There was a period (the ʼ80s) when there was not Windows. There was a period (always in the ʼ80s) in which, when you went to a computer store, you had to choose which of these to buy: not, mind you, the usual PC assembled in various shapes and colors depending of the brand, but computers completely different. It was the era of Commodore 64, Apple II, MSX, ZX Spectrum and all those 8/16bit computers that had made the computer history of those years (if you want to get a better idea of how many computers exist, try to visit old-computers.com and oldcomputers.net).

And now? Of all these beautiful computers, we have only some vague memories. All afternoons spent playing Manic Miner and Pitfall 2, Basic listings typed with infinite patience, cursed tapes ruined by too much use…

All over? Are you really sure?

Turn the page and back for a moment to the present, introducing the term emulator. Today’s computers, as you know, are very powerful so, over the years, some programmers have recreated all the computers mentioned above with special programs¹; they emulated them, thus allowing our PC’s to transform for example in a ZX Spectrum all the time in which the emulator is running. My site is therefore dedicated to emulators, in the hope that these ‘little gems’ won’t be forgotten.

However, for those who do not really want to know how to use an emulator, there are various frontends.

Instead, if you are interested in FPGA devices such as MIST and Mistica, you can visit the FPGAs section to download firmware and core binaries.

If you want to extend the use of an old computer (or a device) visit the Library, which provides manuals and tutorials (a research on the Internet is always recommended).

If you want to see some old computers (and eventually ‘touch’ them) visit the Events section, which includes inside the main ones.

If you want to play your favorite games online, you can visit the Online Retro Games section.

If you are looking for some informations about the world of retrogaming/retrocomputing, visit the RetroFAQs and the Interviews sections.

For those of you who finally want to contact other fans of the genre for help, discussions and more, there is the Links section.

Have Fun!

Vincenzo Scarpa

¹ Called emulators. (↑)