Database Info

Playing Flash Content on the Pocket PC - the Roundup

Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash is very commonly used on the Web. There’re a lot of, for example, games utilizing this format. Actually, you can't even use a lot of sites without built-in Flash support. In addition, as Flash content can be very nice to play with (for example, there’re a lot of cool Flash games also running on the Pocket PC - you will definitely want to check out the Games section over at, for example, KillSomeTime.com, Arcade Pod and Flash Magazine (the latter is more of a news portal) to see what Flash is capable of, leisure-wise), I’ve decided to write a fully-fledged review and tutorial of everything Flash-related.
Please note that I not only scrutinize the existing solutions, but also publish never-before-published tweaks for greatly enhancing the usability of one of the players, Bryht, particularly on WM5 devices.
1. Flash-capable players
1.1 The Macromedia (Adobe) Flash Plug-in
The free Macromedia (Adobe) Flash Plug-in, apart from a one-week period of becoming commercial, has always been the best choice for playing Flash contents on Pocket PC’s. It’s by far the most compatible and fastest player on our PDA’s and, with third-party add-on tools (which will later be introduced), it’s also the most versatile and usable one. It’s definitely better than either the built-in Flash support in NetFront or early Flash players like PocketSpark (see later).
1.1.1 Getting it
There have been several Macromedia Flash plug-in versions for the Pocket PC, of which version 7, released early April 2006, is the most up-to-date and, therefore, recommended. You will want to download this version unless you have a pre-WM2003 device. Also note that, much as some (very few) Pocket PC’s (their list can be found here) have been shipped with the plug-in in the ROM, they’re all version 6 at most and, therefore, may be needed to be upgraded to version 7 (make sure you only try to do the upgrade if the device has at least WM2003 - the Toshiba Genio series is Pocket PC 2002 only and, therefore, can’t run version 7 of the plug-in).
There aren’t many differences between version 7 and version 6 - it’s with very few of the available Flash animations (for example, Heli Attack 3) that don’t work under version 6. Version 7 will be a must for WM5 users, however - it has much better WM5 compliance/stability than version 6, which worked quite unreliably under WM5.
This application, contrary to the popular belief, can and will be installed to non-built-in storage; that is, for example, a storage card - as with all the previous versions.
Note that if you have a Pocket PC 2002 device, download version 6 instead (version 7 is no longer PPC2k2-compliant). Alternate download here; the CAB file itself can be found here.
If you have a Pocket PC 2000 MIPS/SH3 device, download version 4/5 linked from this or this page (I’ve also made them available here in one RAR file. The MIPS CAB file can be found here). I really recommend the user comments in the latter page. It is in French; therefore, if you don’t speak the language, make Babelfish translate it.
I’d like to thank torgamm at PocketPCFreeware, akheron at AximSite and dlangton at PPCT for helping me to find the PPC2k-compliant plug-in versions.
1.1.2 Macromedia Flash plug-in and PPC Web browser compliance
Note that, regardless of the version, the Macromedia plug-in can only be used with the built-in Pocket Internet Explorer / Internet Explorer Mobile to access online Flash content. Other Pocket PC web browsers, except for NetFront and its (compared to the Macromedia Flash plug-in, pretty inferior) built-in Flash support, do not support Flash and all. This means you won’t be able to play any Flash animations in Opera 8.5 beta 2, Opera Mini, Minimo (also see this explanation of the lack of Flash support in Minimo from the author of Minimo himself) and Thunderhawk.
1.2 Flash player applications not depending on the MacroMedia plug-in
In addition to the MacroMedia plug-in, there are three completely independent applications to render Flash contents.
1.2.1 PocketSpark beta2 by Conduits
This free player is, unfortunately, almost useless - it’s really old (year 2000) and isn’t compatible with almost anything. Not recommended at all.
(Also see this (for info on other players too) and this threads.)
1.2.2 NetFront 3.2
NetFront is a well-known alternate browser. Unfortunately, version 3.2 - the most up-to-date version to have Flash support - is pretty inferior to the currently available version 3.3 previews. The latter don’t have Flash support as yet; so, you’ll need to stick to NetFront 3.2. This may be pretty problematic, particularly on WM5 devices because NetFront 3.2 isn’t WM5-compliant. What is more, its WM2003SE VGA support is pretty bad too.
Its built-in Flash player isn’t as good as that of the Macromedia plug-in. Much as it has some strengths over it (it’s able to play local contents without additional tools or HTML hacking), it’s definitely slower, less compatible and supports external/on-screen keyboards far worse.
1.2.3 Beta Macromedia Flash
This is also a free player and is pretty good. It supports the operating system Landscape mode flawlessly (unlike, say, FlashAssist), which is very good news for WM2003SE+ users. Also, it is compatible with the native VGA mode. While it's only using low resolution in the standard SE VGA mode, with forcing, it can be made use the high resolution even there. Also, it centers the animation in the middle of the screen. Also, it's very easy to install - you just copy the main executable EXE file to anywhere on your Pocket PC, reassociate the .swf file extension to it and, after that, clicking a .swf file will automatically invoke the player. Also, it has the standard Flash context menu-based 100% zoom-in capabilities and you can scroll (drag) the Flash window in this mode like, say, Bryht and PflashP.
It also has problems: there are no button assignment capabilities; you can't change the built-in Macromedia 6 plug-in to anything else (to version 7 - again, as very few Flash animations require Flash 7, this isn't that big a problem; the probable incompatibility with WM5 may be a bigger one).
If these aren't a problem, however, you will really want to give it a try, especially if you have a WM2003SE device (where the Macromedia 6 incompatibilities aren't a problem and there's Landscape support built into the operating system, making Bryht less necessary).
A mini-tutorial on making it work: download the installer from the above page; execute it (you can safely cancel the setup when the execution is transferred to the well-known ActiveSync dialog to avoid anything useless - the installer has a lot of useless demos and similar stuff in addition to the executable file of the player itself - to be installed on your Pocket PC; you can also do the installation while no PDA is connected to your desktop computer. Then, next time you cradle your PDA, you will only need to cancel the auto-installation.
Now, go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync\App\ and step into Tutorials.CAB. (If you have Total Commander on your desktop Windows computer, just press Enter while the cursor is on the CAB file.) Extract TUTORI~2.001 from the CAB file (with Total Commander, just Copy (F5) to a directory) and rename it to have an .exe extension. The name can be anything - it's the extension that counts. Now, transfer it to anywhere on your PDA and make sure you associate the .swf file extension to the application.
A big thanks goes to dlangton in the PPCT forums for pointing me towards this hidden gem!
2. Saving and Playing Local (offline) Flash Files
Flash is pretty similar to, say, Java applets and, most importantly, Java midlets (the mainstream form of distributing mostly games for "dumb" mobile phones and, in cases, even Symbian smartphones) in that they can be executed both remotely (in a Web page) and locally (without having to have an active Internet connection), after you’ve downloaded them onto your PDA (of course, midlets are downloaded only once - so, no re-download will occur. Applets will be fetched again and again if they can’t be found in the local browser cache). This means that you can save Flash applications onto your PDA and, then, just use/play them when you want to even if you don’t have any kind of Internet connection. It’s much easier than initiating an Internet connection, revisiting the given Web page and playing the game from there.
By itself, the Macromedia plug-in is unable to run local Flash files (while the independent NetFront and PocketSpark can). There’re several solutions to this problem: either creating a local HTML stub referring to the downloaded Flash (.SWF) file, which you can just click on to be invoked by Pocket Internet Explorer / Internet Explorer Mobile or use third-party tools to run them. The latter can have additional advantages (for example, the really useful keymapping and full-screen modes without using full-screen PIE plug-ins under pre-WM5 operating system), while the former is free.
