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+# qemu q35 mainboard
+
+## Running coreboot in qemu
+Emulators like qemu don't need a firmware to do hardware init.
+The hardware starts in the configured state already.
+
+The coreboot port allows to test non mainboard specific code.
+As you can easily attach a debugger, it's a good target for
+experimental code.
+
+## coreboot x86_64 support
+coreboot historically runs in 32-bit protected mode, even though the
+processor supports x86_64 instructions (long mode).
+
+The qemu-q35 mainboard has been ported to x86_64 and will serve as
+reference platform to enable additional platforms.
+
+To enable the support set the Kconfig option ``CONFIG_CPU_QEMU_X86_64=y``.
+
+## Installing qemu
+
+On debian you can install qemu by running:
+```bash
+$ sudo apt-get install qemu
+```
+
+On redhat you can install qemu by running:
+```bash
+$ sudo dnf install qemu
+```
+
+## Running coreboot
+### To run the i386 version of coreboot (default)
+Running on qemu-system-i386 will require a 32 bit operating system.
+
+```bash
+qemu-system-i386 -bios build/coreboot.rom -serial stdio -M q35
+```
+
+### To run the experimental x86_64 version of coreboot
+Running on `qemu-system-x86_64` allows to run a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system
+and firmware.
+
+```bash
+qemu-system-x86_64 -bios build/coreboot.rom -serial stdio -M q35
+```
+
+## Finding bugs
+To test coreboot's x86 code it's recommended to run on a x86 host and enable KVM.
+It will not only run faster, but is closer to real hardware. If you see the
+following message:
+
+ KVM internal error. Suberror: 1
+ emulation failure
+
+something went wrong. The same bug will likely cause a FAULT on real hardware,
+too.
+
+To enable KVM run:
+
+```bash
+qemu-system-x86_64 -bios build/coreboot.rom -serial stdio -M q35 -accel kvm -cpu host
+```
+