Collection
All 40 emulator exhibits in broad chronological order. Search by machine, processor or chip, open each History & hardware panel, and launch the emulator.
Open the collection →Explore the museum
Choose where to begin
Browse the playable collection, follow the chronological story of personal computing, explore the calculator branch from pocket BASIC to symbolic graphing, or compare the processors and custom silicon that shaped each generation.
Chronological story
Eight eras from microprocessor boards and CP/M to the 8-bit price war, 16/32-bit graphical machines, x86 compatibility, multimedia and specialised handhelds — with important un-emulated landmarks included.
Follow the timeline →Calculator story
From HP programmable RPN and Voyager through pocket BASIC and C to Casio graphing, HP RPL, TI CAS and the Casio–TI–HP platform war.
Enter the calculator gallery →Brand histories
Follow HP, TI, Commodore, Apple, IBM, Atari, Sinclair, Acorn, Casio, Sharp, Microsoft, Tandy, Sony, NEC, Psion and other manufacturers/platforms beyond the machines that already have emulators.
Explore the manufacturers →Technology & architecture
Compare CPU families, memory models, video and sound hardware, storage, input, standards and the long transition from CISC microprocessors to ARM.
Explore the technology →Interactive learning labs
Go underneath the exhibits: build computation from transistors and logic, discover how memory stores information, then put CPU, buses, RAM, ROM and I/O together inside an interactive Apple-1 that boots the museum’s own VMA Monitor while still accepting an external 256-byte monitor ROM.
Open the learning labs →36playable exhibits
1976–2006hardware represented
8 / 16 / 32-bitmultiple architectural generations
PC · tablet · phoneone browser-native codebase
The emulator philosophy
Historical behaviour inside. Modern access outside.
The goal is not to modernise the old computer until it becomes a generic app. The browser supplies portability and file access; the emulated machine keeps its own keyboard logic, display character and software conventions.
No emulator installation
The HTML emulator can live beside ROMs, disks, cartridges and saved software in an ordinary folder. There is no platform-specific installer or app-store dependency.
Desktop and touch
Layouts are designed for PC browsers as well as tablets and smartphones, with virtual controls available when a physical keyboard or joystick is absent.
Machine-specific controls
Complete custom keyboards and original control arrangements are reproduced where practical because key legends, modifiers and input conventions are part of the architecture.
CRT, TV and LCD presentation
Aspect ratio, scaling and display simulation aim to recover how the output was actually seen, rather than presenting every historical framebuffer as a perfectly sharp modern rectangle.
What the collection makes visible
Every successful machine solved a different combination of technical and human constraints.
Some won through custom silicon, some through compatibility, price, battery life, education or a durable user interface. The exhibits therefore end on different lessons rather than treating processor speed as the single measure of progress.