Hoxs64 vs Z64K

Hoxs64 is a free Commodore 64 emulator for Microsoft Windows, written by David Horrocks. Its documentation describes cycle-exact emulation and pixel-exact VIC emulation of a C64C, without emulating the grey dot bug. A simulated 1541 floppy drive supports reading and writing, while the tape player is read-only. The emulator handles D64, G64, P64, FDI, TAP, PRG, P00, T64, and CRT files, and includes state saving, a debugger, full-screen mode, and configurable keyboard and joystick controls. Cartridge support covers Action Reply, Easy Flash, Ocean, Magic Desk, and Commodore REU 1750 options in 512K or 16MB configurations. Multiple cartridges are unsupported, and mounting one disables the REU option. Listed downloads are 32-bit and 64-bit version 1.1.2.9. Requirements include Windows 10 or 11, DirectX 11.1, the Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 runtime, 4 GB RAM, and a DirectX 11 graphics card with pixel shader 4.0. Installation requires the runtime and copying ZIP contents into one directory.

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.