diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8ea776a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "simde"]
+	path = simde
+	url = https://github.com/nemequ/simde-no-tests
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b8399819..0e14a264 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ ifneq (,$(findstring Darwin,$(shell uname)))
 	MACOS = 1
 endif
 
-EXTRA_FLAGS += -DPOPCNT_CAPABILITY -std=c++11
+EXTRA_FLAGS += -std=c++11
 INC += -I. -I third_party 
 
 MM_DEF = 
diff --git a/aligner_sw.h b/aligner_sw.h
index add5c87d..194918ad 100644
--- a/aligner_sw.h
+++ b/aligner_sw.h
@@ -66,11 +66,12 @@
 
 #define INLINE_CUPS
 
+#define SIMDE_ENABLE_NATIVE_ALIASES
+#include <simde/x86/sse2.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <limits>
 #include "threading.h"
-#include <emmintrin.h>
 #include "aligner_sw_common.h"
 #include "aligner_sw_nuc.h"
 #include "ds.h"
diff --git a/processor_support.h b/processor_support.h
index e731e003..5f292bb3 100644
--- a/processor_support.h
+++ b/processor_support.h
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 #if defined(__INTEL_COMPILER)
 #   define USING_INTEL_COMPILER
-#elif defined(__GNUC__)
+#elif defined(__GNUC__) && defined(__x86_64__) || defined(__i386__)
 #   define USING_GCC_COMPILER
 #   include <cpuid.h>
 #elif defined(_MSC_VER)
@@ -52,8 +52,7 @@ class ProcessorSupport {
 #elif defined(USING_GCC_COMPILER)
         __get_cpuid(0x1, &regs.EAX, &regs.EBX, &regs.ECX, &regs.EDX);
 #else
-        std::cerr << "ERROR: please define __cpuid() for this build.\n"; 
-        assert(0);
+	return false;
 #endif
         if( !( (regs.ECX & BIT(20)) && (regs.ECX & BIT(23)) ) ) return false;
     }
diff --git a/simde b/simde
new file mode 160000
index 00000000..54c104c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/simde
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 54c104c715f6e6a820e85bdd6db7e8ca2e59660e
diff --git a/sse_util.h b/sse_util.h
index b5781f1a..b1155fbc 100644
--- a/sse_util.h
+++ b/sse_util.h
@@ -20,11 +20,13 @@
 #ifndef SSE_UTIL_H_
 #define SSE_UTIL_H_
 
+#define SIMDE_ENABLE_NATIVE_ALIASES
+#include <simde/x86/sse2.h>
+
 #include "assert_helpers.h"
 #include "ds.h"
 #include "limit.h"
 #include <iostream>
-#include <emmintrin.h>
 
 class EList_m128i {
 public: