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

Nov 04, 2000, 19:02 (0 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Jay Sissom)


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"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 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"

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