Box86 lets you run x86 Linux programs (such as games) on non-x86 Linux systems, like ARM (the host system needs to be 32bit little-endian).
Because box86 uses the native versions of some “system” libraries, like libc, libm, SDL, and OpenGL, it’s easy to integrate and use with most applications, and performance can be surprisingly high in some cases.
Many games already work without much tweaking, for example: WorldOfGoo, Airline Tycoon Deluxe, and FTL. Many of the GameMaker Linux games also run fine. (There’s a long list, among them are Undertale, A Risk of Rain, or Cook Serve Delicious.)
Box64 is the 64bits version of Box86. It is used to run x86_64 binaries on ARM64 (i.e. aarch64) Linux.
There are a some YouTube channel where you can see box86 and box64 in action: MicroLinux, PILabs and The Byteman at least…
To see which games were confirmed to run (or not) on box86 and box64, see also this page (updated live from the list of issues in a dedicated GitHub repo).
Latest posts:
- Box64 and RISC-V
Box64 and RISC-V, the challenges of wrtting the Dynarec, and benchmarks - Performances 2022This article was initially publised for the FOSDEM 2022 virtual event. The host is gone and I’m (quickly) republishing it here. Box86 performances Like for last year, I will present a series of benchmark to try show the efficiency (or not) of box dynarec. This year, I will benchmark both box86 and box64, to show…
- New version Box86 v0.3.0 and Box64 v0.2.2
New version tagged for Box86 & Box64 New in those releases are a new hack for program that redirect Malloc function on box64. This allows for libcef and other chrome derivative to work now. That allows for the Full Steam client to work (including the BigPicture mode). The Heroic Launcher also works. You can connect… - Box64 on Asahi with experimental GPU driver
Let’s try some games using Box64 on the M1, now that there is a first experimental version of the GPU driver. This driver provides OpenGL 2.1 profile, so a few games should already be working. After an update of the Asahi system, and the installation of the “edge” kernel and mesa driver, I also updated… - Box86 v0.2.8 & Box64 v0.2.0
New version for both box86 and box64 have been tagged! More than 6 months since last release, so a lot of things changed! You can expect some more speed (like an almost x2 speed in Doom 20016 with the vulkan renderer), especially on box64, and better compatibility. With some refactor of the elf loader, programs…