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Linux Journal: Emulating the Past; Old Computer Games on Linux

“One of the most developed emulators is the XMAME/XMESS. MAME
stands for Multi Arcade Machine Emulator. MESS stands for Multi
Emulator Super System. MAME was created so people could run arcade
games on their computer. Games you used to pay quarters for in an
arcade can be run on your Linux PC! MESS uses the same framework as
MAME but is used to emulate personal computers such as the
Commodore 64, Color Computer or TI-99/4A.”

“Building the emulator software is very simple. You can
download the source code to these emulators at http://x.mame.net..
This version of the emulator runs under X11 and compiles under
Linux.
However, finding the software to run on the emulator is
very challenging. I wanted to run the TRS-80 Color Computer
emulator, so I downloaded the MESS software and compiled it. This
software emulates the Color Computer hardware, but does not have
the computer BIOS or any software. Even though Radio Shack does not
make any money from Color Computer software today, they still
maintain the copyright on their BIOS and software. They don’t
appreciate people illegally copying their ROMs and software.”

“…I have successfully emulated the TI-99/4A computer and the
Color Computer on my Red Hat Linux system using the XMAME software.
This software is able to emulate many of the poplar PCs from the
1980s, but what about the Altair? Well, I even found some emulators
for it! Soon after the Altair computer was released, the IMSAI
company created a compatible computer. And I bet you thought Compaq
came out with the first compatible computer! There are graphical
emulators for the Altair and the IMSAI computers; they are for
Windows, but I’ve been told they run under WINE though. You can
find them at http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r/.”

Complete
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