EmulationMachines Within Machines

A flight emulation program

A GameBoy Advance emulator running on an iPod Nano

An Emulator? . . .

What's That!?“Emulation” is copying or imitating another person or object. “Monkey see, monkey do.”

A monkey emulating a woman.

Emulation in technology often means to emulate another piece of hardware through the usage of software.

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Emulators inTechnology

The internals of separate pieces of hardware are very different.An emulator'sjob is to know howthe hardware on another system functions, then emulate it through code written by an “emuwriter”--an author of emulator code.

← An “emuwriter” who is currently assisting in producing an emulator that simulates the Xbox gaming console.

The internal workings of a Nintendo Wii console

The internal workings of a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console.

TechnicalitiesWhat Makes Emulation So Difficult?

Electronic hardware is more different than one may think.Example: Screens show a certain amount of pictures or “snap shots” within one second (FPS - “Frames per Second”). However, this number varies from system to system.

Video game consoles in what is called the “NTSC” region run games taking 30 “screen shots” per second.Video game consoles in what is called the “PAL” region run video games taking 25 “screen shots” per second.

PAL, NTSC, and SECAM Regions

The system, such as a PC, may take many more screen shots per second than the original system, so the emuwriter must code the emulator so that it is able to display images at a completely different rate than the computer is designed to, whether it be 25 frames per second for PAL, or 30 for NTSC.

What Else Goes Into an Emulator?

Many other factors go into a properly functioning emulator.Example: The graphicsdisplayed on screen go through a multi-step process inorder to be displayedproperly.

The process in which less complex “two-dimensional” images are displayed within an emulator

What Else Can Emulators Do?

Emulators can not only almost perfectly emulate other hardware but sometimes enhance or add features to the experience.While it's hard to make an emulator run at 100% speed, some well-developed and advanced emulators can run at speeds many times the original speed.

COOL!Anything Else?

Depending on the emulator, you can change many other aspects of the system being emulated.Another example is changing how the display of the emulated system looks (the graphics).

An emulator running a game with default settingsAn emulator running the same game a “shader” enabled

Emulation in theEducation / Business World

●Emulation is used for many more purposes than entertainment.

●Example: If an operating system needs to use a program only available for a separate system, one can emulate it.

●Example: There are aircraft piloting emulators available to help train pilots for the real world.

A pilot-in-training using an aircraft emulatorWindows XP emulating Mac OS X 10.3 under “PearPC.”

Images:http://www.flickr.com/photos/http://www.flyit.com/component/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/http://www.libgames.blogspot.com/http://www.todoxbox360.com/http://forums.ngemu.com/http://img55.imageshack.us/http://www.youtube.com/