From QEMU to BigEndian FreeBSD
This tutorial takes the reader from the bare minimum to launch a virtual machine with QEMU to a full installation of big-endian FreeBSD. The Raptor POWER9 host machine is running little-endian Debian. The short version is for experienced users just needing specifics, while the long version examines each parameter and shows the effect on the virtual machine and installation. Specific details in the short version are linked to explanations in the long version.
Note: This documentation is intended to provide information to public users and be freely available. However, knowledge was derived from the QEMU documentation, which is licensed GPL v2. This is therefore distributed derivative works, and as such, this documentation is required to be licensed GPL v2. Please be aware this supercedes the Creative Commons deed under which this wiki is published.
Contents
QEMU: The short version
The goal is to rely on the default configuration options, thereby requiring as few custom options as possible. Further configuration options are possible but beyond the scope of this tutorial.
Make sure #qemu-system-ppc64 and #qemu-img are installed. Use apt install if they are not.
Create a raw disk file to be the installation destination (in this case, a 120GB file named "fbsd.raw"):
# qemu-img create fbsd.raw 120G Formatting 'fbsd.raw', fmt=raw size=128849018880 # ls -sl total 924700# ls -sl 2199132 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 128849018880 Jun 30 13:19 fbsd.raw 924696 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 952018944 Jun 25 05:04 FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE-powerpc-powerpc64-disc1.iso
Download the most recent version of big-endian FreeBSD from
https://download.freebsd.org/releases/powerpc/powerpc64/ISO-IMAGES/
Using the example of FreeBSD 14.3 as the iso-based installer, fbsd.raw as the destination #storage device, four #CPU cores with four threads per core, 8GB of #RAM, e1000 for the #NIC, no IPv6, and 2222 as the ssh port into the guest:
# qemu-system-ppc64 --enable-kvm -M pseries,cap-nested-hv=true,cap-ibs=workaround -cpu host -smp cores=4,threads=4,sockets=1 -m 8G -nographic -drive file=FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE-powerpc-powerpc64-disc1.iso,media=cdrom,if=virtio,id=drive1 -nic user,ipv6=off,model=e1000,mac=52:54:98:76:54:32,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22 fbsd.raw
The #FreeBSD installation details pick up the process at this point. To remove the CDROM from the device tree, use
<pre> # qemu-system-ppc64 --enable-kvm -nographic -M pseries,cap-nested-hv=true,cap-ibs=workaround -cpu host -smp cores=4,threads=4,sockets=1 -m 8G -nic user,ipv6=off,model=e1000,mac=52:54:98:76:54:32,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22 fbsd.raw
QEMU: The long version
This tutorial draws from the following web sites:
https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/introduction.html
https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/invocation.html
https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/tools/qemu-img.html
https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/ppc/powernv.html
qemu-img
Although the focus of this tutorial is on #qemu-systm-ppc4, the installation does require a "storage" device for the FreeBSD installation. Using qemu-img, create a raw disk file to be the installation destination (in this case, 120GB):
# qemu-img create fbsd.raw 120G
Formatting 'fbsd.raw', fmt=raw size=128849018880
# ls -sl
total 924700
4 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 128849018880 Jun 28 13:31 fbsd.raw
924696 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 952018944 Jun 25 05:04 FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE-powerpc-powerpc64-disc1.iso
The file is dynamically sized; the -s flag shows how many blocks the file actually uses.
qemu-system-ppc64
qemu-system-ppc64 is the QEMU executable used to provide a virtual machine on Raptor's hosts. To determine if you are running on a physical or virtual host, use facter (apt install as needed)
# facter | grep virtual is_virtual => false virtual => physical
This is real host. A virtual one would look like
# facter | grep virtual is_virtual => true virtual => kvm
Baseline
QEMU needs several parameters to describe the virtual machine. There are some baseline settings that should be included before describing the VM itself.
--enable-kvm -nographic
--enable-kvm starts a "keyboard-video-mouse" style VM. It invokes several default "host" flags. The -nographic means output will go to the console the VM is initiated from. If this flag is omitted, output will eventually be sent to a pseudo-tty console. It can still be viewed by attaching "screen" to it, but boot messages will be lost.
