Fellow is an emulator designed to run software written for the Amiga computer platform. Released under the GNU General Public License, [1] Fellow is free software.
Fellow was released shortly after the first usable release of the Unix Amiga Emulator (UAE). The competition between the two projects proved to be mutually beneficial. Originally, Fellow ran under DOS, but was ported to Microsoft Windows (WinFellow) and Linux (XFellow.) Development on WinFellow ceased in 2005, but was revived with a new release in 2010 to improve compatibility with Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Development on XFellow has apparently halted after a release in 2003 (based on timestamps inside the archive). [2]
According to its author, Petter Schau, one of the main objectives in writing Fellow was to create an Amiga emulator that could run demos from the 1980s Amiga demoscene at full speed. [3] Schau believed that Fellow and UAE belonged to a class of first-generation Amiga emulators, and that more accurate, full-speed emulators would be available in the future. As computing power increased, full-speed performance became achievable. [4] Once more powerful computers were available, UAE became preferable due to its more accurate emulation, whereas Fellow remains popular for older hardware. [5] [6]
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 16/32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphics and audio compared to previous 8-bit systems. These systems include the Atari ST—released earlier the same year—as well as the Macintosh and Acorn Archimedes. Based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, the Amiga differs from its contemporaries through the inclusion of custom hardware to accelerate graphics and sound, including sprites and a blitter, and a pre-emptive multitasking operating system called AmigaOS.
UAE is a computer emulator which emulates the hardware of Commodore International's Amiga range of computers. Released under the GNU General Public License, UAE is free software.
Chip RAM is a commonly used term for the integrated RAM used in Commodore's line of Amiga computers. Chip RAM is shared between the central processing unit (CPU) and the Amiga's dedicated chipset. It was also, rather misleadingly, known as "graphics RAM".
MAME is a free and open-source emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. Its intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. It does this by emulating the inner workings of the emulated arcade machines; the ability to actually play the games is considered "a nice side effect". Joystiq has listed MAME as an application that every Windows and Mac gamer should have.
In-circuit emulation (ICE) is the use of a hardware device or in-circuit emulator used to debug the software of an embedded system. It operates by using a processor with the additional ability to support debugging operations, as well as to carry out the main function of the system. Particularly for older systems, with limited processors, this usually involved replacing the processor temporarily with a hardware emulator: a more powerful although more expensive version. It was historically in the form of bond-out processor which has many internal signals brought out for the purpose of debugging. These signals provide information about the state of the processor.
DOSBox is a free and open-source emulator which runs software for MS-DOS compatible disk operating systems—primarily video games. It was first released in 2002, when DOS technology was becoming obsolete. Its adoption for running DOS games is widespread, with it being used in commercial re-releases of those games as well.
Basilisk II is an emulator which emulates Apple Macintosh computers based on the Motorola 68000 series. The software is cross-platform and can be used on a variety of operating systems.
The C-One is a single-board computer (SBC) created in 2002 as an enhanced version of the Commodore 64, a home computer popular in the 1980s. Designed by Jeri Ellsworth and Jens Schönfeld from Individual Computers, who manufactured the boards themselves, the C-One has been re-engineered to allow cloning of other 8-bit computers.
QEMU is a free and open-source emulator. It emulates a computer's processor through dynamic binary translation and provides a set of different hardware and device models for the machine, enabling it to run a variety of guest operating systems. It can interoperate with Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) to run virtual machines at near-native speed. QEMU can also do emulation for user-level processes, allowing applications compiled for one architecture to run on another.
A Macintosh clone is a computer running the Mac OS operating system that was not produced by Apple Inc. The earliest Mac clones were based on emulators and reverse-engineered Macintosh ROMs. During Apple's short lived Mac OS 7 licensing program, authorized Mac clone makers were able to either purchase 100% compatible motherboards or build their own hardware using licensed Mac reference designs.
Virtual DOS machines (VDM) refer to a technology that allows running 16-bit/32-bit DOS and 16-bit Windows programs when there is already another operating system running and controlling the hardware.
Amiga emulation refers to the activity of emulating a Commodore Amiga computer system using another computer platform. Most emulators run on modern systems such as Microsoft Windows or Macintosh. This allows Amiga users to use their existing software, and in some cases hardware, on modern computers.
The Amiga computer can be used to emulate several other computer platforms, including legacy platforms such as the Commodore 64, and its contemporary rivals such as the IBM PC and the Macintosh.
Hatari is an open-source emulator of the Atari ST 16/32-bit computer system family. It emulates the Atari ST, Atari STe, Atari TT, and Atari Falcon computer series and some corresponding peripheral hardware like joysticks, mouse, midi, printer, serial and floppy and hard disks. It supports more graphics modes than the ST and does not require an original TOS image as it supports EmuTOS. The latest version has no reported issues with the ST/STe/TT applications emulation compatibility and also most of the ST/STe games and demos work without issues.
AmiKit is a compilation of 425 pre-installed and pre-configured Amiga program running on Windows, macOS, Linux computer, and on Amiga computer with Vampire V2 card.
AROS Research Operating System is a free and open-source multi media centric implementation of the AmigaOS 3.1 application programming interface (API). Designed to be portable and flexible. As of 2021, ports are available for personal computers (PCs) based on x86 and PowerPC, in native and hosted flavors, with other architectures in development. In a show of full circle development, AROS has been ported to the Motorola 68000 series (m68k) based Amiga 1200, and there is also an ARM port for the Raspberry Pi series.
MagiC is a third party and now open-sourced multitasking-capable TOS-compatible operating system for Atari computers, including some newer clone systems manufactured later. There are also variants that run as part of Mac and PC emulation environments, as well as on macOS Intel-Mac computers.
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system to behave like another computer system. An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use peripheral devices designed for the guest system. Emulation refers to the ability of a computer program in an electronic device to emulate another program or device.
Amiga Forever is an Amiga preservation, emulation and support package published by Cloanto, which allows Amiga software to run on non-Amiga hardware legally and without complex configuration.
Being able to run those old demos is reason enough to emulate the Amiga.
Considering even maximum use of CPU and custom chip resources, a GHz-class PC makes it possible to run an Amiga 1000 in real time, whereby the custom chips run in real time (as required), and the emulated CPU may run faster (if so desired).
Fellow is faster than UAE since it has been written in Assembler. It is also worth mentioning that some games work in Fellow that do not work in UAE.
WinFellow is an alternative emulator, especially suitable for older PCs.
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