There's a new emulator for us to play with! QDAE, a multi-platform Quick and Dirty Apricot Emulator, emulates the Apricot F1, Xi, and Portable, as well as the Wang Professional Computer. The current version, 0.0.8, supports emulation of the 8086 processor, the infrared keyboard and mouse, the screen, floppy drives, up to two hard drives (why are they called Winchester disks?), and the support chipset. Be warned, however, that it is very early in development, and may not work well -- if at all. You can download the source from the QDAE homepage, or grab a binary from Jerome Vernet's Apricot F1 website (the binary is for the older version 0.0.6, at the time of writing).

Previous brings NeXT computer emulation to the Mac, with the 0.3 version released in late January. This update brings partial read compatibility to SCSI disks, but apparently breaks the MMU emulation. Head over to the Previous website to learn more about the emulator or to get a download link.

Commodore 64 emulator micro64 has been updated to version 1.00.2012.01.13 Build 665. I believe this is the first time we've written about micro64, so here's a quick summary of its goals and functions. The developers want micro64 to become the most accurate Commodore 64 emulator available. Development is still in the early pre-alpha stages, with plans for a big GUI overhaul soon. Check out the micro64 website for more information.

Continue reading for more emulator updates, including MAME's 15th anniverary edition, commercial Sinclair QL emulation, Virtual ]['s return, and more.

The Infamous Adventures Space Quest 2 remake is now also available for OS X. Go get it for your dose of silly space opera.

Apple II, II+, and //e emulator Virtual ][ has been updated to version 6.4.1. This version fixes an issue that caused double-clicking a disk in Finder to not work. Version 6.4 dropped support for PowerPC processors, and upped the minimum requirement to Mac OS X 10.6. Hit up the Virtual ][ website for more information and a link to the evaluation version.

MSX emulator openMSX has picked up its first update in a year with the release of version 0.8.2. A lengthy change log belies the apparent insignificance of the update, which is mostly bug fixes. See the Release Notes here, or learn more about the emulator at the openMSX website.

Boxer, a DOSBox-powered MS-DOS emulator, has been updated to version 1.2.1. This update eliminates screen-tearing problems, fixes a number of issues relating to GOG.com games, updates Joypad (an iOS app) integration, and more. The full list is on the Boxer Release Notes RSS. Get it at the official Boxer website.

Arcade emulator MAME has been updated to version 0.145 just in time to celebrate its 15th anniversary. Click here to see what's new. As always, you can download source code directly from the MAME website, or grab a precompiled binary (OS X 10.6 or later) from the SDLMAME site (at the time of writing, a 0.145 SDLMAME binary is not yet available).

Q-emuLator, a commercial Sinclair QL emulator, has been updated to version 1.1. Changes include "major tweaks to precise QL speed emulation," emulation of the Aurora and Q60 video cards, a TCP/IP driver, and several bug fixes. See here for the full list. You can purchase a licence via the official Q-emuLator website.

Paul C. Pratt released two new development source snapshots in January for Classic Mac emulator Mini vMac. The first added advisory locking to the Linux version while the second implemented LocalTalk networking support courtesy of Mike Fort's Mini vMac LT Beta. You will have to compile the snapshots, which can be found here, yourself, or wait for the next official build.

The developers of JPCSP, a Java-based PSP emulator, have kindly provided binaries for the latest development snapshot. This build introduces a software graphics mode and fixes several font issues. Get it from the official JPCSP website.

Dolphin, a Nintendo Wii and Gamecube emulator, is under active development, and each change to the source is being offered in an updated build. Keep a close eye on the Dolphin Download page for updates. You can learn more about the emulator, or find a stable build, at the official Dolphin Emulator website.

Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon emulator Hatari has been updated to version 1.6.1. A bug that caused monochrome mode to not work is now fixed, along with several UI issues. A couple of timing-related issues have also been taken care of. See the Hatari news page for the change log, or drop by the main Hatari website for more information.

Graphic-adventure game interpreter ScummVM has been updated to version 1.4.1. This release adds support for the enhanced soundtrack to Beneath a Steel Sky, fixes a crash in the VGA version of Quest for Glory, and more. See the release notes for the full list. You can download a binary from the ScummVM downloads page. (If you'd like to learn about the history of ScummVM, read my history of the project on Ars Technica.)

Atari 2600 VCS emulator Stella has reached version 3.5.5. This release breaks compatibility with old state files. Other changes include an update to the internal ROM properties database, numerous bug fixes, an improved debugger, and reworking of mouse mapping options. See the Stella news page for the full list. As always, you can download stable builds or source code from the Stella downloads page.

Multi-system emulator MESS has reached version 0.145. See here for a list of changes. SDLMESS builds are back in action, thanks to the efforts of SDLMAME maintainer r0ni. The only available build at the time of writing is for version 0.144, however.

MAME and MESS front-end QMC2 has been updated to version 0.35. A significant update, this one includes a major overhaul of the software list, changes MESS device configuration, adds a MESS wiki option, adds ZIP support for software-snapshots, brings new logos, and more. See this post for more details, or download it at the QMC2 website.

In news we missed last month, Virtual Jaguar version 2.0.2 has been released. The official line is that this update "fixed some stuff that broke on the last release, and improved a few things." But hidden in the murky depths of the WHATSNEW file is a change log that includes cosmetic GUI fixes, a switch to UAE 68000 CPU core, improved OP logging, and a few other bug fixes. Get it from the Virtual Jaguar website.

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