Emulators

Most emulators are available directly from the "The BBC lives!" archives. However, the original distribution sites are linked to below, when possible. If a emulator software link doesn't work below, you'll still probably find it in this archive.

Enter the emulator archive! [ HTTP | FTP | index ]

Here's a legend that explains the various icons used.

Emulator menu

BBC micro emulators

Acorn Atom emulators

Acorn Electron emulators

Acorn Master emulators

Acorn Archimedes emulators

Emulator name	6502Em
Version	3.00
Authors	Mike Borcherds for Warm Silence Software
Emulates	Sideways and shadow RAM
Platform	Archimedes, RISC PC
Price	commercial, UK£15, UK£25 if combined with Z80Em (plus VAT).
Supports	, tape (through additional interface), snapshot Here you'll find some information on compatible games (by Gareth Moore)
Approx. speed	Beeb speed on ARM 3 and up, slowed a bit by scrolling
Implementation	ARM assembler
Homepage	.
Download	Demo version is available from WSS.

Version 3 now available: the screen routines have been completely rewritten    
to offer even better emulation than before; palette/mode changing part way down    
the screen is now supported - see the water level move around in Exile again!    
The new frames-per-second option also gives even better 'true speed' emulation.

65Host

Emulator name	65Host
Version	1.20 (18 May 1992)
Authors	Acorn
Emulates
Platform	Archimedes, RISC PC
Price	free
Supports	, sideways RAM
Download	It's on the RISC OS 3.1 Support Disk 2, in the !65Host directory. To extract the disk on other platforms, you'll need nspark.

There are also emulators for a 6502 second processor which can run many 6502 ROM images. These are called 65Tube and 65Turbo. Here is some more information.

Acorn Atom Emulator

Frans told me he's not working on his emulator anymore, as he considers Wouter Ras' emulator to be more useful.

ArcEm

Archie

After a slight delay due to the ECTS 2000 show, Archie 0.9 is available with the following enhancements: 

* 8 channel sound emulation 
* Quad MEMC emulation to allow 16MB of ram 
* Faster floppy access 
* Improved mouse resolution 
* PCFS in ROM 
* LED update control 
* Plenty more bug fixes... 

ARM2

Sadly, this emulator is no longer being developed.

Another Acorn Atom Emulator

Upgrade v1.32 --> v1.33:

     Communication capabilities expanded. The Atom's I/O ports at B400h-B7FFh have now been
     linked to the PC's I/O ports 0000h-03FFh, for communication between emulator and other
     devices and/or programs. 

Emulator name	BBCmicro
Version	0.0.1
Author	Adam Hamilton
Emulates
Platform	Linux/X + Motif
Price	free
Supports	6502 emulation + debugger
Implementation	ANSI C
Homepage	here

Hi Robert,

Here's an update for my 'BBCmicro' emulator...

I have finally got around to putting up a web page for my emulator/debugger:
www.qualsar.co.uk/bbcmicro

The first release is available - simply the 6502A CPU core, paged memory and
a little bit of system VIA support, and includes a graphical debugging
environment.

I would like people to try out the CPU core using the debugger and try to
find bugs. It should handle all the undocumented op-codes and bugs too
so if anyone finds problems please let me know at bbcmicro@qualsar.co.uk

Thanks,
Adam Hamilton

BeebInC

Emulator name	BeebInC
Version	0.99f
Author	David Devenport
Emulates
Platform	DOS (386+)
Price	free
Supports	Graphics, paging, cursor, sound, and a normal file system.
Approx. speed	About 110% Beeb speed on a 486DX4-100 (with 25 fps)
Implementation	Watcom C, with 386 assembler for video refresh code
Homepage	here
Download	Version 0.99f, Version 0.99f source code Older versions

Version 0.99f (15/7/98) 

  KEYBOARD 

     Changed the way interrupts are generated 

  SYSTEM VIA 

     Port A pins now read/written correctly (sound works correctly again) 

  VIDEO 

     Switching between TELETEXT and graphical modes now can only occur during a VBLANK 

Version 0.99e (18/05/98) 