First, however, let’s take a look at how you can save Flash content to be reused later without having to connect to the Net. By default, saving Flash content is not supported by most browsers.
2.1 Finding and Saving Flash Animations for Offline Use
To save Flash animations onto your desktop computer (and, then, transferring them to your PDA) without installing third-party applications, do the following. If you’re using Internet Explorer on your Windows XP desktop, you can just go to c:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\ and do a generic search for *.swf files. Use for example Total Commander for this; in it, while staying in the c:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\ directory, press Alt-F7 and enter *.swf in the Search for: text input field as can be seen in this screenshot.
Also, you can refine your search (if there’re a lot of hits) by clicking the Advanced tab, and, after enabling it, filling for example "2 minutes" in the "Not older than" text input field as can be seen in here.
The situation is the same with all browsers that use some kind of cache in the file system: you’ll surely find *.swf files in the cache. As far as alternate (non-Internet Explorer) desktop browsers are concerned, there is some information on saving Flash animations from Firefox here. Note that as long as the given browser has a cache with readable contents (and does support Flash - that is, it’ll download Flash animations), you’ll be able to find SWF files in there. That is, you can save Flash stuff under even the rarest, but Flash-capable browsers too. This also stands for looking around in the cache of, say, Pocket Internet Explorer on the Pocket PC itself. You may want to see for example the article Downloading binary files off the Web on the Pocket PC - tips and tricks (alternatives: PPCT, AximSite, PPC Magazine, FirstLoox, BrightHand) for more information on doing this on the PDA.
If you still find all this far too awkward, you can give a try to third-party applications; for example, the now-free Flash Catcher 2.6 by justDo Software, which integrates quite seamlessly into the desktop Internet Explorer and offers a simple way of saving your favorite Flash animations with a mere mouse click (see this and this screenshots on how saving can be activated). Note that it won’t be able to save some Flash animations (with them, just looking into the browser cache and searching for new SWF files manually will suffice) and may leave its old icons on the screen. You will only be able to get rid of them by shutting down and, then, restarting all Internet Explorer instances.
There’re several other solutions as well, but, in general, I’ve found Flash Catcher the best (and, after all, it’s free), not taking into account the problems outlined above. For example, I’ve never managed to make Save Flash 3.0 by Pilot Group (15-day trial) work. I haven't even been able to set it up properly because it has a homepage in really- really bad English I could not understand with the images all missing.
2.2 Creating HTML stubs
Generally, you don’t need to have any commercial third-party tools to execute local, offline Flash files on your PDA with your Macromedia plug-in. The following HTML file, put in the same directory as the SWF to be played, will suffice:
Please note that, due to the restrictions of the forum engine, I had to put the code snippet on an external server. It can be found here .
where change "Gold-Miner.swf" to the SWF file you want to invoke and the width/ height properties to the preferred size of the file (it’ll, however, be overridden by the system, so, there’s no need to be precise. In most cases, you can leave it at that).
Note that this HTML file will work in the desktop Internet Explorer too. You, then, can even remove the width/ height properties and the html/body opening/closing tags. Remember, however, that these should never be removed from the Pocket PC version.
Note that the HTML stubs other sources recommend (see for example this and this threads) are far more complicated than mine. This is not needed - if you use my stubs to link in SWF files, everything will work OK and you’ll end up having to edit much smaller, easier-to-adminster stub files.
After you’ve finished creating a HTML stub for all your Flash animations (one HTML stub for each SWF file), you can play them in your Macromedia plug-in by just clicking them in your Pocket PC File Explorer - assuming the file associations point to your Pocket Internet Explorer / Internet Explorer Mobile and not to, say, Opera beta or NetFront. If the latter is the case, read this article on restoring these associations.
If you, however, would like to prefer using third-party apps which, in cases, greatly enhance the Macromedia plug-in, check out the following section.
2.3 Stand-alone apps based on the Macromedia plug-in
These applications all require the Macromedia plug-in to be installed. This means you must install not only these applications, but also the Macromedia plug-in (any version will do). You’ll need to download and install the latter separately.
2.3.1 Bryht Flash Player 2.0 by Bryht
This player is, in my opinion, the best, most capable, most game-friendly Flash player for the Pocket PC. It has a lot of unrivalled capabilities like button mapping (which is painfully missing from all the alternatives) and even desktop-based Powerpoint slide conversion. See for example this PocketNow review on the capabilities of the application. In here, I only elaborate on the hardware button mapping feature, particularly because of the additional, never-before-published information on quickly changing user-defined button mapping schemes and my hacks to make the button mapping WM5-compliant. Also, as there’re several builds of version 2.0, I also elaborate on the differences between them and the way of recognizing the actual build.
Note that you must configure the player if you have a VGA device; then, choose the GrayVGA skin in File/Skin Options. Note that it’s been created for native VGA mode; it’s only there that the GUI will be OK; in SE VGA, most parts of the buttons and the volume control won’t be visible. This is an unfortunate step back from the earlier 2.0 builds (see section 2.3.1.2 below).
2.3.1.1 Hardware button mapping
As has already been pointed out, the Bryht player has an option of freely redefining hardware keys - assigning any key on a full keyboard to any Pocket PC hardware button / D-pad direction (see File/Button Options). None of the other players support this essential feature - essential because about half of the available Flash games depend on other keys than the traditional D-pad arrows: for example, in the platform game Heli Attack 3, it’s with some alphanumeric keys that the player must control the game; in Bomberman In the land of the Pumpkin V3, you need to drop a bomb with the Delete key on the keyboard etc. (Don’t forget Flash games have been created with desktop players in mind - this is why most Flash authors assume players all have a full keyboard.)
Unfortunately, D-pad directions (none of the four) can’t be redefined on WM5 devices (it works just O.K. on pre-WM5 devices) because of the fundamental difference between WM5 and previous OS’es, as far as touchscreen-less operation is concerned: instead of just registering the new D-pad direction, the system will just traverse the focus to the following GUI item if you press the D-Pad into any direction. Until this is fixed by the Bryht folks, you can still redefine your D-pad directions by directly editing the Registry. If you thoroughly read the hardware button-related information in my below-linked GBA article and are willing to play with the Registry for some time, this will become really easy after some time, however.
Also note that there is no way of saving/restoring user-created button mappings to quickly change button layouts between game starts. There’re some predefined layouts, however; for example, if you choose Restore Default for Game in File/Button Options, the button layout will map the desktop keyboard cursor keys to the D-pad directions (the default is just moving the active area around the screen estate, which is preferable when just viewing Flash movies), which will work with most games.
Fortunately, this can be really easily helped if you aren’t afraid of modifying the Registry or, at least, importing pre-created registry files. Bryht stores the button mapping information at [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bryhtflash\keyMapping]. An example of its content:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bryhtflash]
"keyMapping"="195=131073;194=131078;193=131077;40=65;38=68;37=87;39=83;"
If you’ve already read my article on Gameboy Advance emulators for the Pocket PC, you already know that the values 37...40 in here stand for the D-pad directions, while the values starting with 193 stand for the non-D-pad hardware buttons. If you’re into any kind of programming, you’ll also easily see (by recognizing the keycodes of some control keys and the ASCII codes of the characters A/D/S/W) that the above configuration stands for D-pad directions assigned to the A/D/S/W keys (the keys the above-mentioned Heli Attack 3 uses to control the main character).
