IzarraVM is a Rust emulator for the Izarra3000, a DOS-era workstation that almost went on sale in 1997. It emulates one fixed machine: custom video and audio around an MS-DOS compatible core. The machine boots Toka-DOS, a real FreeDOS-based system. Toka-DOS runs in virtual-8086 mode, below the memory manager of the machine.
IzarraVM runs DOS games from the early 1990s and the middle 1990s, as the Izarra3000 ran them. It already runs much of the software of that period, and the work continues.
Izarra started in Zamudio, Bizkaia, in 1982. Mikel Etxeberria did the hardware work and the repairs. Txema Goikoetxea did the work with the customers and the parts, and collected the invoices. The first products were electronic typewriters. Izarra gave local service with them, thus a customer did not have to send a broken machine away for some weeks. Izarra also made parts for Olivetti, and that work gave a constant income.
In the late 1980s, the same customers asked about PCs. Izarra did not put its name on AT compatibles. It made custom workstations. The machines kept the usual DOS software, but Izarra built its own hardware and its own operating system around that software. This made the machines different from the others, and some Spanish magazines called Izarra "the Basque Amiga". It also made the machines expensive.
The computer line started with the Izarra1000 in 1990, which used a 286. The Izarra2000 followed in 1992, with a 386. The Izarra2700 followed in 1994, with a 486. Each machine went further from office work. Better graphics, better sound, and CD-ROM drives made multimedia and home use more practical.
The Izarra3000 was the largest project of the line. It was a custom 586-class workstation, with its own BIOS, Toka-DOS 3.0, VEGA graphics, and ReSonique II sound. But the market changed before the machine was ready. Buyers wanted Windows 95, and the machine could not run it. MS-DOS compatibility was no longer sufficient for the cost of the custom design. The Izarra3000 did not reach the stores.
Photos, manuals, BIOS dumps, and incomplete developer notes remain. IzarraVM keeps the machine from those records.
The emulator has one fixed machine. You cannot select different hardware. The emulator gives the Izarra3000 as it was built.
| Area | Izarra3000 hardware |
|---|---|
| CPU | GSW-586 at 166 MHz, on a 66 MHz bus. It has a 32 KB L1 cache and a 512 KB L2 cache. It is a Pentium-class part with an x87 unit and no SIMD extension. The BIOS or the GSWMODE tool can set it to a 486DX2 at 66 MHz, a 386DX at 22 MHz, or the same 386 instruction set at 7.33 MHz. A restart is not necessary. |
| Memory | 64 MB PC100 SDRAM. |
| Graphics | VEGA chipset: Margo 2D with a 4 MB frame store; Distira 3D with a 2 MB frame buffer and 2 MB for each TMU; VESA VBE 2.0, VGA mode 13h, and a maximum of 1024x768 at 32-bit color. |
| Sound | ReSonique II: Sound Blaster 16 compatible digital audio (PCM and Creative ADPCM), OPL3 FM, pin headers for a wavetable daughterboard, and a rear MPU-401/gameport. |
| Storage | A 3.6 GB UDMA2 IDE hard disk on a PIIX4-compatible controller, a 12x PIO ATAPI CD-ROM with CD audio, and a 1.44 MB floppy drive. |
| Display | 15-inch CRT. The maximum mode is 1024x768 at 75 Hz. |
| Firmware | 2 MB ROM with the Izarra BIOS, Toka-DOS, and the supplied tools. |
| I/O | PS/2 keyboard and mouse, serial, parallel, VGA, line out, line in, and MIDI/game port. |
The emulator boots to a DOS that you can use. It has sound, a mouse, a CD-ROM, and floppy images. The CD-ROM accepts an ISO, a CUE/BIN pair, or a host folder as a disc. The emulator models the legacy video personalities (CGA, EGA, VGA, Hercules) at the register level. The display can go through a CRT shader, which is optional and light. The compatibility is wide, and the work continues.
If a game does not run, or if it runs badly with no clear cause, open an issue. But first read this limit. The Izarra3000 is a 166 MHz Pentium-class machine. Software that needed more than that in the period also needs more than that here. 3D at a high resolution and a high frame rate is more than the hardware can do. A late game that recommended a Pentium II or a faster CPU is also more than the hardware can do. These are limits of the hardware, and not defects in the emulation.
cargo run -p izarravm -- --headless-config-check
cargo run -p izarravm -- --headless-test-rom
cargo run -p izarravm -- --headless-boot-suite
cargo run -p izarravm -- --config examples/machine.tomlOn a host that is not Windows, change the c_drive path in
examples/machine.toml. You can also use --c-drive /path/to/dosroot.
By default, the C: drive, cmos.bin, and izarravm.conf are in the
~/.izarravm directory of the user. Thus the program writes nothing into the
working directory. Use --portable to keep them in a c_drive folder beside
the executable. This gives an installation in one place.
IzarraVM can send the rear MPU-401 connection of the Izarra3000 to Munt. Munt needs one control ROM, and the PCM ROM of the same machine:
| Module | Control ROM | PCM ROM |
|---|---|---|
| MT-32, old generation | ctrl_mt32_1_04.rom, ctrl_mt32_1_05.rom, ctrl_mt32_1_06.rom, or ctrl_mt32_1_07.rom |
pcm_mt32.rom |
| MT-32, new generation | ctrl_mt32_2_04.rom, ctrl_mt32_2_06.rom, or ctrl_mt32_2_07.rom |
pcm_mt32.rom |
| CM-32L | ctrl_cm32l_1_00.rom or ctrl_cm32l_1_02.rom |
pcm_cm32l.rom |
| CM-32LN | ctrl_cm32ln_1_00.rom |
pcm_cm32l.rom |
The Settings window accepts any control path and any PCM path. Thus you can
select the archive file names directly. For automatic discovery, copy an MT-32
pair and give the copies the names ~/.izarravm/MT32_CONTROL.ROM and
~/.izarravm/MT32_PCM.ROM. For a CM-32L or a CM-32LN pair, use the names
~/.izarravm/CM32L_CONTROL.ROM and ~/.izarravm/CM32L_PCM.ROM. The discovery
ignores the letter case of ASCII characters. --portable disables the
discovery, but a path in the Settings window continues to operate. The names
in the table are the names in the mt32pi directory of the
Roland MT-32 ROMs archive.
Many DOS Glide games include a GLIDE2X.OVL file, and that local copy has
priority. If a game has no copy, put a compatible Voodoo Graphics OVL at
~/.izarravm/GLIDE2X.OVL. IzarraVM finds the name without the letter case of
ASCII characters. It makes the file available through C:\DOS, as the global
PATH fallback. A
3DBVoodoo2 driver-disc image
is in an archive, for reference. If neither copy exists, IzarraVM supplies no
replacement OVL and no diagnostic OVL.
IzarraVM does not download ROMs, Glide drivers, or game data, and it does not distribute them. The metadata of an archive item is not a license. Use these files only if you have the legal right to use them.
cargo fmt --check
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo test --workspace
cargo build --workspaceGNU GPL version 3 only (GPL-3.0-only; see LICENSE).