  VIDEO 

     Screen wrap bug removed from screen scrolling during -eachscanline 
     Mode changes between Teletext and graphic modes, now only take effect during VSYNC. 
     REVs works again now 
     Rocket Raid working again 

Emulator name	B-EM
Version	0.6 (Jul 31 2003)
Author	Tom Walker
Emulates	(and B+)
Platform	DOS and Win32
Price	freeware
Supports	Graphics, sound, 8271, INF, UEF, state snapshots, emulates 2 disc drives
Homepage	here
Mirror	here

BBC Environment Emulator

According to Tom Seddon, this emulator is rather useless due to a number of bugs, and overall slowness (pure C implementation). It supports a maximum of 4 colors, and a maximum of 640x200 pixels (probably mono). Tom also knows of another, similar emulator for ST, written by Tim Titchmarsh, doing a not very good job of emulating the 6502 and running the original BASIC 2 ROM.

BBC BASIC(86)

Because this is not a full BBC micro emulation, but rather an adaption of the BBC BASIC language for other platforms, the performance is much higher than full-fledged emulators when it comes to BASIC power.

There are also versions for Victor Sirius and Research Machines Nimbus, but these are obsolete.

For the DOS version, four versions are supplied on the distribution disk:

The company which, for several years, distributed the PC version of BBC BASIC (M-Tec Computer Services) has recently gone out of business. Therefore, enquiries about the product should now be sent directly to Richard Russell (by email - see above, or fax to +44 1375 892439).

BBC386

Emulator name	BBC386
Version	0.0 (unreleased - presumed dead)
Authors	Stephen Quan
Emulates
Platform	DOS (386)
Supports	Runs OS 1.2 and BASIC. No hardware emulated.
Implementation	Both C and 386 assembler versions
Download	here

BBC 6502 Emulator

I'm including this 6502 emulator, because the author has taken care to make sure BBC BASIC runs "satisfactorily".

BBCEm

Emulator name	BBCEm
Version	never released
Authors	Nigel Gilbert
Emulates	(6502 and text display)
Platform	Archimedes
Implementation	ARM assembler

BBCmicro

Emulator name	BBCmicro
Version	unreleased
Author	Adam Hamilton
Emulates	(plans for more)
Platform	UNIX (X/Motif) (Windows version planned)
Implementation	C

In Adam's own words:

The current status of the emulator is:

6502A CPU - Virtually complete, I've included ALL undocumented
instructions and CPU bugs.

6522 System VIA - about 20% complete.
6522 User VIA - not started, but shouldn't take too long after the
                sys VIA is complete.
Addressable latch - complete.
Memory and paged memory - complete.

As you can see, there's a fair way to go yet before I have anything
to release, but I'll keep you informed.

Emulator name	Beeb
Version	1.0
Authors	James Bonfield and Steve Youell (8271 emulation)
Emulates
Platform	Unix, X optional
Price	free
Supports	, sideways RAM, text mode only
Implementation	C
Download	Version 1.0, Version 1.2.1 alpha

BeebEm / BeebWin /BeBeebEm

Emulator name	BeebEm / BeebWin / BeBeebEm
Version	1.41 (Windows) 0.8 (UNIX) 1.2C (DOS)
Authors	David Gilbert (Emulation and UNIX/X) Nigel Magnay (Windows port) Marcus Goodman (DOS port) Mike Wyatt (further work on UNIX/Windows versions) Jonathan Belson (BeOS port) Richard Gellman (further work on Windows version, M128 support)
Emulates
Platform	Probably any UNIX with X and gcc, Win32 (optionally DirectX), DOS
Price	free
Supports	, , sideways RAM, emulation snapshots, joystick (using PC joystick or mouse), printing, AMX mouse emulation, disk image writing, on-the-fly speed, sound quality and window size changes.
Approx. speed	Beeb speed on a P90
Implementation	C (C++ at user interface level)
Homepage	Richard Gellman's BeebEm pages Mike Wyatt's BeebEm page Nigel Magnay's BeebEm page (defunct) Jonathan Belson's home page (you'll find BeBeebEm under Current Projects)
Download	Richard Gellman's BeebEm version 1.41 for Windows. (InstallShield version.) Robert Schmidt's BeebEm version 1.04 for Windows. Mike Wyatt's BeebEm version 1.02 for Windows and version 0.8 for UNIX. BeebEmDOS 1.2C (DOS port of version 0.4, with enhancements)

