PearPC - PowerPC Architecture Emulator

PearPC is an architecture-independent PowerPC platform emulator capable of running most PowerPC operating systems.

Features

• CPU emulation: G3/G4 with AltiVec support
  • Generic interpreter: Portable to any host architecture (including ARM64/Apple Silicon)
  • JITC x86: JIT compiler for x86 hosts (~15x slower than native)
  • JITC x86_64: JIT compiler for x86_64 hosts
• IDE controller (CMD646 with bus-mastering): hard disks and CD-ROM via image files or host devices
• PCI bridge: enough to work with
• Heathrow PIC: programmable interrupt controller
• VIA-CUDA: with attached ADB keyboard and mouse
• Network: 3Com 3C90x or Realtek 8139 via host ethernet tunnel
• NVRAM: 8 KiB non-volatile storage
• USB: placeholder hub (sufficient for client OS detection)
• Open Firmware PROM: boots Yaboot and BootX from HFS/HFS+ partitions

Tested Client Operating Systems

The following operating systems run (to some extent) inside PearPC:

• Mandrake Linux 9.1 PPC: Runs well
• Darwin PPC: Runs well
• Mac OS X 10.3: Runs well with some caveats

Building

Prerequisites

• C++ compiler with C++11 support (GCC or Clang)
• GNU Autotools (autoconf, automake)
• pkg-config
• SDL3 development libraries

On macOS:

brew install autoconf automake sdl3 pkg-config

Compile

./autogen.sh
./configure
make

The configure script auto-detects your platform. You can override with:

• --enable-cpu=generic|jitc_x86|jitc_x86_64
• --enable-ui=sdl|x11|win32|beos

The binary is produced at src/ppc.

Platform Notes

Host	CPU Backend	UI Backend
macOS (Apple Silicon)	generic (interpreter)	SDL3
macOS (Intel)	jitc_x86_64 or generic	SDL3
Linux (x86_64)	jitc_x86_64	SDL3 or X11
Windows	jitc_x86 or jitc_x86_64	Win32 native

Quick Start

1. Get a client OS image

Download Mandrake Linux 9.1 PPC from the Internet Archive.

2. Run

Copy ppccfg.example and edit it, or use the provided ppccfg.test for a quick CD boot:

# Using a config file:
./src/ppc ppccfg.test

# Or directly from the command line:
./src/ppc --pci-ide0-master-installed --pci-ide0-master-type=cdrom \
          --pci-ide0-master-image=MandrakeLinux-9.1-CD1.ppc.iso \
          --prom-driver-graphic=video.x

Usage

ppc [options] [configfile]

All configuration can be provided via config file, command line, or both. CLI options override config file values. The config file is optional if all needed values have defaults or are set via CLI.

Command Line Options

Option	Description
-c, --config <file>	Config file path (alternative to positional arg)
--<key>=<value>	Set any config key (hyphens become underscores)
--<key>	Same as --<key>=1 (boolean flag)
-h, --help	Show help with all available config keys

Examples:

# Traditional: config file only
./src/ppc myconfig.cfg

# Override a config value from command line
./src/ppc --memory-size=0x10000000 myconfig.cfg

# No config file, all from CLI
./src/ppc --pci-ide0-master-installed --pci-ide0-master-type=cdrom \
          --pci-ide0-master-image=linux.iso --prom-driver-graphic=video.x

# Headless mode (no GUI window)
./src/ppc --headless myconfig.cfg

Keyboard

Keypresses are sent directly to the client when the PearPC window is focused. PearPC uses a raw keyboard layout -- configure your preferred layout in the client OS.

Press F11 to enter compose mode for key combinations that your host window manager intercepts (e.g., to send Ctrl+Alt+Del: press F11, then Ctrl, Alt, Del, then F11 again).

If the keyboard behaves strangely after Alt-Tab, press Alt+Ctrl+Shift to reset.

Mouse

The client mouse is independent of the host mouse. Press F12 to toggle mouse grab (switch between host and client mouse). The window title indicates the current mode.

Key Bindings

Key	Action
F11	Compose mode (for intercepted key combos)
F12	Toggle mouse grab
Alt+Return	Toggle fullscreen

These can be changed in the config file.

Configuration Reference

PearPC uses plain text configuration files. See ppccfg.example for a fully commented example. All options can also be set from the command line (use --help to list all keys). Key options:

Option	Default	Description
ppc_start_resolution	"800x600x15"	Window size and depth (15 or 32)
ppc_start_full_screen	0	Start in fullscreen mode
redraw_interval_msec	20	Redraw interval (10-500ms)
memory_size	0x8000000	RAM size (min 64 MiB)
cpu_pvr	0x000c0201	Processor version: G3=0x00080200, G4=0x000c0201
headless	0	Run without display
prom_bootmethod	"auto"	Boot method: auto, select, or force
prom_driver_graphic		Set to "video.x" for Mac OS X
pci_ide0_master_installed	0	Enable IDE master (HDD or CD-ROM)
pci_ide0_master_image		Path to disk image (.img) or ISO (.iso)
pci_ide0_master_type		"hd", "cdrom", or "nativecdrom"
pci_ide0_slave_installed	0	Enable IDE slave
pci_3c90x_installed	0	Enable 3Com NIC
pci_rtl8139_installed	0	Enable Realtek NIC
nvram_file	"nvram"	NVRAM storage file
memdump_file		Memory dump file on exit/crash (empty = no dump)
framebuffer_dump_file		Framebuffer dump file on exit/crash (empty = no dump)

Architecture

See doc/ARCHITECTURE.md for a detailed description of the codebase.

Authors

• Sebastian Biallas - Main developer
• Stefan Weyergraf - Major contributions
• Daniel Foesch - AltiVec and core updates

See AUTHORS for the full list of contributors.

Contains code from: HT Editor, Linux, Bochs, MOL, Yaboot, HFS/HFS+ utils.

License

GPLv2. See COPYING.