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9th September 2002

A READER WRITES
AMIGA EMULATOR

Brian Grainger

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brian@grainger1.freeserve.co.uk


 

Lisa Hoyland writes:

Is it possible to acquire an Amiga 'emulator' that will enable Amiga 500/1200 software to be easily converted for use on a PC? We would like to convert some games, if easy/cheap, and then sell the remains of the Amiga collection.

Now I have had a query about an Amiga emulator before and I was all set to point Lisa to a response on the site somewhere. However, I could not find the response so I guess I answered directly without putting it on the site. I am going to rectify that this time.

There are two aspects to this problem. First, getting something to emulate the Amiga general hardware. Second, getting the Amiga Kickstart ROMs, which were the real power behind the machine. The latter is copyright material so you either have to transfer a copy from your Amiga to a PC or you have to obtain a copy from an approved licence holder.

The most well known Amiga Emulator, UAE , (which I presume stands for Universal Amiga Emulator), is available for a number of different operating systems including Windows, Unix, and the PowerMac. This is distributed under the GNU General Public Licence so is free software. With this emulator you need to copy the Kickstart ROM from your Amiga to the PC. UAE distributions include the software and instructions to do this.

Details of UAE, how to get it, and numerous internet links to UAE related material can be found at:
http://www.freiburg.linux.de/~uae

There is an official licensee of the Amiga Kickstart ROMs and operating systems. This is a company called Cloanto. They have produced a complete package, called Amiga Forever, which is primarily geared at the Windows market but is available for other operating systems. This includes the UAE emulator as well as all the necessary licensed material and much more additional software. You can buy it online ($29.95), or on a CD through distributors (£39.95).

Details of Amiga Forever can be found at:
http://cloanto.com/amiga/forever

Now I cannot vouch for the suitability of either solution but they seem to be the most popular emulators in existence. Whether the games will actually run under the emulation is open to question. Games software is the most difficult to run under emulation because it usually hits at the hardware directly and consequently needs a pretty good emulator. Emulators also run slower than the original system and this may be a problem when running games.

If further information is required about Amiga emulators for the PC then try typing the following, with quotes and spaces, into the Google search engine, (http://www.google.com):
"amiga emulator" PC


 

 

 

 


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