Frodo vs Z64K

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.

Z64K emulates the Commodore 128, Commodore 64, Spectrum 48/128K, VIC 20, and Atari 2600, with pixel-exact emulation described by its maker. It runs through Java on Windows, macOS, and Linux and requires JRE 8 or later. Downloads include the main JAR, command-line files, a changelog, and a quick guide. Controls include fullscreen, clipboard text copy and paste, reset, mouse capture, and warp mode. C128 controls include switching display modes and toggling the second display; extended keys and function-key mappings are also described. The built-in debugger and SID Analyzer provide additional tools, with the analyzer offering waveform, envelope, oscillator, and combined display modes. Supported disk and tape formats include D64, D71, G64, G71, IMD, and CRT. The Virtual FS device is experimental, and its scratch command simulates deletion without removing files from the host system. Linux users might need to adjust the JAR's permissions to allow execution. Z64K is free.