Main text
Computers
These programs have in common that they emulate disk drives using so-called diskimages that reside on your harddisk. The diskimages are created from real disks by reading and storing their complete structure. Most of the emulators listed here are capable of exchanging attached diskimages while the emulation is running and thus are resembling real disk changes.
Sorry, but I have to say a few words about the legal side of the matter. A lot of the once available software
has not been released into the public domain or made available for free by the copyright owners.
Part of this software are the computers' ROMs! That means that you can only legally use this software with an
emulator if you own a license. Because of this I will ignore any request for ROM or TOS
images.
So how to get a license if you don't still have one? Some software vendors have issued CDs with tons of images
of old software.
A note on using emulators with Odin. So far (30.06.2000) I have not been able to run any emulator with Odin. I guess they're just too system intensive by now.
- Acorn- Acorn BBC and Archimedes
- Apple- Apple II+, //e, //c, IIgs and Macintosh
- Atari ST - Atari ST and STE
- Commodore - C64, Amiga and others
Don't forget to also check the OS/2 Emulation Site!
Acorn
BBC (aka Beeb) and Archimedes
I am just making myself aquainted with these programs!
Archie
As the Archimedes nickname says this program emulates an Acorn Archimedes of the 3xx, 4xx and 3xxx series. The emulator is under heavy development and already has many features except for sound. Using it you can play ArcElite, which is one of the best (if not the best) Elite ever made by public consent. Archie runs very well in the OS/2 DOS-box.
BeebEmDOS
An emulator of the Acorn BBC Model B, the machine Elite was first written on. Emulation seems to be very complete so it doesn't matter that this program is discontinued. BeebEmDOS comes with the source so you can modify it. Thank God the emulator is able to adapt itself to your CPU so it runs with the Acorn's original speed. There is also a turbo mode. As far as I know there is no homepage any more, but you can download it from the great site "The BBC lives!".
Links
- Archie Game Emulation Webpage - As you can see from the site's name the topic is gaming with the Archie emulator. Here you can find information, screenshots and quite some games for download.
- Big Al's Archie Page - A large software archive, games and utilities.
- The BBC lives! - An outstanding site with information all around the many Acorn computer models, an overview of emulators and a large software archive.
Apple II
and Macintosh
ApplePC
In my opinion the best. ApplePC emulates ][+, IIe and //c computers with two DiskII drives and two harddisks
(bootable ProDOS) in IIe and //c modes. Also available is Mockingboard (a soundcard) emulation. You can save the
emulator's complete state including settings, RAM-state, running programs to a file which you can restore
later. This is real nice for playing games that lack a save game function. Furthermore the serial port, the PC
soundcard, joysticks and the mouse (in //c mode) are supported. The only drawback is ApplePC's user
interface.
ApplePC is a DOS program that runs great in OS/2's DOS-box. The author has stopped development of this program,
but this isn't too bad, since it does a very good job.
AppleWin
AppleWin emulates a //e Platinum model with two DiskII drives and a serial card. It's quite userfriendly with its buttons and menus. Versions up to 1.1 run under Windows 3.x with Win32s 1.25a. Later versions are for Windows 9x/NT/2000 only and come from different authors. I have never managed to get it running with Odin on OS/2 Warp 4 (as of 30.06.2000).
KEGS
This is an Apple IIgs emulator for Unices and XFree86/OS2. A lot of people think that KEGS is the best IIgs emulator for the Intel platform. The OS/2 version currently doesn't support sound and joysticks. Unfortunately there is no binary OS/2 distribution available from the author. To compile it on OS/2 you'll need several GNU tools, gcc and Perl. The older version 0.60 with precompiled OS/2 binaries can be obtained from Hobbes.
XGS-DOS
XGS emulates an Apple IIgs with two disk drives and Smartports. It includes support for sound, mouse and joysticks. AFAIK it is not possible to change diskimages while the emulation is running. Apart from the DOS version there are others for OS/2, Windows, UNIXes and the Macintosh. All in all I have to say that this project has quite some way to go, but it also seems pretty much dead.
vMac
vMac emulates Macintoshs with Motorola 68000, 68010 and 68020 CPUs. It can use MacOS up to version 7.5.5. vMac is a bit slow on my AMD K6-2 300 and not all programs are usable. This emulator is available for several operating systems including OS/2, Windows, Linux, several UNIXes and NeXT. This project is dead.
