86Box

86Box
86Box logo (2021).png
86Box-40.png
86Box v4.0 running Windows XP
TypeEmulator
Developer(s)Miran Grča (Battler)
Host platformWindows (x86, x64, ARM64)
macOS (x64, arm64)
Linux (i386, amd64, arm32, arm64)
Guest platform8086 through VIA C3
Initial release version
Initial release date
Latest release version4.1
Latest preview version
Latest release date2024-02-22
LicenseGPLv2
Websitehttps://86box.net/

86Box (formerly known as PCem-X, PCem Experimental or PCem Unofficial) is a system emulator based on PCem that supports older IBM PC systems and compatibles up to the VIA C3 period. It also includes accessories for these systems including graphics cards, network interface controllers, sound cards, storage controllers, mice and printers.

Supported guest operating systems[edit | edit source]

The following list includes all operating systems capable of running on the emulator. Satisfactory performance is not accounted for in the list.

Emulated hardware[edit | edit source]

  • CPU: Any CPU from an 8086/8088 to a Pentium II-era Celeron (Mendocino) and any board from 8086/8088 to Socket 370 (including Slot 1 and 2) is supported, including IDT/VIA/Cyrix/ST/ALi/AMD variants, with clock speeds ranging from 4.77 to 733 MHz. A dynamic recompiler is available, optional for 486, WinChip and VIA Cyrix III and mandatory for Pentium and later processors.
  • FPU: FPUs are emulated automatically for all 486DX and higher machines. For 8086/8088/286/386/486SX machines, a 8087/287(XL)/387/487SX FPU can be emulated optionally.
  • RAM: 16 KB to 1024 MB (depending on the machine)
  • Hard drives: Hard drives can be plugged into the MFM, RLL, XTA, ESDI, IDE, SCSI and ATAPI buses. Identified as "86Box 86B_HDxx".
  • CD-ROM drives: CD-ROM drives can be plugged into the SCSI and ATAPI buses.
  • Floppy disk drives: 86Box emulates 5.25" 180k, 360k, 720k and 1.2M drives, as well as 3.5" 360k, 720k, 1.25M, 1.44M and 2.88M drives.
  • Magneto optical drives: These drives can be plugged into the SCSI and ATAPI buses.
  • ZIP drives: These drives can be plugged into the SCSI and ATAPI buses. Both "ZIP 100" and "ZIP 250" types are supported.

Complete list of emulated hardware

CPUs[edit | edit source]

Intel[edit | edit source]

  • 8088 (4.77 - 16 MHz)
  • 8086 (7.16 - 16 MHz)
  • 80286 (6 - 25 MHz)
  • i386SX (16 - 40 MHz)
  • i386DX (16 - 40 MHz)
  • RapidCAD (25 - 40 MHz)
  • i486SX (16 - 33 MHz)
  • i486SX2 (50 - 60 MHz)
  • i486DX (25 - 50 MHz)
  • i486DX2 (40 - 60 MHz)
  • iDX4 (75 - 100 MHz)
  • Pentium:
    • Socket 4: 60 - 66 MHz
    • Socket 5/7: 75 - 200 MHz
  • Pentium OverDrive:
    • Socket 2/3: 63 - 83 MHz
    • Socket 4: 120 - 133 MHz
    • Socket 5/7: 150 - 166 MHz
  • Pentium MMX (166 - 233 MHz)
  • Mobile Pentium MMX (120 - 300 MHz)
  • Pentium OverDrive MMX (120 - 200 MHz)
  • Pentium Pro (90 - 200 MHz)
  • Pentium II OverDrive (66 - 333 MHz)
  • Pentium II:
    • Klamath: 100 - 300 MHz
    • Deschutes: 100 - 450 MHz
  • Pentium II Xeon (150 - 450 MHz)
  • Celeron (Covington) (66 - 300 MHz)
  • Celeron (Mendocino) (66 - 533 MHz)

AMD[edit | edit source]

  • Am386SX (16 - 40 MHz)
  • Am386DX (25 - 40 MHz)
  • Am486SX (33 - 40 MHz)
  • Am486SX2 (50 - 66 MHz)
  • Am486DX/DXL (33 - 40 MHz)
  • Am486DX2/DXL2 (50 - 88 MHz)
  • Am486DX4 (75 - 120 MHz)
  • Am5x86 P75/75+/90
  • K6:
    • Model 6: 100 - 233 MHz
    • Model 7: 100 - 300 MHz
  • K6-2(+) (100 - 550 MHz)
  • K6-III (100 - 450 MHz)
  • K6-III+ (100 - 500 MHz)

IBM[edit | edit source]

