diff --git a/devices/qemu.nix b/devices/qemu.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..51e27d8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devices/qemu.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{
+  system = {
+    crossSystem = {
+      config = "mips-unknown-linux-musl";
+      gcc = {
+        abi = "32";
+        arch = "mips32";          # maybe mips_24kc-
+      };
+    };
+  };
+}
diff --git a/run-tests.sh b/run-tests.sh
index 3568b146..48c8395b 100755
--- a/run-tests.sh
+++ b/run-tests.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
+export DEVICE=${DEVICE-qemu}
 export TMPDIR=${TMPDIR-/tmp}
 
 for i in tests/*/run.sh; do
diff --git a/tests/smoke/run.sh b/tests/smoke/run.sh
index 03163026..42fa2bb5 100755
--- a/tests/smoke/run.sh
+++ b/tests/smoke/run.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 set -e
-NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNSUPPORTED_SYSTEM=1 nix-build  -I liminix-config=./tests/smoke/configuration.nix -o smoke.img
+NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNSUPPORTED_SYSTEM=1 nix-build  -I liminix-config=./tests/smoke/configuration.nix --arg device "import ./devices/$DEVICE.nix" -o smoke.img
 
 TESTS=$(cat <<"EOF"