-nodefaults
A flag to discuss but not include is
-nodefaults
This flags wipes out all of the defaults for various devices and is useful for being very specific about the device tree in the VM. For this tutorial, we want to use as many defaults as possible. Do not include this flag unless you are prepared to add devices manually.
CPU
QEMU provides many frameworks for replicating existing machines. This includes the p-Series from IBM, which is the same as the Raptor systems. We are not emulating a different CPU, just changing endianness on a POWER9 host. As such, two flags to be included are
-M pseries,cap-nested-hv=true,cap-ibs=workaround -cpu host
RAM
QEMU allows for part or all of the physical RAM to be used for the VM. However, since there is another operating system running on the bare metal machine, QEMU will run out of memory if all of the physical RAM is allocated to the VM. Use a smaller partition. For this tutorial, we are using 8GB of RAM.
-m 8G
Device tree at baseline
At this point, launch qemu-system-ppc64 for kicks:
# qemu-system-ppc64 --enable-kvm -nographic -M pseries,cap-nested-hv=true,cap-ibs=workaround -cpu host -m 8G
SLOF **********************************************************************
QEMU Starting
Build Date = May 3 2025 09:06:15
FW Version = release 20220719
Press "s" to enter Open Firmware.
Populating /vdevice methods
Populating /vdevice/vty@71000000
Populating /vdevice/nvram@71000001
Populating /vdevice/l-lan@71000002
Populating /vdevice/v-scsi@71000003
SCSI: Looking for devices
8200000000000000 CD-ROM : "QEMU QEMU CD-ROM 2.5+"
Populating /pci@800000020000000
00 0000 (D) : 1234 1111 qemu vga
00 0800 (D) : 1033 0194 serial bus [ usb-xhci ]
No NVRAM common partition, re-initializing...
Installing QEMU fb
Scanning USB
XHCI: Initializing
USB Keyboard
USB mouse
Using default console: /vdevice/vty@71000000
Welcome to Open Firmware
Copyright (c) 2004, 2017 IBM Corporation All rights reserved.
This program and the accompanying materials are made available
under the terms of the BSD License available at
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php
Trying to load: from: disk ...
E3405: No such device
Trying to load: from: /vdevice/v-scsi@71000003/disk@8200000000000000 ... No medium !
E3405: No such device
Trying to load: from: /vdevice/l-lan@71000002 ...
Initializing NIC
Reading MAC address from device: 52:54:00:12:34:56
Requesting information via DHCP: done
Using IPv4 address: 10.0.2.15
Requesting file "" via TFTP from 10.0.2.2
Trying pxelinux.cfg files...
TFTP error: TFTP access violation
TFTP error: TFTP access violation
TFTP error: TFTP access violation
TFTP error: TFTP access violation
TFTP error: TFTP access violation
TFTP error: TFTP access violation
TFTP error: TFTP access violation
TFTP error: TFTP access violation
TFTP error: TFTP access violation
TFTP error: TFTP access violation
E3407: Load failed
Type 'boot' and press return to continue booting the system.
Type 'reset-all' and press return to reboot the system.
Ready!
0 >
Without any boot media or a network card for TFTP, load will fail. However, this is a good time to examine the baseline device tree QEMU provides:
No devices added (default SLOF boot):
