Retrocomputing Emulators on Your Browser

In the past I’ve been explaining how to use various emulators to run old operating systems on your Linux box; today, we’re going to use a much simpler approach: just click on a link, and run them on your browser!

Linux

• Fabrice Bellard, of QEMU, FFmpeg, Tiny C, and even Bellard’s formula fame, has created the JSLinux web-based emulator for various systems: Alpine Linux and Fedora Linux, emulating the x64 and RISC-V CPU architectures, based on his TinyEMU project.
• WebVM: Linux virtualization in WebAssembly
• Browsix: Unix in the browser tab
• Linux Puzzles (based on copy/v86: x86 PC emulator and x86-to-wasm JIT, running in the browser)

Windows

• Fabrice Bellard’s previously mentioned TinyEMU-based JSLinux project has a Windows 2000 emulation available.
• PCjs Machines offers various emulations: MS-DOS, Windows, Unix…
• Not an emulation but an impressive reconstruction from scratch: 98.js: Windows 98 Online
  • The “Paint” app is available as a standalone website: JS Paint
  • Built with OS-GUI.JS
  • A blog post about this: “Experience classic Windows versions in your browser”

Apple II

• Apple IIjs: An Apple 2 Emulator in JavaScript
• Apple //jse: An Apple //e Emulator in JavaScript
• Apple2JS
• Apple II+
• nicholasbs/appletoo: An Apple II emulator in JavaScript

Classic Mac OS & NeXTSTEP

• Infinite Mac, a collection of classic Macintosh and NeXT system releases and software. Some are accessible through their own domain name:
  • system6.app
  • system7.app
  • macos8.app
  • macos9.app
  • kanjitalk7.app
  • A blog post: “Infinite Mac: An Instant-Booting Quadra in Your Browser”
• felixrieseberg/macintosh.js: A virtual Apple Macintosh with System 8, running in Electron
• On the Internet Archive: “Early Macintosh Emulation Comes to the Archive”

Somehow I feel I should include here my own GaMMA project, but maybe not.

More

• A FreeDOS emulation by Fabrice Bellard.
• OldWeb.Today emulates the experience of ancient web browsers on Mac OS and Windows: NCSA Mosaic, Netscape, Internet Explorer, etc.
• TAWS - The Amiga Workbench Simulation provides… exactly what their name says.
• Cemetech provides online emulators for old graphing and scientific calculators, and plenty of other devices.
• Decker provides a browser-based replica of HyperCard.
• EndBASIC describes itself as “BASIC interpreter + DOS environment, reimagined.”

Update, 2025-03-07: Just found out about the CrocoDS online Amstrad CPC emulator.