2.3.1.2 Downloads/versions
As far as the available versions are concerned, note that the standard and the Pocket PC 2003 versions are exactly the same - I don’t know why they’re listed as separate downloads.
It should also be pointed out that there were older (2004) builds of version 2.0. The current version of 2.0 has internal filedates of 2005; earlier builds are from year 2004 and have no VGA support. For example, this is the new version on a VGA device, in standard SE mode and this is the old. In this test, I only discuss/review/refer to the latest, currently available version. Make sure you upgrade to it if you still have the old one. The main difference between the two is that the old version has a BryhtFlash.exe of under 500 kbytes and an early-2004 filedate, while the newer version has a 518-kbyte file dated at 03/03/2005.
2.3.2 Pocket Flash Player (PFlashP) v2.0.0
While not sporting advanced setting capabilities like the really useful button mapping of Bryht (the player of my choice), this stand-alone Flash player may still be useful if you don’t want to spend that much money on your player - it’s definitely cheaper than Bryht.
One of its other advantages is that it automatically shifts the Flash animation upwards if you enable the SIP (because you need to enter something on it), unlike Bryht. This means in some cases you won’t be able to use the latter (unless you run it in a non-full screen mode), while PFlashP will remain perfectly usable.
As it is able to display the Flash context menu, it can also use full zooming in, which makes big flash animations that require zooming (for example, the Caliva or the Tanks Flash applications - see URL's and explanations in Chapter 4) in order for the text to be fully readable.
Unfortunately, it also has definite drawbacks, compared to Bryht. One of them is the inability of the player to provide real full screen mode in either Portrait or Landscape - the taskbar will always be visible and it’s only the command bar that will be hidden (along with the SIP icons). The other is that it’s unable to center the animation in the available screen estate - it’ll always be on the left if the animation isn’t able to fill in the entire screen area as can be seen in this screenshot. This can be really distracting. (The author has promised to look into the problem in the meantime.)
Also, if you only have a WM2003 device, PFlashP, unlike Bryht, won’t offer you Landscape capabilities as it entirely relies on the operating system’s orientation change capabilities. This is why the "Landscape" checkbox is inactive in this WM2003 screenshot. This is, of course, a non-issue on WM2003SE+ devices.
It is the only one player that requires Microsoft's free Compact Framework 2 (CF2). CF2, while it, by default, is installed into main memory (no matter what installation target you give it), taking up some 5 Mbytes of precious built-in storage. This, however, can be helped by relocating almost the entire CF2 to a memory card. Please read this article (alternatives AximSite, BrightHand, FirstLoox, MobilitySite, PPCT) for more information on this. Note that if you choose to use the just-released beta of CF2 SP1, you won't need to do any relocation if you instruct the installer to install into an alternative medium.
Note that the author of this app is the well-known author of Tweaks2k2, ctitanic. A big thanks to him for providing me with the full version for testing purposes.
2.3.3 FlashAssist 1.3 by AntMobile
The main advantage of this application is that it’s PPC2k/PPC2k2 compatible (unlike PFlashP and, as far as PPC2k is concerned, Bryth). For WM2003+ users this isn’t an advantage, naturally.
Its main disadvantages are the lack of built-in full-screen Landscape support, which would be highly useful under all pre-WM2003SE operating systems, unlike with the two previously reviewed players. What is more, it doesn’t support the native, built-in operating system-level Landscape mode of WM2003SE+ either - that is, you won’t be able to make use of the available screen estate with a lot of (Landscape) Flash animations.
All in all, I wouldn’t recommend this application - the lack of any kind of (let alone full-screen) Landscape support is too big a problem in most cases.
2.3.4 Macromedia Flash Player for Cassiopeia by myCasio
(Note that the CAB file itself can be downloaded here)
This player is only meant for MIPS-based Cassiopeia devices. There isn’t much in the player: for example, no Landscape support and no keymapping. However, it’s free.
(Thanks goes to akheron at AximSite and torgamm at PocketPCFreeware for pointing me to this player!)
3. Main Feature and Test Results Comparison Chart
This comparison chart contains most comparison and feature information. As a well-written feature/test chart makes it possible to greatly reduce the sheer size of this article (but not its content of information!), most of the information present in here hasn’t been elaborated on / mentioned in the previous sections. This means this chart should be scrutinized thoroughly. Also make sure you follow the screenshot links if you’d like to see actual screenshots demonstrating the (lack of the) given feature.
Please note that, due to the restrictions of the forum engine, I had to put the comparison chart on an external server. It can be found here .
4. Real-world Compatibility and Speed Tests with Several Games, a Movie and a fully-fledged Student App
I’ve tested the reviewed applications with several Flash games, a Flash video and a Flash student application. The latter is available here (main homepage here); to log in, enter the ccdemo/ccisthebest demo login/password pair. (Some demo screenshots of this are here, here and here).
Note that I’ve made these SWF files available here so that you don’t need to fetch them one-by-one in order to be tested if you want to re-run my tests. I’ve, of course, provided URL’s to the original source too.
Please note that, due to the restrictions of the forum engine, I had to put the comparison chart on an external server. It can be found here .
5. Verdict
5.1 If you have a WM2003+ device...
it’s the best to stick to the Macromedia 7 plug-in and a third-party Macromedia-based player on top of it.
If you are seriously into playing Flash animations on your Pocket PC and need real (!) full screen support even in Landscape mode and a centered Flash area (and not one on the left), Bryht 2.0 is the only way to go.
Much as PFlashP 2.0 is considerably cheaper, the lack of the ability of centering the Flash animation on the screen may be distracting. File association support is also lacking. Otherwise, you may want to have a look at it if you, for some reason, don’t like the Bryht player. The lack of built-in Landscape mode won't be a problem in operating systems starting with WM2003SE either; if you have a PDA with a previous OS, you'll want to stick with Bryht and its built-in Landscape mode.
You can also give a try to the free Microsoft player, particularly if Macromedia 6-compliance is sufficient. As it doesn't have built-in Landscape support (but it does support the operating system's Landscape orientation), it's mostly recommended for WM2003SE users. WM5 users may run into compatibility problems because of the Macromedia 6-based engine, though.
FlashAssist 1.3 is definitely not recommended - it’s just useless in system-level Landscape mode. Much as it has real full screen mode in Portrait, WM2003SE+ users wanting to use the Landscape to use the full screen area should avoid it. Again, it’s Bryht 2.0 that only excels in this respect.
The Flash support in NetFront 3.2 is really disappointing: it's only in very few cases that it's better than Macromedia-based solutions. I don't recommend it, particularly if you have a WM5 device - NetFront 3.2 is not compatible with WM5. Hope Version 3.3 will have a better Flash engine.
Finally, Pocket Spark is useless and is incompatible with almost everything (after all, it's based on over six-year-old code).
5.2 If you have a Pocket PC 2002 device...
get the Macromedia 6 plug-in and the Bryht player.
5.3 If you have a slow Pocket PC 2000 MIPS/SH3 device...
it’s the best to forget Flash animations - very-very few animations (for example, the great, highly recommended game Johnny Rocketfingers) will run OK because of the lack of pure computing speed. If you still need to run Flash stuff, get the Macromedia 4/5 plug-in and, if you have a MIPS Cassiopeia device, Macromedia Flash Player for Cassiopeia.
6. Note that...
1. Strictly with WM2003SE (previous / later operating system versions don’t have this problem), you will inevitably run into the Press OK to continue loading the content of this page" message like in this screenshot.
You can’t really help this without using third-party, commercial apps. Please see this article for more info on all this.
2. You can't play Shockwave content with the Flash player. This means the excellent titles at ShockWave.com and generic gamer sites like the above-linked arcadepod.com (which, for example, hosts the Shockwave Player 10.1-based great 3D RPG game, Sherwood MMORPG). Remember this if you can't run a given application/game.