BeebIt

Emulator name	BeebIt
Version	0.53 (28 Jun 2003)
Authors	Michael Foot (remove nospam)
Emulates	, B+, M128
Platform	RISC OS
Price	free
Homepage	here
Download	Latest version here

BPC

Emulator name	BPC
Version	2.00 - unreleased
Author	Mark Cooke
Emulates
Platform	DOS (on 486 and up)
Implementation	486 assembler

Catorcio

Emulator name	Catorcio
Version	1.0
Author	Carlo Concari
Emulates
Platform	DOS
Price	US$15 (Shareware)
Supports	Keyboard input and simple output
Download	here

em6502

Horizon

Emulator name	Horizon (formerly MacBeebEm)
Version	Horizon 1.0b (Mac) Horizon 1.1 (Windows, Dec 98)
Author	Chris Lam
Emulates
Platform	Apple Macintosh and Windows
Price	Horizon is shareware (UK ú15)
Supports	, emulated cassette filing system on host disk (each file has a header). Horizon has improved speed, full screen mode, sound, speed-o-meter. (Some features are disabled in the demo.)
Implementation	Think C 6.00 on Mac. Uses DirectX on Windows.
Homepage
Download	Horizon 1.0b demo (Mac) Horizon 1.1 demo (Windows)

What's new in v1.1? 

   Horizon v1.1 includes speed capping (runs at real BBC speed), 
   improved sound emulation, 8% speed improvement and other bug fixes.

Emulator name	MAME
Author	Bryan McPhail
Emulates
Platform	MAME (cross-platform)
Homepage	here

JBeeb

Emulator name	JBeeb
Version	1.0
Author	Duncan Woods
Emulates
Platform	Java
Price	free, GPL
Supports
Homepage	here!

Emulator name	MESS
Version	0.37b8
Author	Gordon S Jefferyes
Emulates
Platform	MESS (cross-platform multi-system emulator)
Price	free
Supports
Homepage	here!
Download	(integrated in MESS as of 0.37b3)

Model-B

Emulator name	Model-B
Version	2/11/2003
Author	Tom Seddon
Emulates
Platform	Windows/DirectX
Price	free
Implementation	Microsoft VC++ 6.0, wxWindows
Homepage	here
Download	Go to Tom's page for most recent updates. A binary mirror can be found here.

Owl

Emulator name	Owl
Version	1.0
Author	Ian Stephenson (with help from Roger Walker)
Emulates
Platform	NeXTStep
Price	free
Supports	, all modes (not split), ca. 60% of all games, read-only FS
Approx. speed	50%+ Beeb on 68K, near 100% on P-120
Implementation	ANSI C
Download	Version 1.0 An early beta version (including code for the Apple ][ emulator Owl was based on)

I'm interested in hearing experiences people have with Owl - I don't have a NeXT available, so I'm unable to test it.

Pattenden's Archimedes emulator

This seems like an experimental project, but is interesting in any case.

pcBBC

Emulator name	pcBBC
Version	1.02
Authors	Stuart McConnachie
Emulates	6502, 65C02, second processor, serial and parallel ports, 1770 and 8271, sound, shadow RAM
Platform	DOS (runs in Windows 95/NT and OS/2 as well)
Price	UKP10 (shareware - free demo available)
Supports	PC and BBC keyboard layout, full screen, Sound Blaster, claimed to run all BBC games
Approx. speed	100% on a Pentium 90
Implementation	x86 assembly (using A86)
Homepage	(...and here's an alternate page.)
Download	Version 1.02 (Crippled, but free demo version) Patch to upgrade registered version 1.01 to version 1.02 (Stuart's comments.)