  • 486SLC (33 MHz)
  • 486SLC2 (40 - 66 MHz)
  • 486SLC3 (60 - 100 MHz)
  • 486BL2 (50 - 66 MHz)
  • 486BL3 (75 - 100 MHz)

Cyrix[edit | edit source]

  • Cx486SLC (20 - 33 MHz)
  • Cx486SRx2 (32 - 50 MHz)
  • Cx486DLC (25 - 40 MHz)
  • Cx486DRx2 (32 - 66 MHz)
  • Cx486S (25 - 40 MHz)
  • Cx486DX (33 - 40 MHz)
  • Cx486DX2 (50 - 80 MHz)
  • Cx486DX4 (75 - 100 MHz)
  • Cx5x86 (80 - 133 MHz)

IDT[edit | edit source]

  • WinChip (75 - 240 MHz)
  • WinChip 2 (200 - 250 MHz)
  • WinChip 2A (200 - 300 MHz)

VIA[edit | edit source]

  • Cyrix III (66 - 733 MHz)

ST[edit | edit source]

  • STPC-DX (66 - 75 MHz)
  • STPC-DX2 (133 MHz)

ALi[edit | edit source]

  • M6117 (33 - 40 MHz)[a]

FPUs[edit | edit source]

  • 8087
  • 287
  • 287XL
  • 387
  • 487SX

Graphics cards[edit | edit source]

  • MDA
  • Hercules
  • Hercules Plus
  • Hercules InColor
  • Hercules ColorPlus
  • ImageManager 1024
  • CGA
  • PCjr
  • PGC
  • Radius SVGA Multiview (HT209) (ISA and MCA)
  • Realtek RTG3106
  • Tandy
  • Colorplus
  • Compaq CGA, CGA 2 and EGA
  • G2 GC205
  • Compaq Portable Plasma (Compaq Portable III only)
  • Toshiba T1000 Video (Toshiba T1000 only)
  • MDSI Genius
  • Genius VHR
  • NCR NGA
  • Paradise PVGA1A, WD90C11-LR and WD90C30-LR
  • Sigma Color 400
  • Wyse 700
  • EGA
  • SuperEGA
  • VGA
  • Video7 VGA 1024i
  • 8514/A
  • XGA
  • Oak OTI-037c
  • Oak OTI-067
  • Oak OTI-077
  • Headland HT216-32
  • Cirrus Logic GD5401 to 5480 (GD5428 also for MCA as IBM SVGA Adapter/A)
  • Tseng Labs ET2000
  • Tseng Labs ET3000AX
  • Tseng Labs ET4000AX (ISA and MCA)
  • Tseng Labs ET4000/w32i (Rev. B) and /W32p (Rev. B/C/D; VideoMagic, Cardex and Diamond Stealth 32)
  • Various ATI cards before the Mach series
  • ATI Mach8
  • ATI Mach32 (ISA and VLB)
  • ATI Mach64GX (16-bit ISA, VLB and PCI)
  • ATI Mach64VT2
  • Trident TVGA 8900B/D and 9000B
  • Trident TGUI 9400AGi, 9660XGi and 9680XGi
  • S3 86c801 (Phoenix and SPEA Mirage ISA)
  • S3 86c805 (MiroCRYSTAL 8S and 10SD, Phoenix and SPEA Mirage VL)
  • S3 86c911 (Diamond Stealth VRAM and Orchid Fahrenheit 1280)
  • S3 86c924 (AMI)
  • S3 86c928 (Metheus Premier 928 (16-bit ISA and VLB) and SPEA Mercury Lite (PCI))
  • S3 Vision864 (Paradise Bahamas 64, MiroCRYSTAL 20SD and Phoenix)
  • S3 Vision964 (Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM, ELSA Winner 2000 Pro/X and MiroCrystal 20SV)
  • S3 Vision868 (Phoenix and Number 9 9FX 531)
  • S3 Vision968 (ELSA Winner 2000 Pro/X, MiroVIDEO 40SV Ergo, Number 9 9FX 771 and Phoenix)
  • S3 Trio32 (Phoenix and Diamond Stealth SE)
  • S3 Trio64 (Number 9 9FX 330, Phoenix, Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM and SPEA Mirage P64)
  • S3 Trio64V+ (Phoenix and Cardex)
  • S3 Trio64V2/DX
  • S3 Trio3D/2X (362) (PCI and AGP)
  • S3 ViRGE
    • original revision: 325 and Diamond Stealth 3D 2000
    • /VX: Diamond Stealth 3D 3000 and STB Velocity 3D
    • /DX: 375 and Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 Pro
    • /GX: 385
    • /GX2: 357 and Diamond Stealth 3D 4000 (PCI and AGP)
  • Matrox Millennium (original and II)
  • Matrox Mystique (original and 220)
  • Matrox Productiva G100
  • Chips & Technologies B69000
  • 3dfx Voodoo (original and Voodoo 2)
  • 3dfx Voodoo Banshee
  • Creative 3D Blaster Banshee
  • 3dfx Velocity 100
  • 3dfx Velocity 200
  • Compaq Voodoo3 3500 TV
  • 3dfx Voodoo3 1000 (PCI and AGP)
  • 3dfx Voodoo3 2000 and 3000 (PCI and AGP)
  • 3dfx Voodoo3 3500 TV (NTSC and PAL)
  • Falcon Northwest Voodoo3 3500 SE
  • 3dfx Voodoo3 3500 SI