0 > dev / ls 7e644530 : / 7e644b40 : |-- ibm,persistent-memory 7e644da0 : |-- hypervisor 7e644f00 : |-- chosen 7e645310 : |-- rtas 7e646638 : |-- event-sources 7e6467f0 : | |-- hot-plug-events 7e646948 : | +-- epow-events 7e646ae8 : |-- cpus 7e646d70 : | +-- PowerPC,POWER9@0 <--- CPU 7e647830 : |-- pci@800000020000000 7e649e10 : | |-- vga@0 7e64a328 : | +-- usb-xhci@1 7e68d8f0 : | |-- usb-keyboard@1 7e68e3b0 : | +-- usb-mouse@2 7e64aa00 : |-- vdevice 7e64ac80 : | |-- vty@71000000 7e64aea0 : | |-- nvram@71000001 7e64b110 : | |-- l-lan@71000002 7e64b4e0 : | +-- v-scsi@71000003 7e671ca0 : | +-- disk <--- default storage 7e64b9a0 : |-- memory@0 7e64bb98 : |-- interrupt-controller 7e64ecd8 : |-- aliases 7e64ede0 : |-- options 7e64eea0 : |-- openprom 7e64efa8 : |-- packages 7e64f070 : | |-- deblocker 7e64fb10 : | |-- disk-label 7e6541b0 : | |-- fat-files 7e656928 : | |-- rom-files 7e657348 : | |-- ext2-files 7e659dc0 : | |-- obp-tftp 7e65a190 : | +-- iso-9660 7e65ebd8 : +-- mmu ok 0 >
SMP
Notice that the device tree only includes a single PowerPC,POWER9 instance. Add 16-core SMP capacity to the cpu with
-smp cores=4,threads=4,sockets=1
Now the device tree looks like
# qemu-system-ppc64 --enable-kvm -nographic -M pseries,cap-nested-hv=true,cap-ibs=workaround -cpu host -smp cores=4,threads=4,sockets=1 -m 8G SLOF ********************************************************************** QEMU Starting .... TFTP error: TFTP access violation E3407: Load failed Type 'boot' and press return to continue booting the system. Type 'reset-all' and press return to reboot the system. 0 > dev / ls 7e644530 : / 7e644b40 : |-- ibm,persistent-memory 7e644da0 : |-- hypervisor 7e644f00 : |-- chosen 7e645310 : |-- rtas 7e646638 : |-- event-sources 7e6467f0 : | |-- hot-plug-events 7e646948 : | +-- epow-events 7e646ae8 : |-- cpus 7e646db0 : | |-- PowerPC,POWER9@0 <--- 4 thread CPU 7e6477e8 : | |-- PowerPC,POWER9@4 <--- 4 thread CPU 7e648220 : | |-- PowerPC,POWER9@8 <--- 4 thread CPU 7e648c58 : | +-- PowerPC,POWER9@c <--- 4 thread CPU 7e649738 : |-- pci@800000020000000 7e64bd18 : | |-- vga@0 7e64c230 : | +-- usb-xhci@1 7e68f7f8 : | |-- usb-keyboard@1 7e6902b8 : | +-- usb-mouse@2 7e64c908 : |-- vdevice 7e64cb88 : | |-- vty@71000000 7e64cda8 : | |-- nvram@71000001 7e64d018 : | |-- l-lan@71000002 7e64d3e8 : | +-- v-scsi@71000003 7e673ba8 : | +-- disk 7e64d8a8 : |-- memory@0 7e64daa0 : |-- interrupt-controller 7e650be0 : |-- aliases 7e650ce8 : |-- options 7e650da8 : |-- openprom 7e650eb0 : |-- packages 7e650f78 : | |-- deblocker 7e651a18 : | |-- disk-label 7e6560b8 : | |-- fat-files 7e658830 : | |-- rom-files 7e659250 : | |-- ext2-files 7e65bcc8 : | |-- obp-tftp 7e65c098 : | +-- iso-9660 7e660ae0 : +-- mmu ok 0 >
Note the increments of 4 in the instances of the CPUs. Each core has four threads.
Storage
Storage devices are added with the -drive shortcut. This combines block device and related parameters. These devices are attached at a different point than the default provided disc location. The simplest option is a "file" with a specified file on the host as the media. In this case, we are using the FreeBSD ISO installer. The "if" (interface) uses a default "virtio" already provided by QEMU. Other interfaces are possible if you create them manually. "id" is used to identify this -drive uniquely. Note that this id is _not_ passed to FreeBSD or the device tree, so it will not show up as "/dev/drive1" in FreeBSD.
