That's right. Emulating is not the same as the real thing. Even if we could reach a perfect level of emulation it will never have the same look-and-feel such as bothering background noises which years ago we wanted to get rid off and an LCD monitor can't give us the same warmth as an old CRT could.
Points go to
- the lack of space
- the lack of time, sure because it can be a hobby but in the end nostalgia carries the need to see it working and it doesn't mean it's merely a pastime
- curiosity for software or hardware from the past that we never saw operating
- emulating complex systems such as DOS, not because it was complex itself but rather because its last spreads through decades of system modification and upgradable hardware making the range of possibilities practically infinite, is not easy.

In the end it's thanks to emulation that I could play with my long-standing friend we could play a game older than 20 years ago and have a good time with it.
Emulation of DOS software requires a minimum knowledge of what you're trying to make work to tune the emulator to "understand" how to make that software work as correctly as possible to play it.
Perhaps one day "they" will start producing new old mini computers of 286 class, or maybe not.
But, concluding, emulation lies in the bottom of humanity because we learn through emulation: Emulation of parents, friends, actors, pop-stars behaviours, not meaning it's all good but that's all of us does somehow.

I need to learn how to quote on this site, But I definitely agree. Build the computers for me is at least have the fun! working with the hardware, trying different hardware, seeing what works and dosn't, That to me is the cool part. I also enjoy looking for the parts, searching flea markets ect. It's a fun way to pass the time. as phreakindee once said: "you can emulate the games, but you really cannot emulate the feel of the system." So go and play the games, The games may play properly, but you've only got half the equation there.

Life is short, there are a lot of games to play, and for some people actually playing the games is substantially more fun than mucking about in flea markets for hardware that may or may not work.

That is why people emulate.

I and my buddy used to spend insane amount of time bashing each other in my actual Sega Genesis' Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition. That was during our high school days. Now we're both working - I'm still working in our hometown, while he's away working in another city. But thanks to K-fusion (Genesis/Master System/SegaCD/GameGear emulator) and with it's built in netplay, we still bash each other like the good old days, using the same SF2:SCE rom! We may not be playing using the actual machine, but we extremely enjoy the experience, just like those days (even after he's a father of 3 now)!

Those of us who enjoy emulators here, do have actual machines here. I myself have 4 machines in my room, which I keep tinkering. I do actually keep my 486DX2-66 and play with my connected MT-32. It does have an authentic AWE32 with added 2 30-pin SIMMs amounting to 28MB usable RAM for AWE soundbanks.

But, we ALSO enjoy as much with emulators! They are as fun to tinker with. The convenience of emulating multiple machines with my notebook or desktop is a big plus. I have a big screen TV which is connected to my system built from ground-up for emulating purposes.

It's very interesting to just see how they all work, without the hassle of buying individual parts. Without Amiga Forever, I would have choked my room full of Amigas!! And you can change the kickstart and even the OCS, ECS or AGA "chipset" on the fly!

The ability to use plug-ins like graphics plugins and controller plugins etc., is very adventurous. ePSXe emulator for playing Playstaion CDs is very nice. I have saved my actual PSX CDs and saved as cue/bin on my notebook. I can play Tekken3 or Tales of Destiny anywhere now! And this helps me to have so many cd images in my hard drive and "change cd" from my collection of tens of tens... heheh..

Most people are put off when using emulators since they are not for the faint-hearted. It requires patience, a sense of adventure, a curiosity to see how the machines work, and a great interest in using them.

Thanks to emulation, I could see what a MT32 and a GUS are like. I never had a chance to have these cards. And thanks to emulation I got affinity with older Macs when remembering school days and even ended up getting a second hand one. Not to mention I was able to continue playing atari 2600 and NES games after mine broke down (and discovered lots of others as well).

and for the people who justm wan to play the games, let them. Emulators have a purpose, and they do it as well as they sohuld. Emulating old harware so people without the reasourses to use real hardware can still enjoy great games. Even though i Get sick to my stomach everytime i hear "netbook" and "emmulation", I can still exept that emulators are a good thing, they let people play these games in a more conveinent way than using an old desk top, keyboard, mouse ect. So for those reasons i can understand it. BUT I won't ever agree that emmulation is better than playing games on a real system. More convienent, easier, more cost efficient mabye but never better. They may be good but never as good.

BUT I won't ever agree that emmulation is better than playing games on a real system.

Who says that?

Well I'd say RealSound is likely "better" depending on your tastes. There are likely other areas too where things are "better".

Emulation has it's strengths and weaknesses.
Real hardware has it's strengths and weaknesses.
Can't we all just get along? 🙁

Emulators rule get used to it! 😁

DosFreak wrote:

Well I'd say RealSound is likely "better" depending on your tastes. There are likely other areas too where things are "better". […]
Show full quote

Well I'd say RealSound is likely "better" depending on your tastes. There are likely other areas too where things are "better".

