Emulator

BizHawk emulates a number of systems.

An emulator is a computer program that emulates hardware, firmware, or other software.

Personal

I first learned about emulation through telnet emulators, but I really became interested in emulation when I discovered NESticle and the emulation of video games in the late 1990s. Since then, I've been playing with many different emulators and learning more about how they work, and, in turn, how old hardware worked.

Programs

Name	Platforms	Notes
AppleWin	Windows	Emulates most of the Apple II family.
Atari800	Linux, Macintosh, Windows	Emulates most of the Atari 8-bit family including the 5200.
BizHawk	Windows	My favorite emulator. Supports a wide variety of platforms with a common interface.
Dolphin	Android, Macintosh, Windows	Emulates GameCube and Wii.
DOSBox	Linux, Macintosh, Windows	Emulates a lot of DOS hardware, but hasn't been updated in a long time.
Emulicious	Linux, Macintosh, Raspberry Pi OS, Windows	A multi-system emulator targeted at programmers.
FCEUX	Linux, Macintosh, Windows	Lots of great NES-specific tools.
Flash Player Projector Content Debugger	Windows	Emulates Flash outside of a browser.
M88	Windows	Emulates the PC-8800 family.
MAME	Linux, Macintosh, Windows	Emulates thousands of arcade games. Terrible UI.
Mesen	Linux, Windows	NES emulator with the best tools.
Mini vMac	BSD, Linux, Macintosh, Windows, Windows Mobile	Emulates the Macintosh Classic family.
Neko Project II	Windows	Emulates the PC-9800 family.
NESticle	MS-DOS, Windows	Long outdated.
PuTTY	Linux, Macintosh, Windows	Emulates several terminals and protocols.
Stella	Linux, Macintosh, Raspberry Pi OS, Windows	Highly accurate Atari 2600 emulator, but terrible UI.
Telemate	MS-DOS, Windows 3	Emulates several terminals and protocols.
VICE	Macintosh, Windows	Emulates most of the Commodore family.
VMWare	Linux, Windows	Technically a virtual machine.

Links