diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b166c41..c962b64 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 NASM = nasm
 PYTHON = python3
+QEMU = qemu-system-i386
 
 .SUFFIXES:
 .SUFFIXES: .bin .asm .ans .wall
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@ memory.bin: ponydos.inc
 	$(PYTHON) process_wallpaper.py $@ $< 7 0 0 0
 
 run: ponydos.img
-	qemu-system-i386 -drive file=$<,index=0,if=floppy,format=raw
+	$(QEMU) -drive file=$<,index=0,if=floppy,format=raw
 
 clean:
 	rm -f *.bin *.img *.wall ponydos.inc
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3785d9a..8297941 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ No! PonyDOS uses its own 512-byte kernel, built from scratch.
 
 To build PonyDOS from scratch, on an environment with `nasm` and `python3`,
 run `make`. `make run` runs the floppy disk image `ponydos.img` with QEMU.
+By default, `qemu-system-i386` is invoked. If you want to use a different
+backend, use `make QEMU=<backend> run`.
 
 ### How do I contribute?