-drive file=FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE-powerpc-powerpc64-disc1.iso,media=cdrom,if=virtio,id=drive1
With CDROM:
Ready! 0 > dev / ls 7e644530 : / 7e644b40 : |-- ibm,persistent-memory 7e644da0 : |-- hypervisor 7e644f00 : |-- chosen 7e645310 : |-- rtas 7e646638 : |-- event-sources 7e6467f0 : | |-- hot-plug-events 7e646948 : | +-- epow-events 7e646ae8 : |-- cpus 7e646db0 : | |-- PowerPC,POWER9@0 7e6477e8 : | |-- PowerPC,POWER9@4 7e648220 : | |-- PowerPC,POWER9@8 7e648c58 : | +-- PowerPC,POWER9@c 7e649738 : |-- pci@800000020000000 7e64bd18 : | |-- ethernet@0 7e64c280 : | |-- vga@1 7e64c798 : | |-- usb-xhci@2 7e691d68 : | | |-- usb-keyboard@1 7e692828 : | | +-- usb-mouse@2 7e64cdc8 : | +-- scsi@3 <--- added device 7e64d428 : |-- vdevice 7e64d6a8 : | |-- vty@71000000 7e64d8c8 : | |-- nvram@71000001 7e64db38 : | +-- v-scsi@71000002 7e673d00 : | +-- disk 7e64dff8 : |-- memory@0 7e64e1f0 : |-- interrupt-controller 7e651330 : |-- aliases 7e651438 : |-- options 7e6514f8 : |-- openprom 7e651600 : |-- packages 7e6516c8 : | |-- deblocker 7e652168 : | |-- disk-label 7e656808 : | |-- fat-files 7e658f80 : | |-- rom-files 7e6599a0 : | |-- ext2-files 7e65c418 : | |-- obp-tftp 7e65c7e8 : | +-- iso-9660 7e661230 : +-- mmu ok
NIC
The network card requires a few parameters that can have multiple options. Use -nic to combine several -netdev features into one shortcut. The network card is for a "user" as opposed to a "bridge" or "top." e1000 is a well-known basis for ethernet cards in virtual machines and will be used here as well. We have to specify the MAC address and the only pitfall here is choosing one that conflicts with a local machine. Therefore, if you run multiple VMs locally, select appropriately unique MAC addresses.
The default is ipv4 and ipv6 are on. If either are specified, the one omitted will be off. Since the VM has no real interface to the network, all traffic has to be forwarded to the guest using the "hostfwd" parameter. For this example, we forward external port 2222 to internal port 22 (ssh). Other ports can be forwarded as well. Please refer to the QEMU documentation for specifying a wider range of ports and other syntax.
-nic user,model=e1000,mac=52:54:98:76:54:32,ipv6=off,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22
With the network card:
0 > dev / ok 0 > ls 7e644530 : / 7e644b40 : |-- ibm,persistent-memory 7e644da0 : |-- hypervisor 7e644f00 : |-- chosen 7e645310 : |-- rtas 7e646638 : |-- event-sources 7e6467f0 : | |-- hot-plug-events 7e646948 : | +-- epow-events 7e646ae8 : |-- cpus 7e646db0 : | |-- PowerPC,POWER9@0 7e6477e8 : | |-- PowerPC,POWER9@4 7e648220 : | |-- PowerPC,POWER9@8 7e648c58 : | +-- PowerPC,POWER9@c 7e649738 : |-- pci@800000020000000 7e64bd18 : | |-- ethernet@0 <-- Added device 7e64c280 : | |-- vga@1 7e64c798 : | |-- usb-xhci@2 7e6933f8 : | | |-- usb-keyboard@1 7e693eb8 : | | +-- usb-mouse@2 7e64cdc8 : | |-- scsi@3 7e64d380 : | +-- scsi@4 7e64d9e0 : |-- vdevice 7e64dc60 : | |-- vty@71000000 7e64de80 : | |-- nvram@71000001 7e64e0f0 : | +-- v-scsi@71000002 7e6742b8 : | +-- disk 7e64e5b0 : |-- memory@0 7e64e7a8 : |-- interrupt-controller 7e6518e8 : |-- aliases 7e6519f0 : |-- options 7e651ab0 : |-- openprom 7e651bb8 : |-- packages 7e651c80 : | |-- deblocker 7e652720 : | |-- disk-label 7e656dc0 : | |-- fat-files 7e659538 : | |-- rom-files 7e659f58 : | |-- ext2-files 7e65c9d0 : | |-- obp-tftp 7e65cda0 : | +-- iso-9660 7e6617e8 : +-- mmu ok
Complete QEMU command
With the device tree sufficiently described, the last addition to the qemu-system-ppc64 command line is the destination file for the installation. Previously we created "fbsd.raw" with #qemu-img and we now add it _after_ all of the device tree specifications:
qemu-system-ppc64 --enable-kvm -nographic -M pseries,cap-nested-hv=true,cap-ibs=workaround -cpu host -smp cores=4,threads=4,sockets=1 -m 8G -drive file=FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE-powerpc-powerpc64-disc1.iso,media=cdrom,if=virtio,id=drive1 -nic user,model=e1000,mac=52:54:98:76:54:32,ipv6=off,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22 fbsd.raw
If all has gone well, you should see
FreeBSD installation details
Once the VM is fully configured the next step is installing FreeBSD.