Waouh ! Great guide !
Thanks for this howto !

Thanks to dlangton in the PPCT forums, I’ve been pointed to a not widely known full-screen, offline-capable, MacroMedia 6-based solution from Microsoft initially contained by one of their demo applications.
I’ve accordingly updated the roundup.
Also, there’re some other, minor changes concerning, for example, the full zoom-in of PFlashP.

Seeing as this thread has no replies in about 3 years, is there another thread that has more up-to-date info? I'm looking for the best way to play local (swf) flash files on my T-Mobile HTC Touch Pro 2. Please let me know if Bryht is still the way to go (and where the latest version can be found, as bryht.com seems to be down), or if there is a newer and/or better alternative. Thanx in advance, everyone!

"Beta Macromedia Flash" from Microsoft no longer available...
I have been looking for a smoother way to play my FlashGadgets for testing purposes, as they do not play smoothly some times on my pocket pc, and I wanted to test this program. If anyone has this program in CAB form, or as a standalone EXE, please post it, I wish to see if there is any big difference in using it for playback instead of BryhtFlash 2.0.
Regards,

Macromedia Flash Player Beta???
Where to get this software? I know that software is dead but if anyone have this software could I get link?
Thanks!

The ONE and ONLY guide to emulating Nintendo NES under WM

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES for short) (also known as Family Computer or “Famicom” in Japan or “Dendy” in the former Soviet Union) was a very famous third generation (8-bit) in the second half of the eighties with several notable games.
Being a 8-bit, comparatively simple (even when taking into the different Multi Memory Controllers I’ll later elaborate on) game console, not very powerful hardware like current Windows Mobile devices can easily run NES games at their original speed, including music. In this roundup and tutorial, I elaborate on how this can be done. In addition, I publish a reliable, dependable (I've made all the tests MYSELF and don't rely on any other, in most cases, unreliable source) compatibility list with many-many famous titles.
As with my previous emulation-related articles (see the reader feedback I’ve received to my, say, SNES emulation article), it was because of many reasons that made me publish this roundup:
There are absolutely no comparative, let alone up-to-date roundups on emulating this platform.
There are a LOT of apps to choose from (see Michu's related, excellent link / archive repository HERE), which really makes a newbie cry, given that there has been almost no comparative information on these titles on the Internet.
Users’ reports you can run into in different Windows Mobile forums are really unreliable. So are the advertisements of some software developers ;-) (never EVER believe any advertisement without reading an unbiased expert’s report / evaluation!)
While, technically, NES is pretty much inferior to fourth generation (16-bit) and fifth generation(32/64-bit) consoles released later (fourth-generation consoles - and even some of the fifth-generation ones; namely, Playstation - are very easy to emulate on Windows Mobile), the platform still has a lot of titles worth playing. For example, it was on the NES that the Final Fantasy, the Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest) and the Zelda series debuted. These titles (the first three Final Fantasy and first four Dragon Warrior titles) are not necessarily available on later, technically more advanced and/or, under Windows Mobile, easily / efficiently emulated platforms (except for the Sony PSX re-releases of the Final Fantasy titles, which are perfectly playable even under the current version of the Windows mobile PlayStation emulator).
As they’re very good RPG’s, if you are into the genre, you may definitely want to check them out. The same stands for some other titles like Elite (which doesn’t have a really non-beta WM version, as is also explained in the Bible of Windows Mobile Games – Part I) and Prince of Persia, which has a pretty good NES version (Windows Mobile still lacks a decent port of this title; it’s only recently that a port has been announced and an early alpha released by Mobirate but it’s still far from being perfect).
Finally, the generic games (which I and Allen Gall have cleaned up last year - after that, we haven't received any criticism) and, particularly, the Emulators category received so much negative criticism (see for example THIS) before my starting to completely update & rework the annual Best Software Awards at Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine that I found it absolutely necessary, now that I’ve been appointed the Awards Nomination Manager, to, finally, show the whole world the right person (someone that REALLY knows what he’s doing and REALLY knows everything about the available software titles for Windows Mobile) was chosen for this task .
Bird's-eye view on NES emulation: what makes NES emulation easy / hard?
While the built-in circuitry itself in the basic NES console is pretty easy to emulate, the custom chips / electronics (for example, enhanced sound generators for the Japanese Famicom – Famicom supports external sound generator circuitries, as opposed to the NES sold in Europe / the States) present in many game cartridges requires require a lot of additional work. You can read a bit more HERE on what chips there are. Implementing emulation for all of these technologies takes a LOT of time and effort; this is one of the reasons why “from-scratch” one-man projects like SmartGear have so low a compatibility rate.
Getting game ROM files
As usual, I may not tell you were to download games from. Believe me: it's far easier than you think if you know what Google is. Fortunately, there isn't a plethora of available ROM formats: everything you run into (most probably .nes files, in most cases, in a compressed form) will run under the emulators.

The available emulators I – the three (+1) most recommended ones
First and foremost, there are three (and an additional one) major, up-to-date, recommended emulators for Windows Mobile. Note that, in the following section, I also give you some advice on how these titles should be used. Note that, as always, I also give the current version of these titles.
1. Jetech.org’s PocketNester 0.7
This is the first emulator you should check out. It is the most compatible, free and reasonably fast emulator. Some of the other, current emulators (for example, NesterJ4u) are based on this one and, therefore, have exactly the same capabilities, except for the additional support for WM5 softkeys and, with the VGA version, Landscape support.
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Its main problem is the lack of WM5 softkey (and, therefore, Smartphone / Windows Mobile Standard) and Landscape screen orientation support.
These issues, as has been already mentioned, have been fixed by for example the NesterJ4u applications. There is another PocketNester derivative implementing WM5 softkey support (and, therefore, sporting support for the Smartphone / Windows Mobile Standard platform) and offering Landscape support: Masterall’s PocketNesterPlus (see the next subsection). Unfortunately, it’s only at these two areas that it excels at; it doesn’t have anything else worth mentioning.
Using the emulator is very simple: download the archive from Sourceforge, unzip it, install and click the PocketNester icon in the Programs / Games folder. Go to File / Open ROM and select the ROM you’d like to play. The ROM can be both compressed and uncompressed and, if you use Mad Programmer’s File Dialog Changer (please read my previous emulation-related articles on how it can be installed; most importantly, the related section in my guide to running Magnetic Scrolls games), it can be anywhere in your file system. If you don’t use File Dialog Changer, it must be under either \My Documents or in either the root or a direct subdirectory under it on your storage cards.
While the emulator has on-screen controls (screenshot), you may also want to (re)assign these functionalities to hardware buttons in Options / Controllers. In there, click a … button and, as instructed, press the key you’d like to be assigned to the given functionality. Also, it’s in here (see the lowermost checkbox) that you can enable a different method for scanning hardware buttons, should you encounter problems with some (rare) Windows Mobile models.
In Graphics, you may also want to enable displaying the top- and bottommost 8 scanlines. It’s disabled by default, you will want to enable it with games supporting them (for example, 1942) so that you can see more of the screen (some games use this). To see what the difference is, this screenshot (of the game 1942) shows the scanlines enabled and this when disabled. See the difference on the top and bottom? Yes, 16 pixel rows are missing from the second screenshot. Note that, however, there are also a lot of games that don’t use these rows and even games that just display some static in there. An example is King’s Quest 5, which has some static at the bottom there as can be seen in here (see the colored line under “Game paused”. During the game, it can become pretty annoying.). If you disable the 2*8 scanline display, this won’t distract your attention (see screenshot here).
Note many emulators don’t let for enabling displaying these rows at all. Also note that I’ve also elaborated on how the individual emulators behave in this respect (see the “2*8 scanlines displayed?” row in the Comparison and Compatibility Chart).