Links
- Asimov. All you'll ever want in the Apple II world. Emulators, diskimages, utilities and ROMs.
- Asimov Mirror. A good alternative to the often down Asimov site.
- II Computing. Rubywand's Apple II site.. The home of the Apple II FAQs has also several links to other major Apple II sites.
- Apple IIgs Gaming Memory Fairway. Lots of games for the IIgs. Some even have never been published.
Atari
ST
PaCifiST
PaCiFiST emulates most the Atari ST's hardware (sound, blitter, etc.), two disk drives. You can even mount a directory on your PC's harddisk as the Atari's harddisk. Reading original Atari floppies in the PC diskdrive is supported, but not recommended by the author. All three resolutions are supported. If you have a VESA/VBE 2.0 compliant graphics adapter (e.g. the Matrox cards need Scitech's Display Doctor for DOS) you can activate different modes to emulate the display (e.g. for demos and games using palette changes). PaCiFist supports your mouse, joystick, serial port and partially MIDI output. It's a DOS program that can also be run in the OS/2 DOS-box (with DPMI_DOS_API=ENABLED) and under Windows 9x. Unfortunately PaCiFiST has been abandoned and the author can't be contacted.
TOSBOX
In contrary to most emulators TOSBOX doesn't try to emulate all the ST's hardware, but maps ST-features to equivalent PC-features. This makes e.g. using much higher resolutions possible. All in all this emulator is intended more for using ST-applications (no sound, no joystick support) than games. The serial interface is supported. The author has meanwhile stopped development and released the former shareware for free.
STonX
As the name says this program has its origin in the Unix world. It's available for several Unices, Linux, DOS and Windows. The DOS version can be run without problems in an OS/2 DOS-box. STonX is very spartan. As far as I know it impossible to exchange diskimages while the emulator is running. After a very long time of inactivity, development has started again and a code repository has been created at Sourcefourge.
Links
- Atari.Org. Anything the Atari fan could be searching for.
- Little Green Desktop. Tons of games for the ST, some bulletin boards u.a.
Commodore
Commodore 64 emulator for OS/2 full screen
A C64 emulator for OS/2 and eComStation only by Wim Brul. It runs in fullscreen mode and requires at least a Pentium class CPU with 500 MHz. It includes the usual hardware emulation of disk and tape drives via images, sound (16 bit output) and joystick. The emulator is also capable of accessing original Commodore joysticks, disk drives, and printers, which are connected to the PC using special extra hardware (connection diagrams are available on the web site).
I cannot comment on the quality, since its hardware requirements exceed my machine's specifications.
CCS64
Shareware, US$30. This is not exactly cheap, but you'll get a lifetime license in return. A few features are only available in the registered version. CCS64 is one of the two candidates for the best C64 emulator. There are versions for DOS (development halted) and Windows. The DOS version runs very well in an OS/2 DOS-box.
Personal C64
The program's author has transferred it into the public domain and made available the source code since he has stopped development. There are versions for DOS and Windows 3.1x with Win32s 1.30 (only shareware version, the freeware version is unfinished). The Windows version is slower than the DOS one, but additionally supports fastloaders. The emulator's state can be saved/restored, Floppy and Datasette are emulated. You can even attach a 1541 disk drive to the PC's parallel port via a special cable. The shareware DOS version 1.21 runs great in an OS/2 DOS-box (settings come with the program), but I never managed to get the free version 1.22 to run.
UAE
An Amiga emulator from the Unix world. Also available are ports to OS/2, DOS and Windows. There is an old port to XFree86/OS2 and a later one for OS/2 PM called UAE/2 that meanwhile has become a Netlabs project. To use the emulator you will need diskimages since PC disk drives are not capable of reading Amiga disks.
VICE
The Versatile Commodore Emulator. This nice package contains emulators for the following Commodore computers: C64, C128, VIC 20, PET and CBM-II. VICE has been written for Unices, but has been ported to OS/2, DOS and Windows. It's also one of the candidates for the best C64 emulator. The well-maintained OS/2 port is VICE/2.
Links
- C64.org. The informational platform for C64 fans.
- Arnold. THE archive for C64 programs.
- Project 64. Documentation all around the C64.
- Back to the Roots. This great site carries a ton of software for the Amiga and interstingly enough it's all legal to download and use! These guys managed to convince many game developers release their old stuff to the public or to grant them licenses to freely distribute it.