Releases

Download Emu198x

Emu198x ships one binary per machine. Install the machines you want with Homebrew on macOS or Linux, or download an archive for macOS, Linux or Windows.

Release 0.44.2 notes All releases Getting started
0.44.2current release
30machines
5desktop targets
150archives in all

Install with Homebrew

If you use Homebrew, install each machine separately. The tap covers macOS on Apple silicon and Intel, and Linux on ARM64 and x86-64. Homebrew chooses the matching binary.

brew install emu198x/tap/emu198x-spectrum
emu198x-spectrum --help

Every machine below has its own install command. Firmware and games are separate; the getting started guide explains what to provide.

Every machine, every target

Every archive is listed below, for all 30 machines and all 5 targets.

macOS comes in two builds. Apple silicon leads, for an M1 or later Mac; Intel follows, for a Mac built before it. A browser cannot always tell the two apart — Safari names an Intel processor on every Mac, including Apple silicon — so both stay listed and neither is marked unless your browser reports the architecture outright. Linux also has two builds: ARM64 and x86-64. Windows has an x86-64 build. Nothing here is ever hidden: if you are fetching an archive for a different machine, it is on this page.

Check what you downloaded

Every archive in the release carries a SHA-256 sum, and one file lists them all. Each archive also ships its own .sha256 beside it on the release page. Hash the file you fetched and compare it with the line for that name:

shasum -a 256 emu198x-spectrum-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz

Run the binary

Each archive unpacks to a directory of the same name holding the binary, a README, a changelog and the licence. Unpack it and run the binary from inside:

tar -xf emu198x-spectrum-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
cd emu198x-spectrum-aarch64-apple-darwin
./emu198x-spectrum --script boot.json

On Windows the archive is a .zip; unpack it and run the .exe the same way.

The documentation reaches for cargo run because that form works straight from a source checkout. With a release archive, name the unpacked binary instead. Both take the same flags:

# From a source checkout
cargo run --release -p emu198x-nes -- \
  --rom game.nes \
  --frames 300 \
  --screenshot nes.png

# From a release archive
./emu198x-nes --rom game.nes --frames 300 --screenshot nes.png

Scripting and MCP need no special build. See scripting for the JSON session format and MCP for driving a machine from a client.

ROMs, firmware, and media

Emu198x does not ship commercial ROMs, firmware, disks, tapes, or cartridges. You provide those yourself from hardware you own or another legal source. Some machines start from a cartridge or disk image; others need a local firmware path before they can boot. The system matrix records what each one asks for.

Build from source

A source build is still the right path for development work and for changes that have not reached a release yet. The getting started guide covers the checkout.