1.1 Masterall’s PocketNesterPlus 0.9
This self-standing emulator is an enhanced version of PocketNester. Download it from the first post of the linked MoDaCo thread, unzip it and transfer PocketNesterPlus.exe to your handheld. Execute it there.
As has already been mentioned, it adds Landscape support to PocketNester (but nothing else). You can switch the orientation in Options / Display as can be seen in here. Unfortunately, currently, it’s in no way compatible with VGA devices.
2. MorphGear 2.4.0.9
A not very fast (but, on current, fast Windows Mobile devices, speed-wise, still perfectly sufficient), commercial emulator with somewhat limited compatibility (and some other emulators; most importantly for the GameBoy). I recommend it mostly because of the NAMCO106 compatibility and the native support for landscape / stretching / on-screen buttons.
Getting and installing MorphGear is easy: download THIS (main program) and THIS (Morat’s module) CAB files; unzip them, transfer them to your PDA and click them for installing. Then, click the new MorphGear icon in the Programs / Games group. Click the
icon in order to select a ROM to load. After this, the game will start (if it’s compatible).

As, by default, MG uses the Portrait orientation and the 100% (one source pixel equals one target pixel) rendering mode, particularly on VGA devices, you will want to make sure you override this setting so that the rendering becomes full screen. To do this, first, click the
icon and select iNES (NES) in the list. Now, click Screen Size on the upper left; a drop-down list will be displayed on the right. Select Window Size in the drop-down list.
You can also fine-tune other parameters here: for example, the sound and the frame dropping ones. On current, fast devices, you can safely leave the sound settings at their default, high-quality settings; on slower ones, you will want to either disable sound completely or select “Low (11 kHz)” in the Quality drop-down list. Also, at the bottom of this settings dialog, you can reassign the buttons of your mobile device. As with all the other apps in this roundup, you can utilize any button on your mobile device, even WM5 hardware softkeys and the red/green phone buttons.
Finally, if you want to play games in Landscape orientation, click the
icon again and, now, select “Global Settings” in the menu. Click Orientation and, from the drop-down menu, select either West or East, depending on whether you’re right- or left-handed.

3. HanaHo Games / Bitbank Software’s SmartGear
(Note that the official homepage of the developer doesn’t even mention SmartGear. Use the Modaco link to download the emulator from.)
A blazingly fast and efficient, commercial emulator: it runs flawlessly even on Windows Mobile devices underclocked to 104 MHz. It, however, has severe compatibility problems and is only compatible with about 60-70% of the current NES games, as opposed to PocketNester(Plus) and even MorphGear, which have a compatibility ratio of around 96-99%. It's not compatible with VGA devices either.
Download the file from the above-linked Modaco thread (you’ll need to register yourself as a forum member). Decompress the archive and transfer SmartGear_PPC.exe to anywhere on your Windows Mobile device. Execute it.
In the Options / Settings section, you may want to make sure “Throttle framerate” remains checked in (it is enabled by default); otherwise, the games will be FAR too quick. (This will be the case with some games even with it enabled; for example, Super Mario Bros 2.)
Also, you will need to redefine the A, B, Start and Select buttons in Options because, by default, they are assigned to the numeric keys (even if they don’t exist – it’s been written for Smartphones, which do have numeric keys) 1, 2, 3 and 4 as can be seen in here. Therefore, you’ll need to click all of them in turn, click Define and press the hardware button on your Windows Mobile handheld you’d like to assign the given functionality to. I also recommend reassigning the Exit functionality so that you can easily stop running a game and bringing up the GUI of the emulator – with the traditional, stylus-based method, this may take some 2-3 seconds.
After this, you can load the ROM image in File / Open and enjoy gaming.
Note that in order to really save battery life, you must manually underclock your handheld to, say, 208 MHz (if it’s an XScale one). It’s only this way, if you use SmartGear, that you will save significant battery life. The sole reason for this that SmartGear, as with both MorphGear and PocketNester, uses all the CPU cycles of the handheld even when it doesn’t actually need it. (For example, when you do make sure “Throttle framerate” remains enabled.)
An example CPU usage graph showing this fact can be seen HERE. The first, about a minute long 100% peak shows running a Mario game in PocketNester, the second shows MorphGear and, finally, the third shows SmartGear. All in all, you will need to underclock your handheld. Please see my battery life saving-related articles (there are quite a few of them) for more info on this.
The available emulators II – the less recommended emulators
Now, I also list and elaborate on the other, older and not any more recommended emulators; for example, Jogosoft’s PocketNES, YameCE, NesCE, InfoNES etc.
NesterJ4u
These two emulators, except for some minor issues, are almost the same as PocketNester. There isn’t much point in preferring them over PocketNester – unless you have a VGA device (it doesn't run on QVGA ones) AND you want to run your games in Landscape. Then, the Sharp build will be your friend.
Jogosoft PocketNES 1.0
This was the first Pocket PC-specific NES emulator (in addition to the Pocket PC-compatible YameCE). Now, because of it not supporting several mappers and lacking for example Landscape support makes it a worse alternative.
InfoNES for PocketPC 0.97
Note that the official homepage of the developer only contains the old (v0.76b) Japanese binaries; the latest, 0.97 version can be accessed either in Michu’s database (pre-WM5 and WM5) or HERE.
This emulator isn't really notable: it has stuttering sound even at 624 MHz. Most of the alternative emulators are FAR better.
nesCE 2.0
(See the download at the bottom of the page). A non-recommended title. See the comparison chart for more info on why I don’t recommend it.
YameCE
This emulator used to be the first really fast NES (but NOT SNES! Its SNES emulation is very slow) emulator to be released for WindowsCE. Now, however, with the advent of fast Windows Mobile devices and the later versions of both PocketNester and, particularly, the unbelievably fast SmartGear, the initial speed advantage has gone. This means it’s no longer worth sticking to this emulator, particularly because it is only able to work for some 3-4 minutes under WM5+. After that, it becomes unable to emulate anything and only a soft reset (!) helps the situation. (Under pre-WM5 OS’es, this problem doesn’t exist.)
(Also see THIS PG thread)
The comparison & compatibility chart
... is available here (click the link!). Based on the info above (and in my previous articles – read them!), you will understand what it contains.
Note that, compatibility-wise, I’ve not only tested most of the possible mappers, but also some generic, famous games.
I’ve included two versions of the most recommended NES emulator, PocketNester, in the chart: an earlier 0.5.4 and the latest 0.7, the latter occupying in the first column in the chart. All this in order to be able to compare how it has evolved over time.
Recommended links
My other game emulator reviews in the Games section of the Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine's Expert Blog. I plan to cover / discuss ALL emulators available for Windows Mobile and have already published some of these articles. Do make sure you follow / read this articles - nowhere else will you find a better source of emulation-related information, I'm absolutely sure.

UPDATE (05/28/2007): New, 0.24 version of excellent multiplatform gaming console emulator SmartGear out! It is definitely an enhanced version with a lot of new functionality (lowered CPU usage (no need to underclock your device to conserve battery life), configurable rapid fire, working Landscape support with NES emulation, in-game menus now accessible, screen size settings, new, even more effective “quick and dirty” rendering mode) and fixes some problems. Unfortunately, it still has the same, not very good game compliance ratio and still doesn’t support high-res VGA devices.
See THIS for more info. Note that I will NOT edit the original article below to reflect the changes – after reading the original article, move on to reading the changes so that you’ll see what has been changed.
UPDATE (05/25/2007): getting the Sticky status, along with ALL my other emulation-related tutorials & roundups, in the Emulators forum of one of the most active Windows Mobile forums, AximSite. By no other than Michu, the manager of the well-known Emupage! This certainly shows – along with the other for example PocketGamer.org and YAMM frontpages – these tutorials & roundups are simply the best.

dont know how i missed this one too!
this is one hell of a guide! cheers.