Most people regard this as the best BBC emulator available! The preview version exits after 10 minutes of usage, enables only one sound channel, and is limited to using 4 ROMs.

Version 1.02 of pcBBC includes the following new features:
* 800x600 SVGA video mode.  This gives a perfect BBC aspect ratio,
without having to resize your monitor, and also a much bigger screen
area
* A screen brightness control
* Native support for .DSD interleaved 80 track disk image files
* Support for the BBC keyboard link options

There are also numerous bug fixes, including:
* Writing to disks using the Watford 1.44 DFS
* More 8271 and 1770 DFSs now work - see the new README.TXT for more
details
* System T2 timer interrupts corrected (Psycastia and others fixed)
* Video interlace timing changed (Skirmish now fixed)
* Improved printer and serial support

Emulator name	Red Squirrel
Version	0.3 (26 Nov 2000)
Author	Graeme Barnes
Emulates	Archimedes A440/A5000
Platform	Win32/DirectX
Price	free
Supports	, hard disk, floppies, 16 MB RAM
Approx. speed	"about the right speed"
Homepage	here

The Emulator

Thanks to Tom Seddon for most of this information!

TOL - The Owl Lives

Emulator name	The Owl lives (TOL)
Version	unreleased - and won't be for some time
Author	Chris Rae
Emulates
Platform	UNIX (DOS/Win ports in the future?)
Implementation	C
Homepage	here

ElectrEm

Emulator name	ElectrEm
Version	beta 9 (July 7, 2001)
Author	Thomas harte
Emulates
Platform	Windows, Linux and DOS
Price	Open Source
Supports	sound, printer, joystick, UEF storage
Approx. speed	sufficient on a "mid-level Pentium"
Implementation	C
Homepage	here
Download	(go to home page)

Elkulator

Emulator name	Elkulator
Version	0.2 (Oct 12, 2002)
Author	Tom Walker
Emulates
Platform	DOS
Price	freeware
Supports	sound, tape, all graphics
Implementation	C
Homepage	here

Tom Lees' Emulator

Emulator name	none
Version	unreleased
Author	Tom Lees
Emulates
Platform	Linux?
Supports	WD1770 disk, SASI hard disk(!), more coming
Homepage	here
Download	here

The hard disk emulation is particularly exciting, and also what seems to be a very modular programming model, into which additional hardware can be emulated.

WinBee

Emulator name	WinBee
Version	unreleased
Author	Paul Bates
Emulates
Platform	Windows, Linux, BeOS
Homepage	here
Download	not yet

Xbeeb

Emulator name	Xbeeb
Version	0.4.1 (Jan 15th 2002)
Author	James Fidell Amiga port by Jonathan Belson
Emulates	, ( optional at compile time)
Platform	Any UNIX-like with ANSI C and Xlib. Ported from UNIX to Amiga, Win32, VMS and BeOS.
Price	free
Supports	emulated (disk) file system in any host directory (with index file), INF files, snapshot,
Approx. speed	130% Beeb on a VLB 486DX2 300% Beeb on a PCI Dell P90
Implementation	C (with Xlib)
Homepage	Fidell's pages Phil Ottewell's VMS port page Jonathan Belson's BeOS port page.
Download	Xbeeb 0.4.1 sources Phil Ottewell's VMS port (0.3) Robert's Xbeeb 0.3 for Win32/X (requires X client libraries for Win32 and an X server) Abeeb - the Amiga port: version 1, version 2 BeBeeb - the BeOS port: the initial release Older versions, and patches to version 0.3 sources

The Xbeeb 0.3 for Win32/X above was compiled by Robert Schmidt. It is completely unsupported by anyone. I've not been able to test Jonathan's Amiga port.

? (unnamed)

Emulator name	?
Version	unreleased
Author	Richard Broadhurst
Emulates
Platform	PC (UNIX and Mac later?)
Approx. speed	120% Beeb on a 486DX50
Implementation	ANSI C

Richard has complete 6502 emulation and most of the video emulation working. He has now ceased developing this project in C, in favour of a more general and object oriented computer architecture emulation engine in Java. Stay tuned for more news.