Using a real embedded board is not always possible or practical—hardware is not yet ready, or the number of boards is limited. Emulators help developers use an environment that's as close to the target system as possible, yet do not depend on hardware availability. It is also the best way to start learning embedded development.

In this recipe, we will learn how to set up QEMU (a hardware emulator) and configure it to emulate an ARM-based embedded system running Debian Linux.