Marionnet vs QuNetSim

Marionnet is desktop software for defining, configuring, and running virtual computer networks without physical equipment. A single GNU/Linux host can emulate Ethernet networks containing computers, routers, hubs, switches, and cables. Networks can be reconfigured while running, their diagrams update dynamically, and a gateway can connect the virtual network to the host network. Guest machines use User Mode Linux, while VDE links them and emulates network equipment. The project says guests provide binary compatibility with user-level GNU/Linux software and can run graphical applications such as Wireshark through the host X server. Marionnet is free software under the GNU General Public License, priced at free, with no warranty stated. Linux installation requires x86 or x86_64, root access, and internet access; Windows and macOS users can use the VirtualBox appliance.

QuNetSim is a free, MIT-licensed Python framework for developing and testing quantum networking applications and protocols. It includes built-in exercises for qubit teleportation, entanglement distribution, superdense coding, and quantum key distribution. Multi-hop networks use entanglement swapping to create links between distant hosts. You can define routing functions from classical and quantum network states, represented with NetworkX graphs. The event-driven model gives packets sequence numbers and lets them wait for acknowledgements. Host, Protocols, and Network components correspond to application, transport, and network layers. Supported backends include SimulaQron, ProjectQ, and EQSN, with SimulaQron listed as the default; custom network and qubit backends can also be imported. Installation uses pip and includes an example-generating template. Linux, macOS, and Windows setup instructions require Python 3.5 or newer. It is intended for students and instructors, especially newcomers, and is described as educational rather than a full quantum-physics simulator.