diff --git a/.ci/travis-build.sh b/.ci/travis-build.sh
index 36c49cf22..6c76689c7 100755
--- a/.ci/travis-build.sh
+++ b/.ci/travis-build.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,18 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 set -e -x
 
-make -j2
+# set RTEMS to eg. "4.9" or "4.10"
+# requires qemu, bison, flex, texinfo, install-info
+if [ -n "$RTEMS" ]
+then
+  # find local qemu-system-i386
+  export PATH="$HOME/.cache/qemu/usr/bin:$PATH"
+  echo -n "Using QEMU: "
+  type qemu-system-i386 || echo "Missing qemu"
+  EXTRA=RTEMS_QEMU_FIXUPS=YES
+fi
+
+make -j2 $EXTRA
 
 if [ "$TEST" != "NO" ]
 then
diff --git a/.ci/travis-prepare.sh b/.ci/travis-prepare.sh
index 8f161abf9..ce2c18b5d 100755
--- a/.ci/travis-prepare.sh
+++ b/.ci/travis-prepare.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,39 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 set -e -x
 
+CURDIR="$PWD"
+
+QDIR="$HOME/.cache/qemu"
+
+if [ -n "$RTEMS" -a "$TEST" = "YES" ]
+then
+  git clone --quiet --branch vme --depth 10 https://github.com/mdavidsaver/qemu.git "$HOME/.build/qemu"
+  cd "$HOME/.build/qemu"
+
+  HEAD=`git log -n1 --pretty=format:%H`
+  echo "HEAD revision $HEAD"
+
+  [ -e "$HOME/.cache/qemu/built" ] && BUILT=`cat "$HOME/.cache/qemu/built"`
+  echo "Cached revision $BUILT"
+
+  if [ "$HEAD" != "$BUILT" ]
+  then
+    echo "Building QEMU"
+    git submodule --quiet update --init
+
+    install -d "$HOME/.build/qemu/build"
+    cd         "$HOME/.build/qemu/build"
+
+    "$HOME/.build/qemu/configure" --prefix="$HOME/.cache/qemu/usr" --target-list=i386-softmmu --disable-werror
+    make -j2
+    make install
+
+    echo "$HEAD" > "$HOME/.cache/qemu/built"
+  fi
+fi
+
+cd "$CURDIR"
+
 cat << EOF > configure/RELEASE.local
 EPICS_BASE=$HOME/.source/epics-base
 EOF
@@ -8,14 +41,12 @@ EOF
 install -d "$HOME/.source"
 cd "$HOME/.source"
 
-add_base_module()
-{
-MODULE=$1
-BRANCH=$2
-( cd epics-base/modules && \
-git clone --quiet --depth 5 --branch "$MODULE"/"$BRANCH" https://github.com/${REPOBASE:-epics-base}/epics-base.git "$MODULE" && \
-cd "$MODULE" && \
-git log -n1 )
+add_base_module() {
+  MODULE=$1
+  BRANCH=$2
+  ( cd epics-base/modules && \
+  git clone --quiet --depth 5 --branch "$MODULE"/"$BRANCH" https://github.com/${REPOBASE:-epics-base}/epics-base.git "$MODULE" && \
+  cd "$MODULE" && git log -n1 )
 }
 
 git clone --quiet --depth 5 --branch core/"${BRCORE:-master}" https://github.com/${REPOBASE:-epics-base}/epics-base.git epics-base
@@ -74,4 +105,29 @@ USR_CFLAGS += $USR_CFLAGS
 USR_CXXFLAGS += $USR_CXXFLAGS
 EOF
 
-make -j2 -C epics-base
+# set RTEMS to eg. "4.9" or "4.10"
+# requires qemu, bison, flex, texinfo, install-info
+if [ -n "$RTEMS" ]
+then
+  echo "Cross RTEMS${RTEMS} for pc386"
+  install -d /home/travis/.cache
+  curl -L "https://github.com/mdavidsaver/rsb/releases/download/travis-20160306-2/rtems${RTEMS}-i386-trusty-20190306-2.tar.gz" \
+  | tar -C /home/travis/.cache -xj
+
+  sed -i -e '/^RTEMS_VERSION/d' -e '/^RTEMS_BASE/d' epics-base/configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.RTEMS
+  cat << EOF >> epics-base/configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.RTEMS
+RTEMS_VERSION=$RTEMS
+RTEMS_BASE=/home/travis/.cache/rtems${RTEMS}-i386
+EOF
+  cat << EOF >> epics-base/configure/CONFIG_SITE
+CROSS_COMPILER_TARGET_ARCHS+=RTEMS-pc386
+EOF
+
+  # find local qemu-system-i386
+  export PATH="$HOME/.cache/qemu/usr/bin:$PATH"
+  echo -n "Using QEMU: "
+  type qemu-system-i386 || echo "Missing qemu"
+  EXTRA=RTEMS_QEMU_FIXUPS=YES
+fi
+
+make -j2 -C epics-base $EXTRA