Frodo vs VICE

Frodo is a free, portable Commodore 64 emulator for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It focuses on reproducing special graphical effects from the C64 and supports disk and tape software, many game cartridges, and formats including D64, G64, T64, TAP, X64, and LYNX. It offers a cycle-exact regular mode and Frodo Lite, a less compatible version intended to run better on slower machines. The official site lists V4.5, which adds Datasette TAP emulation and support for banked cartridges including Ocean, Fun Play, Power Play, Super Games, and Simons' BASIC. TAP emulation is unavailable in Frodo Lite. V4.5 can auto-start disk and tape images, cartridges, and C64 BASIC program files from the command line. Frodo can detect connected controllers for C64 joystick ports and map additional buttons to C64 keys. Display settings include windowed or fullscreen mode and an initial window size. The V4.5 snapshot format changed, so it cannot read snapshots from earlier versions. Frodo is listed under GPL-2.0.

VICE runs programs made for classic Commodore 8-bit computers by emulating eight systems: C64, C64DTV, C128, VIC20, PET, PLUS4, SCPU64 and CBM-II. It aims for cycle-accurate operation, with 6502/6510 emulation covering documented and undocumented opcodes and precise timing. For C64 software, its emulators reproduce VIC-II video and SID sound, including synchronization, ring modulation and filters. Disk support covers up to four external drives, using disk images, filesystem directories or compatible real devices; joystick input can come from a keyboard or a host-connected joystick. VICE is available on Android, Linux, macOS and Windows, and is free software under GNU GPL version 2 or later. The download page lists Windows builds and macOS builds for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs; the latter require macOS 12.0 or later. Android binaries are listed separately. The manual warns that six systems—the C64DTV, C128, PET, PLUS4, SCPU64 and CBM-II—remain under construction and may be less capable than the C64 or VIC20 emulators.