Emulation has it's strengths and weaknesses.
Real hardware has it's strengths and weaknesses.
Can't we all just get along? 🙁

Exactly this. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, it's just a matter of choice. There isn't a "better" way, just one way or another way and the choice solely depends on your own taste, so to say

It's all down to preference,

actually if not Emulators the best alternative is FPGA or programmable hardware not having dozens of power hungry game consoles and vintage computers under one roof unless you are super rich and have a mansion with a room solely dedicated to each console or system so it doesn't become a fire hazard. Just FYI

PunkMaister wrote:

actually if not Emulators the best alternative is FPGA or programmable hardware

As far as consumer-level consoles and computers go, at this point that technology is still so new that I suspect software emulation will remain preferable for some time.

PunkMaister wrote:

actually if not Emulators the best alternative is FPGA or programmable hardware not having dozens of power hungry game consoles and vintage computers under one roof unless you are super rich and have a mansion with a room solely dedicated to each console or system so it doesn't become a fire hazard. Just FYI

I'm not super rich, I found most of my stuff while dumpsterdiving.
I'm not sure what you mean by having each console or computer in a different room though.
Old computers aren't more power hungry then your typical octo-core with quad-sli, nor are they susceptible to catching fire.

Actually, your new computer might as well catch fire while you're playing your emulator. Sounds silly? It should 😜
Just FYI 😉

-edit- double post....duh!

I am one of those here who's extremely into building retro rigs and collecting old hardware. I've got nearly everything I've ever wanted to build from my period of interest, i.e 1995 onwards. And I don't just collect parts for benchmarking, I actually build them into full on heavy ol’ rigs and run period software and games on them- that's my idea of playing with old stuff.

Having said that and despite my passion, we can't rely on old hardware to be around forever. Also, very few have the desire, patience or means to mess around with piles of old stuff (some say junk). If you ask me, it's more of a pain to build old rigs and mess around with old OS'es than emulate something on your modern Win 7 netbook. Very few care about whether the experience is "authentic" - it's the game that counts.

It’s not necessarily cheap either. Not if you’re actually building the good stuff. Try getting an Asus P3BF, Powerleap Tualeron 1.4ghz, Voodoo 5500, 150mhz CAS 2 ram, Promise raid 0 card, AWE64 Gold + ram add-on and a period correct Enlight/ Lian Li to go with it. Or a dual PPro, Voodoo 2 SLI rig with SCSI. I could go on.

I could slap together 20 rigs if I didn’t care about what’s in them but what’s the point of an old retro rig if it doesn’t evoke some emotion??? It’s not a competition about building the cheapest rig. Hell, I’ve brought home many an MMX, P2, P3 and P4s for free – how’s that for cheap?

Factor in what your time is worth, gas, etc and suddenly looking for that $2 buck bargain is not such a bargain anymore. I know that whatever I’ve built so far is gonna be the last of it- one because such parts will get harder and harder to obtain over time and 2 because this is a real pain in the ass.

Emulation helps people play the classics through the passage of time and immeasurable hardware/ software changes. That is a glorious mission and one that has been most successful, and the only RIGHT direction.

The hardware side of it is just a sideshow. Most of us are either benchmarkers, fulfilling some long-held desire to own a piece of hardware or otherwise just messing around. We've been lucky that we have the time and space to afford such extravagance- so let’s not be elitist here. Without the “emulators” we would not even have this site.

Emulators like WinUAE even have the "floppy drive sound" emulation - the noise that floppy drives used to make when reading/writing. For those who are nostalgic. I don't use it, but it's there for those who are fond of, or missed it. 😉

A person may not want to use 2 machines.
Alternatively, DOSboxing win31 can be a workaround since WINE is a PITA.

If I could emulate certain Win9x games flawlessly, with full functionality (not just best possible graphics, but EAX and/or A3D enabled, too), then I would. More games on one computer!

Problem is, I can't, so I'd have no choice but to keep a Win98SE box around for a few titles that absolutely refuse to run even in 2000/XP, let alone Vista/Win7 64-bit.

Simply put, current VM software sucks for Win9x gaming. VMware oddly doesn't support 16-bit color with the guest enhancements, though it does work with 32-bit color. (This isn't usually a problem, but Terracide insists on 16-bit color, so I can't even run the game.) VirtualBox is stuck on 16 colors. Neither supports hardware-accelerated sound. Oh, and I'm pretty sure that neither of them properly accelerate Direct3D 7 or earlier, either, which makes matters worse.

As for DOSBox, it generally covers that end well, though some games probably won't sound their best without specific models of sound cards.

Only problem is, I get enough complaints in this house that I've got too many computers, and I only have two desktops! (Win7 64-bit flagship for new games, and a WinXP-era system as a backup that is still too new for the likes of 98SE.)