Network interface controllers[edit | edit source]

  • 3Com EtherLink (3c500/3c501)
  • 3Com EtherLink II
  • AMD PCnet family of Ethernet adapters (ISA/ISA+/VL/PCI II/FAST III)
  • NetWorth EtherNext/MC
  • Novell NE1000 and compatible (8-bit ISA)
  • Novell NE2000 and compatible (16-bit ISA)
  • D-Link DE-220P
  • Racal Interlan EtherBlaster
  • Realtek RTL8019AS
  • Realtek RTL8029AS
  • Realtek RTL8139C+
  • DECchip 21040, 21140 and 21143 (Tulip and Tulip FasterNet)
  • Western Digital WD8003E and EB (ISA) and WD8003E/A and ET/A (MCA)
  • Western Digital WD8013EBT
  • Parallel Line Internet Protocol

Sound cards[edit | edit source]

  • Game Blaster or Creative Music System
  • AdLib (incl. MCA) and AdLib Gold
  • NCR Business Audio (MCA)
  • Sound Blaster:
    • 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and Pro (8-bit ISA)
    • 16, 16 PnP, 32 PnP, AWE32, AWE32 PnP, AWE64, AWE64 Value and AWE64 Gold (16-bit ISA)
    • MCV and Pro MCV (MCA)
    • ViBRA16C/S/XV
  • Gravis Ultrasound
  • Windows Sound System
  • Innovation SSI-2001
  • C-Media CMI8338 and 8738
  • Ensoniq AudioPCI (ES1371)
  • Analog Devices AD1881
  • Crystal CS4297A
  • miroSOUND PCM10
  • Aztech Sound Galaxy Pro 16 AB (Washington)
  • Aztech Sound Galaxy Nova 16 Extra (Clinton)
  • TNDY
  • AcerMagic S20
  • Standalone ISA MPU-401
  • Standalone MCA MPU-IMC (MPU-401 for MCA)

Storage cards[edit | edit source]

  • Xebec MFM Hard Disk controller
  • DTC5150X MFM Hard Disk controller
  • Toshiba T1200 RLL Fixed Disk Adapter
  • Victor V86P RLL Fixed Disk Adapter
  • PC/AT (WD1003) MFM Hard Disk controller
  • PC/AT (WD1007V-SE1) ESDI Hard Disk controller
  • IBM PS/2 MCA ESDI Hard Disk controller
  • IBM PS/2 MCA SCSI adapter (Spock)
  • Universal XTIDE BIOS (both 1.1.5 and 2.0.0b3)
  • Acculogic XTIDE card
  • Adaptec 154x series ISA SCSI controllers (A, B, C, CF and CP variants + BIOS)
  • Adaptec 1640 MCA SCSI controller + BIOS
  • BusLogic BT-54x series ISA SCSI controllers (542BH, 545S variants + BIOS)
  • BusLogic BT-445S VLB SCSI controller + BIOS
  • BusLogic BT-640A MCA SCSI controller + BIOS
  • BusLogic BT-958D PCI SCSI controller + BIOS
  • Corel LS2000
  • NCR 5380-based cards (Longshine LCS-6821N, Rancho RT1000B and Trantor T128/T130B + BIOS)
  • NCR 53c8xx PCI SCSI controller (BIOS is embedded into the PCI-based boards)
  • NCR 53c90 MCA SCSI controller (BIOS is embedded in the board)
  • WD-XT150 XTA Hard Disk controller for XT compatibles, IBM PS/1 model 2011 and IBM PS/2 model 30-286
  • Tekram DC-390

Printers[edit | edit source]

  • Generic Text printer
  • Generic Epson ESC/P compatible printer
  • Generic PostScript compatible printer

Gallery[edit | edit source]

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. The ALi M6117 is a combined processor and chipset.