diff --git a/lib/default.nix b/lib/default.nix
index 8a6a318..4894cae 100644
--- a/lib/default.nix
+++ b/lib/default.nix
@@ -7,18 +7,21 @@ let
   inherit (nixpkgs) buildPackages;
   testPkgs = thisSystem genodepkgs.packages;
 
+  dhallCachePrelude = ''
+    export XDG_CACHE_HOME=$NIX_BUILD_TOP
+    export DHALL_GENODE="${testPkgs.dhallGenode}/binary.dhall";
+    ${buildPackages.xorg.lndir}/bin/lndir -silent \
+      ${testPkgs.dhallGenode}/.cache \
+      $XDG_CACHE_HOME
+  '';
+
 in rec {
 
   runDhallCommand = name: env: script:
     nixpkgs.runCommand name
     ({ nativeBuildInputs = [ buildPackages.dhall ]; } // env) ''
-      export XDG_CACHE_HOME=$NIX_BUILD_TOP
-      export DHALL_GENODE="${testPkgs.dhallGenode}/binary.dhall";
-      ${buildPackages.xorg.lndir}/bin/lndir -silent \
-        ${testPkgs.dhallGenode}/.cache \
-        $XDG_CACHE_HOME
-
-        ${script}
+      ${dhallCachePrelude}
+      ${script}
     '';
 
   linuxScript = name: env: bootDhall:
@@ -31,16 +34,72 @@ in rec {
     runDhallCommand name env ''
       dhall to-directory-tree --output $out \
         <<< "${./compile-boot.dhall} (${bootDhall}) \"$out\""
+      dhall <<< "(${bootDhall}).config" \
+        | dhall encode \
+        > $out/config.dhall.bin
     '';
 
-  novaImage = name: env: boot:
-    let inherit (nixpkgs.stdenv) cc;
-    in nixpkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  hwImage = name: env: boot:
+    nixpkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
       name = name + ".image.elf";
-      # buildInputs = with buildPackages; [ stdenv.cc ];
       build = compileBoot name env boot;
+      nativeBuildInputs = [ buildPackages.dhall ];
+      buildCommand = let
+        bootstrapDhall =
+          # snippet used to nest core.elf into image.elf
+          builtins.toFile "boostrap.dall" ''
+            let Genode = env:DHALL_GENODE
 
-      # CC="${cc}/bin/${cc.targetPrefix}cc"
+            in  { config = Genode.Init.default
+                , rom =
+                    Genode.BootModules.toRomPaths
+                      [ { mapKey = "core.elf", mapValue = "./core.elf" } ]
+                }
+          '';
+      in ''
+        ${dhallCachePrelude}
+
+        build_core() {
+          local lib="$1"
+          local modules="$2"
+          local link_address="$3"
+          local out="$4"
+
+          # compile the boot modules into one object file
+          $CC -c -x assembler -o "boot_modules.o" "$modules"
+
+          # link final image
+        LD="${buildPackages.binutils}/bin/${buildPackages.binutils.targetPrefix}ld"
+          $LD \
+            --strip-all \
+            -T${testPkgs.genodeSources}/repos/base/src/ld/genode.ld \
+            -z max-page-size=0x1000 \
+            -Ttext=$link_address -gc-sections \
+            "$lib" "boot_modules.o" \
+            -o $out
+        }
+
+        build_core \
+          "${testPkgs.base-hw-pc.coreObj}" \
+          "$build/modules_asm" \
+          0xffffffc000000000 \
+          core.elf
+
+        dhall to-directory-tree --output bootstrap \
+          <<< "${./compile-boot.dhall} ${bootstrapDhall} \"bootstrap\""
+
+        build_core \
+          "${testPkgs.base-hw-pc.bootstrapObj}" \
+          bootstrap/modules_asm \
+          0x00200000 \
+          $out
+      '';
+    };
+
+  novaImage = name: env: boot:
+    nixpkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
+      name = name + ".image.elf";
+      build = compileBoot name env boot;
 
       buildCommand = ''
         # compile the boot modules into one object file
diff --git a/tests/boot-ram.dhall b/tests/boot-ram.dhall
deleted file mode 100644
index 1a20451..0000000
--- a/tests/boot-ram.dhall
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
--- SPDX-License-Identifier: CC0-1.0
-
-let Genode = env:DHALL_GENODE
-
-let sumRam =
-        λ(boot : Genode.Boot.Type)
-      → let sum = Genode.Init.resources boot.config in sum.ram
-
-in  sumRam
diff --git a/tests/driver-hw.nix b/tests/driver-hw.nix
index 8596203..ac6ad85 100644
--- a/tests/driver-hw.nix
+++ b/tests/driver-hw.nix
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ let
         XDG_CACHE_HOME = "/tmp";
       } // testEnv;
 
-      image = apps.hw-image.function testEnv' testConfig';
+      image = lib.hwImage name testEnv' testConfig';
 
       baseSetup = ''
         ##
@@ -114,13 +114,13 @@ let
           mkdir -p $out/bin
           echo "$testScript" > $out/test-script
           echo "$baseSetup" > $out/base-setup
-          eval $(${apps.dhall-to-bash.program} --declare "TEST_RAM" \
-            <<< "${./boot-ram.dhall} (${testConfig'})")
+          source ${image.build}/stats
+
           ln -s ${testDriver}/bin/genode-test-driver $out/bin/
           wrapProgram $out/bin/genode-test-driver \
             --set testScript "$testScript" \
             --set baseSetup "$baseSetup" \
-            --set TEST_RAM $TEST_RAM \
+            --set TEST_RAM $RAM \
         '';
 
       passMeta = drv:
diff --git a/tests/driver-nova.nix b/tests/driver-nova.nix
index b94f003..2af38ca 100644
--- a/tests/driver-nova.nix
+++ b/tests/driver-nova.nix
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ let
           mkdir -p $out/bin
           echo "$testScript" > $out/test-script
           echo "$baseSetup" > $out/base-setup
-          source ${build}/stats
+          source ${image.build}/stats
 
           ln -s ${testDriver}/bin/genode-test-driver $out/bin/
           wrapProgram $out/bin/genode-test-driver \
@@ -132,7 +132,8 @@ let
       test = passMeta (runTests driver);
 
     in test // {
-      inherit build driver image test manifest;
+      inherit driver image test manifest;
+      inherit (image) build;
 
       config = buildPackages.runCommand (name + ".dhall") testEnv' ''
         ${apps.dhall.program} <<< "${testConfig'}" > $out