Emulation on Linux
This page is no longer actively maintained but please feel free to report any dead links & I will update or remove.
Emulation is the process of simulating the hardware of one computer on another computer, this means that you can run software designed for a different platform than the one you are using. This could mean running apple mac software or arcade machine ROMs on your Linux machine, the options are numerous.
Linux is well supported by a number of different emulators, just a few of which are listed here. Note that a few of these are not true emulators but are virtual machines (eg VMware) or they translate API calls (eg WINE) but the end results are similar.
- DOSEMU (DOS Emulator) – BIOS emulator that runs any DOS
- WABI (Windows Application Binary Interface) – Runs Windows 3.1 under Linux, requires Windows 3.1x (Proprietory)
- Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator) – Runs Windows 3.1/9X/NT applications by translating API calls, therefore, strictly speaking not an emulator.
- Bochs (x86 PC emulator) – Runs most x86 Operating Systems
- VMware (x86 Virtual Machine) – Runs most x86 Operating Systems
- Win4Lin (Windows 9X Emulator) – Runs Windows 9X
- Plex86 (x86 Virtual Machine) – Runs most x86 Operating Systems
- Basilisk II (68k Mac Emulator) – Emulates either a Mac Classic (which runs MacOS 0.x thru 7.5) or a Mac II series machine (which runs MacOS 7.x, 8.0 and 8.1)
- vMac (Mac Emulator) – Emulates a Motorola 68000 based Apple Macintosh Plus (upto System 7.5.5)
- XCoPilot – Palm Pilot Emulator
- UAE (Amiga Emulator) – Emulates Commodore Amiga 500/1000/2000
- VICE (Commodore Emulator) – Emulates the C64, C128, VIC20, PET, CBM-II
- Bob Supnik’s PDP Emulator – Emulates pdp 1,4,7,8,9,11,15’s and novas, the pdp11 program can run
unix version 5,6,7 - X-Mame (Arcade Emulator) – Emulates classic arcade video games from the ’70s and ’80s.
- M.E.S.S. – Multi Emulator Super System, emulates lots of 8 and 16 bit machines
- iNES (Nintendo Emulator) – Emulates the NES console
- Snes9X (SNES Emulator) – Emulates the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
- DGen/SDL – Sega Megadrive/Genesis Emulator
- XZX (ZX Spectrum Emulator) – Emulates Sincair Spectrum 48K, 128K, +2 and +3, Interface 1 with up
- to 8 microdrives, Multiface 128 , Multiface 3 and more
- Spectemu (ZX Spectrum emulator) – Emulates Sinclair Spectrum 48K
- Stella (Atari 2600) – Emulates the Atari 2600 Video Computer System (VCS)
- STonX (Atari ST Emulator) – Emulates the Atari ST
