Download and uncompress a PC hard disk image with Linux installed (e.g. linux.img) and type:
linux.img
Linux should boot and give you a prompt.
Users should be aware the above example elides a lot of the complexity of setting up a VM with x86_64 specific defaults and assumes the first non switch argument is a PC compatible disk image with a boot sector. For a non-x86 system where we emulate a broad range of machine types, the command lines are generally more explicit in defining the machine and boot behaviour. You will find more example command lines in the system-targets-ref section of the manual.