Glad you liked it
(And don't forget to check out my other articles )

Beautiful! Comprehensive guides such as yours are invaluable especially given the remarkable speed and effectiveness of Google's indexing this site. Thanks for sharing.

this is great!!
only thing is i can not get pocketnester .7 and nesterplus .9 to work at all!!!
i had DLed the plus to my phone and installed ok.. when i tried to play a game, the screen would flicker bad and cause all kinds of problems to be reported. so i un-installed.
same with pocket .7 dl'ed the zip file, and copied it to my storage card. tried to unzip the files but it didnt really install anything, all it did was just extract the files. i read something about unzipping it to your pc first and trying from there but i cant figure it out!!!!!
i have htc hd2 tmob.
thanks for any help!

EL_REY666 said:
this is great!!
only thing is i can not get pocketnester .7 and nesterplus .9 to work at all!!!
i had DLed the plus to my phone and installed ok.. when i tried to play a game, the screen would flicker bad and cause all kinds of problems to be reported. so i un-installed.
same with pocket .7 dl'ed the zip file, and copied it to my storage card. tried to unzip the files but it didnt really install anything, all it did was just extract the files. i read something about unzipping it to your pc first and trying from there but i cant figure it out!!!!!
i have htc hd2 tmob.
thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Give a try to SmartGear, it has become really good lately with even support for BT game controllers.

Menneisyys said:
Give a try to SmartGear, it has become really good lately with even support for BT game controllers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
will give it a try
thanks!!

Smartgear works great.
I was just about to post how it is too bad that it doesn't work in WVGA, but I just figured it out. Silly me.
Anyway, SMB3 played full speed, with audio (enabling audio in Morphgear is painful). Works great using a Wiimote (via CobaltController).
Pros
-Full speed with audio
-Full screen on WVGA (with or without stretching)
-Supports touch screen buttons
Cons
-Not free
-Possibly still limited support for games
Note that I did my testing on a LG IQ (eXpo) - 1GHz Snapdragon

The definitive guide to running (MS-)DOS (80x86) programs under Windows Mobile

MS-DOS, which was the most widely known operating system of the pre-Windows times on the IBM PC platform, has several unique software titles either not available on other platforms or of considerably better quality than on other platforms. This means emulating MS-DOS, in cases, may be either the only or the best way to get a particular title, let it be an application or a game, run on your Windows Mobile (WM for short) handheld.
In this article, you’ll find ALL (and I certainly mean this!) information you’ll ever need to successfully select and use an MS-DOS emulator.
(Note that, in this article, I refer to all DOS operating systems of the IBM PC as “MS-DOS”. Naturally, the discussion also applies to DR-DOS and PC-DOS and, in this roundup & tutorial, instead of elaborating on the basic operating system itself, I mostly concentrate on the most important aspect of these operating systems: running third-party applications and games.)
1.1 Why an article on MS-DOS emulators?
there are no similar all-in-one articles, let alone in-depth ones. The very few articles ever written on the subject only discuss one of the (several) available emulators, PocketDOS.
the majority of current emulators, particularly the most recommended DOSBox port by n0p, HEAVILY lack any kind of a decent tutorial. In here, you will find all the information you'll ever need configuring and running these titles.
there are many different emulator versions from a lot of developers; this may make the life of a newbie to MS-DOS emulation VERY hard.
Windows Mobile forums are FULL of contradicting and plain bad, unreliable information on these emulators. Someone had to, finally, get the facts straight.
the BEST MS-DOS emulator (that of n0p), being of Russian origin, is mostly discussed in Russian language forums. As one of the several languages I speak is Russian, I understand what is discussed there. That is, in this article, I also build on the information found in Russian forums, making it unnecessary for my readers to suffer from the Babelfish “translation”. To a lesser degree, I've also found some useful user reports & tips in German (which I also speak) forums; I’ve also incorporated the info found there in this tutorial & roundup.
my old, related article (Another reason to get a VGA device – running Legend Entertainment's old adventures reviewed) is heavily outdated because of the brand new DOSBox ports
as the Nominations Manager at Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine, I have to know everything about Windows Mobile apps. This article also shows I do
1.2 Why should you bother?
As has already been pointed out in the introduction, MS-DOS has several quality titles either not available on other (with a usable WM emulator) platforms or the quality of these titles on all other platforms (again, with emulators) are clearly inferior to that of the MS-DOS version. For example, the evergreen games by Legend Entertainment is a very good example of these (they haven’t ever been released for other platforms). If you don’t know what these games are but you like text-based, high-quality adventures, make sure you give them a try – they’re certainly worth it. And the list of excellent, MS-DOS only titles continues; for example, Betrayal at Krondor was also a PC-only release. This means MS-DOS was a VERY strong gaming platform in the early 1990’s with tons of high-quality or unique titles worth playing even today.
However, in other cases, MS-DOS emulation is NOT something you should always prefer to emulating other platforms or looking for native WM (re)implementations / ports of the same game. For example, as far as games are concerned, with games that only had an MS-DOS version, there may be better emulators (most importantly, "partial" interpreters "only" running a specific type of games; most importantly, from a given game publisher) to run the game than a fully-fledged, full MS-DOS emulator. In addition, some (not many) classic titles have their own WM implementations / ports; examples of these include UFO (the reimplementation is Pocket UFO; see my quick review HERE and the PocketGamer thread HERE), Civilization (Pocket Humanity; unfortunately, FreeCiv has no direct port; PocketCiv only runs on Linux-based handhelds), Pipe Dream (having several WM reimplementation; see for example the Roundup of All Pocket PC Games Part I for some of them), Doom (DoomPPC / DoomGL ES are excellent), Wolfeinstein 3D (see pocketinsanity’s port) etc.
Note that the (vast?) majority of MS-DOS emulator users use emulators for gaming (it’s mostly games that haven’t been released on other platforms or are unplayable / far more awkward to play in emulators); therefore, in this article, I also concentrate on gaming issues. This, however, doesn’t mean you will be unable to make use of it if you, for example, plan to run your old MS-DOS-based apps.

