passed as the \fIinitrd\fR; any further boot modules are ignored.
.SH SOURCE
.B /sys/src/cmd/vmx
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR vmx (3),
.IR cpuid (8)
.SH BUGS
.I Vmx
can and will crash your kernel.
.PP
Currently only one core is supported.
.PP
The Linux \fLvga=\fR option is not supported, as well as many of the OpenBSD boot variables.
.SH HISTORY
.I Vmx
first appeared in 9front (June, 2017).