Qemu 8.2 Release
Qemu 8.2 has been presented as the latest release of the project. Qemu is an emulator that enables the execution of programs built for one hardware platform on a system with a different architecture. It allows, for example, the execution of an ARM program on an X86-compatible PC. When running in virtualization mode, Qemu provides high-performance code execution in an isolated environment by implementing instructions directly on the CPU and utilizing the Xen hypervisor or the KVM module.
The project was initially developed by Fabrice Bellard to enable the launch of executable Linux files on non-X86 architectures. It has since gained support for full emulation of 14 hardware architectures and more than 400 hardware devices. The 8.2 version includes over 3200 changes contributed by 238 developers.
Key Improvements in Qemu 8.2:
- Added the virtio-sound device, allowing emulation of a sound card to support recording and sound reproduction in the guest system. The device uses sound backends (such as Pulseaudio, SDL, or Coreaudio) from the host system. Linux kernel in the guest system should include the Config_snd_virtio option to emulate the sound device.
- Introduced the Virtual Graphics Interface (VGI) rutabaga, which incorporates virtual GPU (virTio-GPU) functionality. This addition enables the use of virtual GPUs in guest systems for 3D rendering without requiring exclusive direct access to a physical GPU. The RUTABAGA code, developed as part of the Android/Crosvm project, also allows for the use of Android platform emulation with Qemu.
- Added the HV-Balloon device with the implementation of the Dynamic Memory Protocol for Hyper-V. The device facilitates the return of unused memory pages from the host system during operation and requests additional memory when needed. HV-Balloon provides an alternative to Virtio-Balloon for guest systems running on Windows and using the Bacunda host system with Dynamic Memory support.
- Introduced the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) device for flash drive emulation.