MAME vs XRoar

MAME is a free emulation framework intended to preserve software history by documenting and reproducing the inner components of arcade machines, computers, consoles, calculators, and other electronic amusement systems. It can emulate over 32,000 individual systems from the last five decades. Alongside emulation, it includes an interactive low-level debugger for investigating software behavior, diagnosing emulation issues, and developing software for vintage systems. Its Lua interface can inspect device state, access CPU registers, read and write memory, and draw overlays, though the API may change without notice. Plugins support uses such as external-program communication and alternate interfaces; included examples are Discord Presence and a GDB Stub. MAME can save and load states, record inputs for playback, and capture screenshots or video. It is available for Android, Linux, macOS, and Windows; official Windows binaries require Windows 10 or later. BIOS dumps and copyrighted software are generally not included. The project is distributed under GPL-2.0 overall, while more than 90% of files, including core files, are under BSD-3-Clause.

XRoar is a free emulator for Dragon, Tandy Colour Computer, Tandy MC-10, and related 8-bit systems. Supported machines include Dragon 32/64/200-E, Tandy CoCo 1/2/3, MC-10, and Matra & Hachette Alice 4K. It runs on Android, Linux, macOS, and Windows, with XRoar Online available in a browser. The emulator reads and writes cassette, floppy disk, and block-device images, and supports machine snapshots. Emulated hardware includes floppy controllers, sound cartridges, Glenside IDE, and several RAM expansions. Video options include PAL or NTSC emulation and composite video simulation, with multiple sound drivers. A GDB remote target supports interactive debugging, though 6803 debugging is not implemented. The Becker port can communicate with pyDriveWire or Drivewire 4. In the browser version, users can fetch cassette, floppy, and hard disk images from the web or upload local files, but its sandbox keeps accessed files temporarily in memory rather than working transparently with local files. Firmware ROM images are required for useful emulation, and floppy write-back is enabled by default. XRoar is GPL version 3 or later software and comes without warranty.