1.2.1 Cases you will NOT want to use an MS-DOS emulator - I: existing ports on other, more Windows Mobile-friendly platforms
For example, if you want to play, say, the infamous Prince of Persia (which doesn't have a direct WM port), I would say you’d better get a NES (Famicom) emulator. The NES version of Prince of Persia is very similar to that of the PC; however, the NES version in no way requires as much resources (including battery power) as the MS-DOS one. Please see THIS for a complete review of NES emulation.
The same stands for, say, Xenon 2 or Risky Woods. Running them in a Sega Mega Drive / Genesis emulator is a much better choice than ding the same in an MS-DOS emulator. The Sega Mega Drive / Genesis emulators require less resources, have better sound (particularly with Xenon 2, which, on the IBM PC, only had speaker sound), are easier to control and produce higher frame rates (just as with NES and Price of Persia) than the current MS-DOS emulators. See THIS for a complete explanation.
These are not hard-and-fast rules. That is, it can't be stated "whenever a port of a game exists on a better-emulated platform, stick to it and forget MS-DOS emulation entirely". When selecting an original platform and an emulator to play a given title, you may want to prefer other, better-emulated platforms for action games like the above. For mouse (stylus)-based, generally, adventure and strategy games, on the other hand, you may want to prefer MS-DOS emulation. For example, compare the following two screenshots, showing Sierra's King's Quest 5 on a(n emulated) VGA PC (running the VGA version of the game) and on the NES (Famicom):
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The difference in the visual quality is staggering, isn't it? And, the better visuals are just part of why the MS-DOS version is much more worth playing. The NES' not having analogue / mouse-like input, its cursor needs to be controlled by a (digital) D-pad. This means it's REALLY hard to control the game with the D-pad only.
Incidentally, the same stands for games running on other (mouseless console) platforms like the GBA version of X-COM. These kinds of games should be played under an MS-DOS emulator because they allow for stylus usage, unlike GBA emulators.
1.2.2 Cases you will NOT want to use an MS-DOS emulator - II: existing interpreters for a given game
As has already been pointed out, a specific subset of MS-DOS games have so-called 'interpeters', which run the games without emulating a full MS-DOS environment. This may be advantageous in many respects:
as they only need to run the game (and not an emulated operating system), they, generally, consume far less CPU cycles (and, therefore, both run flawlessly on slower and/or underclocked machines and result in a decent battery life). A well-known example of this is the Magnetic Scrolls interpreter (see review & tutorial HERE), which runs old, freely and legally (!) available Magnetic Scrolls textual adventures in a really CPU- (and, consequently, battery-) friendly way.
they, in cases, are much better integrated into the operating system. Again, an great example of this is the Magnetic Scrolls interpreter. It uses a standard text area (with some extras; for example, automatic text expansion of highlighted text) and standard, relocatable picture boxes. This also means it's, for example, possible to copy some of the text onto the clipboard. What is more, these operating system-level components are compatible with all kinds of operating system versions and configurations. This isn't always the case - let me point out that, for example, (W)VGA and square screens are not supported by many emulators (including, unfortunately, the most recommended one by n0p). Now, compare the quality of the rendering of the in-game text when done by the Magnetic Scrolls interpreter and n0p's MS-DOS emulator (not supporting (W)VGA screens). Yes, the difference is enormous - the interpreter-based version is perfectly playable even on a square-screen or a low-resolution (QVGA) device, while the original MS-DOS game rendered by n0p's emulator is fully unplayable on any Windows Mobile devices because of the emulator's not supporting high-resolution screens, while the games itself used EGA high-resolution.
Of course, it's not only the Magnetic Scrolls games that should be played in the related interpreter, but also a lot of other titles. For example, the earliest Sierra games should all be played under PocketSarien (review & tutorial HERE); most of the Lucasfilm games run better under PocketScumm than under MS-DOS emulators and so on.
There are exceptions, though; the most important being FreeSCI, the interpreter of (early) Sierra SCI games (released in 1989 and 1990). This is so uselessly slow that you will want to prefer an MS-DOS emulator to playing them under FreeSCI. (See THIS for more info.)

1.2.3 Cases you will NOT want to use an MS-DOS emulator - III: existing, native ports available for WM
It’s always preferable to play native WM ports / versions over emulating (if the quality of the port is at least comparable to that of the original running in a high-quality emulator), mostly because of CPU usage and hardware requirement issues. An emulator generally requires (unless we’re speaking of for example BitBank’s SmartGear, which has really modest hardware requirements) a far more powerful hardware than a native game. This means (most and, with emulating MS-DOS, all) emulators are either hard (at least without excessive overclocking) to run on slower devices at a usable speed or, on faster devices, they result in a very quick battery consumption because of the high processor usage.
Now that we’ve seen the cases where using MS-DOS emulators is NOT recommended, we can return to the original subject: running titles that are worth running under MS-DOS emulators because there isn’t another way of making them work.
Let’s see how you can acquire MS-DOS apps (if you don’t have the ones you’d like to play around) and, then, move on to introducing the (current) emulators.
1.3 Getting MS-DOS games
Start with the Wiki page List of commercial games released as freeware. Make sure you get games released before 1994 (or, if you can stand the increased slowness, 1995).
I am not allowed to provide you direct (!) links to so-called 'abandonware' sites. However, if you just use Google, you will find them at once. Also, if you spend more than five minutes at browsing Vogons, the highly useful DOS emulation page, you'll find thousands of links to these sites (it seems some people and even official forums don't take down abandonware links. However, I still refrain from giving you generic URL's, just to be on the safe side.)
Don't be afraid of dowloading from well-known abandonware sites. If you really are afraid of viruses, make sure you don't run these titles directly on your desktop PC, only under an emulator. Then, even if it, for example, formats your (virtual) hard drive (that is, the directory you give it as a hard drive), the damage will be limited. And, rest assured, it won't do any harm to your device. For this test, I've downloaded the games from abandonware sites so that I can test the games they host for viruses and trojans. I haven't found anything. That is, you can absolutely safely download from these sites.
1.4 What can I run?
Generally, games (and, of course, apps) released before 2004. Try NOT to play 3D games (this also includes classics like Betrayal at Krondor - they won't be very fast). You can have success with later, not very graphics-intensive games (for example, adventures).
1.5 Can I run Windows XP on my Windows Mobile device?
Nope. Under the most recommended emulators (n0p's DOSBox port and PocketDOS), all you can do is run Windows 3.11 if you want. I, however, don’t really recommend It - it's the best to stick to emulating strictly MS-DOS applications and games.
With Mamaich's (old) Windows Mobile port of Bochs (Bochs is a full x86 emulator, not just an MS-DOS one), however, you can even install Windows 95 as is described in THIS very long thread (also linked from PPCT). (You'll also need this Nano98 and this micro95 (also see THIS and THIS) tutorials for ripping Windows 95 and 98. Also see THIS for more info.) You, however, won't be able to do anything productive with these installs: it's REALLY slow and has major problems with input devices. That is, don’t even bother reading through these threads – not even the basic operating system will run flawlessly, let alone apps / games. Don’t even think of running for example Starcraft on a Windows Mobile handheld.
2. Desktop MS-DOS / x86 emulators and their ports on Windows Mobile
For the desktop operating systems, there exist several MS-DOS and x86 emulators. Gaming-wise, the ones discussed at Vogons are the most recommended; of them, only DOSBox has Windows Mobile ports. Actually, it has several ports; of them, n0p's port is the most important.
As far as emulating the entire hardware is concerned (also meaning the ability to run, say, Windows XP on a sufficiently powerful, high-class machine - definitely NOT a current Windows Mobile one!), the above-introduced Bochs should be mentioned. In addition, the same Mamaich has also ported QEMU, a very fast (on a current 624 MHz Windows Mobile device, it equals to about a 16 MHz 386 (screenshot 1, 2). Also see THIS.) CPU emulator. It, however, is buggy and has major problems; definitely NOT recommended for ANY serious work. (This is why I've also put it, along with the Bochs port, into the 'not recommended' section.)
In the following section, I elaborate on all the emulators available on WM.

