PowerVM Lx86 was a

binary translation In computing, binary translation is a form of binary recompilation where sequences of instruction (computer science), instructions are translated from a source instruction set (ISA) to the target instruction set with respect to the operating syste ...

layer for

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

's System p servers. It enabled

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in a maximum of 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform la ...

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel, based on the 8086 microprocessor and its 8-bit-external-bus variant, the 8088. Th ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

binaries A binary file is a computer file that is not a text file. The term "binary file" is often used as a term meaning "non-text file". Many binary file formats contain parts that can be interpreted as text; for example, some computer document files ...

to run unmodified on the

Power ISA Power ISA is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) currently developed by the OpenPOWER Foundation, led by IBM. It was originally developed by IBM and the now-defunct Power.org industry group. Power IS ...

-based hardware. IBM used this feature to migrate x86 Linux servers to the

PowerVM PowerVM, formerly known as Advanced Power Virtualization (APV), is a chargeable feature of IBM POWER5, POWER6, POWER7, POWER8, POWER9 and Power10 servers and is required for support of micro-partitions and other advanced features. Support is p ...

virtualized environment; it was supported on all

POWER5 The POWER5 is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by IBM. It is an improved version of the POWER4. The principal improvements are support for simultaneous multithreading (SMT) and an on-die memory controller. The POWER5 is a dual-core ...

and

POWER6 The POWER6 is a microprocessor developed by IBM that implemented the Power ISA#Power ISA v.2.05, Power ISA v.2.05. When it became available in systems in 2007, it succeeded the POWER5#POWER5+, POWER5+ as IBM's flagship Power microprocessor. It i ...

hardware as well as BladeCenter JS21 and JS22 systems. In contrast to regular

emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...

s only the instructions are translated, not the entire system, thus making it fast and flexible. The Lx86 software senses that it is executing x86 code and translates it to PowerPC code at execution, and these instructions are later cached ensuring that the translation process only has to take place once, further reducing the drop in performance usually associated with emulation. Lx86 does not support applications that access hardware directly, like kernel modules. Earlier versions of Lx86 did not run code that makes use of SSE instructions, though as of version 1.3.2 the SSE and

SSE2 SSE2 (Streaming SIMD Extensions 2) is one of the Intel SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) processor supplementary instruction sets introduced by Intel with the initial version of the Pentium 4 in 2000. SSE2 instructions allow the use of ...

instruction sets were supported. The product was at first marketed as ''System p AVE'' (System p Application Virtual Environment) and was incorrectly reported as ''PAVE'' (Portable Advanced Virtualization Emulator) in the press but the name has since changed to PowerVM Lx86. Lx86 was based on the QuickTransit dynamic translator from Transitive, the same that

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

uses for its

Rosetta Rosetta ( ) or Rashid (, ; ) is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Rosetta Stone was discovered there in 1799. Founded around the 9th century on the site of the ancient town of Bolbitine, R ...

emulation layer that enables

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

to run unmodified

PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...

binaries on their Intel-based Macintoshes. All versions and releases of the Lx86 product were withdrawn from marketing in September 2011, with support discontinued in April 2013.

References

{{Reflist
PowerVM Lx86 for x86 Linux applications

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091204015224/http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/lx86/index.html PowerVM Lx86 on IBM's developerWorks
IBM's press release 2007-04-23

X86 applications on IBM's PowerPC servers - Heise online

* ttp://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_ca/0/897/ENUS911-170/ENUS911-170.PDF IBM US Withdrawal Announcement 911-170 Virtualization software X86 emulators IBM software