Most of the details of installing FreeBSD are beyond the scope of this tutorial and can be found in many locations. When navigating the installer, use the arrow keys to move between options and the space bar to select that option.
Choose MBR for disk partition type. This is important because the Open Firmware in QEMU will not read GUID-style formatting.
Use DHCP to configure IPv4, and do not configure IPv6 unless you have to. If so, you will need to reconfigure the -nic card. The easiest option is to not specify ipv4=on, in which case both IPv4 and IPv6 will be on. QEMU will provide a DHCP server for the guest VM.
Choose any additional components as needed during the installation process, including the port and source code trees as desired. For this example we named the machine "BEFreeBSD." Add a user and add the user to group wheel (for this we created "user1").
Either remove remote login by root at this time via the shell or do so after rebooting. Shutdown the VM and relaunch it with
# qemu-system-ppc64 --enable-kvm -nographic -M pseries,cap-nested-hv=true,cap-ibs=workaround -cpu host -smp cores=4,threads=4,sockets=1 -m 8G -nic user,ipv6=off,model=e1000,mac=52:54:98:76:54:32,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22 fbsd.raw
to remove the CD installer. Log in with the user ("user1") that was added to the wheel group. Check the configuration for any unexpected values.
% uname -a
FreeBSD BEFreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE releng/14.3-n271432-8c9ce319fef7 GENERIC powerpc
% dmesg | grep CPU
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 16 CPUs
xicp0: Handling CPUs 0-15
cpulist0: <Open Firmware CPU Group> on ofwbus0
cpu0: <Open Firmware CPU> on cpulist0
% dmesg | grep memory
real memory = 8544366592 (8148 MB)
avail memory = 8216293376 (7835 MB)
% ifconfig -a
em0: flags=1008843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,LOWER_UP> metric 0 mtu 1500
options=48525bb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,LRO,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWFILTER,VLAN_HWTSO,HWSTATS,MEXTPG>
ether 52:54:98:76:54:32
inet 10.0.2.15 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.0.2.255
media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
status: active
nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
lo0: flags=1008049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,LOWER_UP> metric 0 mtu 16384
options=680003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,LINKSTATE,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
groups: lo
nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
Log in from the Debian host with the created user ("user1") to check SSH:
# ssh -p 2222 user1@127.0.0.1 (user1@127.0.0.1) Password for user1@BEFreeBSD: Last login: Sun Jun 29 09:02:48 2025 from xx FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE (GENERIC) releng/14.3-n271432-8c9ce319fef7 Welcome to FreeBSD! ...
Check that su works:
% su root Password: #
Log in remotely to make sure external ssh access is available. Configure automatic restart of VM with reboot of host machine. There are descriptions of this process at
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=295380 and https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=275467
Other discussions and manuals exist.
With the proper installation of big-endian FreeBSD running as a guest in a virtual machine provided by the little-endian Debian host, this concludes the tutorial.
Post-boot blues
Mountroot fails
mountroot: waiting for device /dev/vtbd1s2a... Mounting from ufs:/dev/vtbd1s2a failed with error 19. Loader variables: vfs.root.mountfrom=ufs:/dev/vtbd1s2a vfs.root.mountfrom.options=rw
Solution: There is a mismatch in the device tree configuration and the boot configuration. This can occur when the installation is done with a -device but the reboot is done with a file. FreeBSD and QEMU don't always agree on the order of the devices, and FreeBSD is looking for the hard drive where it was, not where it is. The following will get FreeBSD up and running from a file:
mountroot> ? List of GEOM managed disk devices: ufsid/6860fe636e2c3598 da0s2b da0s2a da0s2 da0s1 da0 cd0 mountroot> ufs:/dev/da0s2
to specify that da0s2 is a ufs file system. After booting edit /etc/fstab:
# cat /etc/fstab # Device Mountpoint FStype Options Dump Pass# /dev/da0s2a / ufs rw 1 1 /dev/da0s2b none swap sw 0 0
To understand the specifics of this can occur, the device tree with a second -drive shows where it mounts (the boot process can be stopped by entering 's' during SLOF loading):
# qemu-system-ppc64 --enable-kvm -nographic -M pseries,cap-nested-hv=true,cap-ibs=workaround -cpu host -smp cores=4,threads=4,sockets=1 -m 8G -drive file=FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE-powerpc-powerpc64-disc1.iso,media=cdrom,if=virtio,id=drive1 -drive file=fbsd.raw,if=virtio,id=drive0 -nic user,model=e1000,mac=52:54:98:76:54:32,ipv6=off,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22
WARNING: Image format was not specified for 'fbsd.raw' and probing guessed raw.
