diff --git a/riscv64/build_finalize.sh b/riscv64/build_finalize.sh
index 38669cc..6f70f5f 100755
--- a/riscv64/build_finalize.sh
+++ b/riscv64/build_finalize.sh
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ apt-get update
 
 DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive" apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y \
     openssh-client libslirp-dev libfdt-dev libglib2.0-dev libssl-dev \
-    libpixman-1-dev netcat
+    libpixman-1-dev
 
 # Modify fstab to mount `tmpfs` during boot
 # See: https://wiki.qemu.org/Documentation/9p_root_fs#Let's_start_the_Installation
diff --git a/riscv64/start_in_qemu.sh b/riscv64/start_in_qemu.sh
index 7f4ac3c..1d57461 100755
--- a/riscv64/start_in_qemu.sh
+++ b/riscv64/start_in_qemu.sh
@@ -29,11 +29,12 @@ cp -a $WORKDIR $ROOTFS_DIR/root
 
 HOST=riscv-qemu
 
-while ! nc -z localhost 2222; do   
-  echo "Dialing qemu-system-riscv64..."
-  sleep 1
+echo "Testing SSH connectivity to $HOST..."
+while ! ssh -o ConnectTimeout=3 $HOST exit; do
+  echo "$HOST is not ready..."
 done
 
 # Issue command
 COMMAND=$@
+echo "$HOST is ready, forwarding command: $COMMAND"
 ssh $HOST "export PATH=\"\$PATH:/root/.cargo/bin\" && cd workdir && $COMMAND"