collapseos/emul/8086/README.md

# 8086 emulator

This folder contains emulator for 8086 binaries of Collapse OS. The bulk of
it is a fork of Fake86 by Mike Chambers.

`forth` is an imaginary hardware used for userspace development and testing.
This machine has an imaginary interrupt API and does not conform to PC/AT.

`pcat` is a very simple PC/AT emulator. The BIOS interrupt hooks implemented in
it only cover Collapse OS' own needs.

## Requirements

You need `curses` to build the `forth` executable.

## Build

Run `make` and it builds the `forth` and `pcat` interpreters.

## Usage

The `./forth` executable here works like the one in `/cvm`, except that it runs
under an emulated 8086 machine instead of running natively. Refer to
`/cvm/README.md` for details.

`pcat` needs to be suppied a path to a floppy disk image with a proper MBR.
`disk.bin` provided by the `pcat` recipe is sufficient.