Automatically detecting the format is dangerous for raw images, write operations on block 0 will be restricted.
Specify the 'raw' format explicitly to remove the restrictions.
SLOF **********************************************************************
QEMU Starting
...
Ready!
0 > dev / ls
7e644530 : /
7e644b40 : |-- ibm,persistent-memory
7e644da0 : |-- hypervisor
7e644f00 : |-- chosen
7e645310 : |-- rtas
7e646638 : |-- event-sources
7e6467f0 : | |-- hot-plug-events
7e646948 : | +-- epow-events
7e646ae8 : |-- cpus
7e646db0 : | |-- PowerPC,POWER9@0
7e6477e8 : | |-- PowerPC,POWER9@4
7e648220 : | |-- PowerPC,POWER9@8
7e648c58 : | +-- PowerPC,POWER9@c
7e649738 : |-- pci@800000020000000
7e64bd18 : | |-- ethernet@0
7e64c280 : | |-- vga@1
7e64c798 : | |-- usb-xhci@2
7e6933f8 : | | |-- usb-keyboard@1
7e693eb8 : | | +-- usb-mouse@2
7e64cdc8 : | |-- scsi@3 <--- first -drive
7e64d380 : | +-- scsi@4 <--- second -drive
7e64d9e0 : |-- vdevice
7e64dc60 : | |-- vty@71000000
7e64de80 : | |-- nvram@71000001
7e64e0f0 : | +-- v-scsi@71000002
7e6742b8 : | +-- disk <--- da0
7e64e5b0 : |-- memory@0
7e64e7a8 : |-- interrupt-controller
7e6518e8 : |-- aliases
7e6519f0 : |-- options
7e651ab0 : |-- openprom
7e651bb8 : |-- packages
7e651c80 : | |-- deblocker
7e652720 : | |-- disk-label
7e656dc0 : | |-- fat-files
7e659538 : | |-- rom-files
7e659f58 : | |-- ext2-files
7e65c9d0 : | |-- obp-tftp
7e65cda0 : | +-- iso-9660
7e6617e8 : +-- mmu ok
Some other errors
QEMU's output is somewhere else.
At the end of the output from QEMU, further output is suppressed and the last line is
char device redirected to /dev/pts/N (label monitor-base)
Solution: Output has now been redirected to /dev/pts/N where N is a number correlated to the pseudo-tty in /dev/pts/. You can attach to it with
# screen /dev/pts/N 115200 8 N 1
or add -nographic to the command line.
Duplicate/conflicting serial devices
qemu-system-ppc64: Duplicate ID 'serial0' for chardev qemu-system-ppc64: could not connect serial device to character backend 'vc:80Cx24C'
Solution: Most likely you are attempting to add a chardev with the id=serial0 parameter. vc is the default i/o and is named "serial0." Use -nodefaults and provide your own chardev (on the command line) or use the default serial0.
No host
qemu-system-ppc64: unable to find CPU model 'host'
Solution: The command line is missing --enable-kvm.
No discs
Trying to load: from: disk ... E3405: No such device Trying to load: from: /vdevice/v-scsi@71000003/disk@8200000000000000 ... No medium !
Solution: No virtio has been specified in the command line. Add one, or use the default vblk, which can be invoked by separating the raw file from the parameter list.
Can not use IDE on pSeries VMs
qemu-system-ppc64: -drive file=FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE-powerpc-powerpc64-disc1.iso,if=ide,index=1,media=cdrom: machine type does not support if=ide,bus=0,unit=1 qemu-system-ppc64: -drive file=fbsd.raw,if=ide,index=0,format=raw: machine type does not support if=ide,bus=0,unit=0
Solution: Do not use ide with a pseries virtual machine. It is easier to use the defaults unless you have specific needs. SCSI should work.