Recommended MS-DOS emulators
2.1 n0p's DOSBox port (current version: 0.63)
As has already been stated, this emulator is the most recommended generic MS-DOS emulator. It's way faster than any other DOSBox port. Its only problems are the following:
the complete lack of support for high-resolution (for example, VGA) devices
being a heavily simplified version of the desktop counterpart, it doesn't support various goodies like MIDI sound (which is way better than the FM synthesizer-based AdLib cards) or emulated modem via Internet / LAN connections for multiplayer (or generic communication).
It, on the other hand, is VERY fast and has a lot of goodies none of the other Windows Mobile DOSBox ports can boast of:
SPEED!
Automatic cycles setting, always providing the best compromise (no need to manually set the cycles)
Very good AdLib / SoundBlaster (SB) emulation
Transparent software input panel (SIP)
It's based on DOSBox version 0.63, which isn't the latest DOSBox version; it's still definitely newer than 0.61, on which some other (not recommended) DOSBox ports are based on (including n0p's own old 0.61 port and that of Mamaich).
n0p is Russian and mostly contributes to Russian forums. Currently, he doesn't plan to update his port to 0.70 (the, currently, latest-and-greatest desktop DOSBox version). It's highly unlikely he will release a version with VGA support either. I'll try to convince him to visit English language forums too so that non-Russian speakers can also speak to him and maybe convince him to develop his emulator further.
2.1.1 Major differences between the original (desktop) and the Windows Mobile versions
While the emulation core is here, n0p’s port (as with other WM ports) lack several ‘goodies’. One of them is MPU-401 (for example, MT32) emulation (see for example the difference between AdLib and MT32 with the infamous game Spellcasting 101: start the game as S101 MT32 2 330 and compare it to the case of running SB-SOUND.COM /b24 and starting S101 without parameters. Also see THIS, THIS and THIS).
Another is connectivity for, say, multiplayer games like F29 Retaliator or Populous (also see: Directserial and Modem Guide; DosBox Guide to Multiplayer Games). While in the desktop version everything is supported (IPX over net; modem and direct serial emulation), in n0p’s version, modem emulation is surely not supported (I’ve thoroughly tested with both F29 Retaliator and Populous); I don’t think IPX is, either. I haven’t tested direct serial connections.
Finally, other goodies like making screenshots of the current screen or capturing WAV / MIDI files are also impossible with the mobile version.
The mobile version, on the other hand, has automatic cycles setting. This isn’t really needed on the desktop (where the CPU, with current PC’s, is powerful enough to run anything “old” at the highest cycles available); on current Windows Mobile devices, however, is a godsend.
2.1.2 Usage
First, download either the XScale or the more generic ARM version from the download page. Uncompress it with (if you aren’t using for example Total Commander) WinRAR to anywhere on your WM handheld (including storage cards). Start dosbox.exe (you can also create a link to it into \Windows\Start Menu\Programs or one of its subfolders like Games if you want to so that you can start it without having to use a file explorer tool).
After starting the emulator, you’ll see something like this (showing the mount command listed at the end of the original configuration file didn’t work):
Now, enter the “mount c "\Storage Card"” command, where change “Storage card” to the name of your storage card (for example, “CF Card” or “SD Card”) if it’s named so as in, say,
mount c "\SD card"
Then, enter the
c:
command to change to the now-mounted virtual drive. Then, by using the “cd” (Change Directory) command, you can step into any directory to execute any programs in there by just entering its name – as was the case with the “real” MS-DOS.
You will also want to include the two commands (or, more precisely, change the “mount c "\cf card\drive"” command already in there) in the dosbox.conf file in the same directory where you’ve unpacked the original, compressed DOSBox distribution. Then, after exiting the emulator (by clicking the exit icon in the upper right corner of the on-screen keyboard) and restarting the emulator. This is shown in this screenshot).
Note that you can also mount virtual CD-ROM's with the same command, by adding the "-t cdrom" parameter. Prefer using the virtual drive D: to mount directories containing the root of the CD file system! Also see THIS (and, with the forthcoming PocketDOS, THIS). An example command:
mount d "\SD card\7thguestCD" -t cdrom
Also note that in order to bring up the full keyboard, you will need to tap the upper left corner of the screen. Then, the keyboard is shown in its entirety (screenshot), part of it transparently (that is, you see what’s under it). Click the corner again to hide the transparent portion. (By the way, this transparency is one of the best features of this emulator). Alternatively, you can also use the “scroll bar” dragging area (screenshot) to quickly drag up and down the keyboard.
2.1.3 dosbox.conf tweaking
If you know the desktop DOSBox version, you may also have heard of its configuration file 'dosbox.conf', already mentioned in the previous section. With the desktop version, you may want to spend some time on learning what the individual parameters are and how they should be configured to achieve the best performance, set up your virtual modem configuration so that you can play for example Populous in multiplayer mode with anyone in the world and so on. (You can find a description of the desktop version HERE).
With n0p's port, most of the parameters that need to be tweaked in the desktop version don't really need to be touched if you want to have better performance. In the desktop version, you may want to spend considerable time testing for example how the OpenGL version of the emulator behaves compared to the normal one. In the WM version, this is not necessary because OpenGL (and other, alternative screen output methods) are simply not supported. This is certainly good in that you don't need to spend any time on fine-tuning the emulator - it'll deliver the best performance "out of the box".
However, there are still some parameters you may need to know of; most probably, the following ones:
core (the most important one - you'll need to edit it if you plan to run 80386+ apps / games)
memsize (if the default three Mbytes of EMS / XMS wouldn't be sufficient. It's only with few titles that it isn't; for example, with Heroes of Might and Magic, which requires 4434 kbytes of XMS / EMS and 374 kbytes of conventional memory)
finally, the autoexec section, where you should put at least mounting in your storage card(s) and changing to there so that you can save you some typing
And, some less important, but still useful parameters:
dpadmouse (if you plan to play a game that doesn't support the other two forms of mouse emulation. There are very few cases you will ever need this.)
hwkeyX and hwkeyX_ma (if you want to redefine what the four hardware keys do and what their effect on the mouse buttons are)

In the chart HERE (sorry, it'd be too big to be included in here - you'll need to click the link), I both explained ALL the parameters in the configuration file of n0p's DOSBox and compared the original desktop version to that of n0p, as far as these parameters are concerned. As you'll see, n0p's version uses the values of only very few of these parameters, unlike the original desktop version. (Actually, in this respect, Wall's approach in his pDOSBox 2b2 is better - he has deleted all the non-supported parameters from the config file, making it much more approachable for anyone not having read my description of what is used and what is not.)
The chart also provides an excellent summary of the meaning of these parameters. This is very important because n0p's original documentation (available HERE) is pretty weak (or straight non-existing) and noone else has ecer published anything comparable, as far as his port is concerned.
2.1.4 n0p's DOSBox 0.61
This highly outdated and slow(ish) version should just be forgotten. Always prefer the latest (0.63) version to it.
2.2 Wall's DOSBox port (current version: 2 beta 2), pDOSBox
(Alternative download with the sources HERE (see the bottom of the page) and here)
This, unfortunately, fully discontinued (also see THIS) emulator has some goodies; most importantly, (W)VGA support. It's therefore highly recommended for (W)VGA users wanting to play high-res (CGA hi-res, EGA and VGA hi-res) games. However, no one else should want to use it on a daily basis - (W)VGA device owners only wanting to play low-res (320*200) CGA / EGA / MCGA / VGA games should stick to n0p's port (introduced above) because of the vastly superior speed, sound support, transparent SIP etc. Note that many state Wall’s pDOSBox is faster (see for example THIS) than n0p's emulator. That's certainly not the case, particularly when it comes to sound emulation.
A tip: as the beta is expired, you'll need to set back the internal clock of your handheld before starting the emulator. For example, if you set back just the year to 2006, it'll work just great.
Another tip: the emulator often crashes upon using backspace when you delete something in a previous command taken out from the DOS history. This means don't use the backspace when in the DOS command line with constructs like "cd somegamename / somegamename", where you try to delete "cd" from before somegamename - it'll most probably lead to a crash.
I'd like to thank Michu (author of the well-known EmuPage - a MUST for every emulator fan!) and AximSite forum members heybhouse and Half Decaf for helping me finding this version.
2.2.1 Using pDOSBox 2 beta 2
After downloading and unpacking, you’ll need to transfer the files (along with the subdirectories) to your handheld (a storage card will do just fine). Start the emulator by starting PDBFEND.EXE. As with n0p’s DOSBox, you’ll want to create a shortcut to this file from your Programs menu; this is also explained in the README.TXT in the same directory.
Using the emulator is pretty much the same as with that of n0p’s DOSBox. You mount a directory (which can also be on a card) with a command like mount c "\SD card", go to the new virtual drive and start your favorite apps.
The emulator has a similar on-screen keyboard (SIP) than n0p’s DOSBox. It, however, isn’t transparent; this also means that, if the DOS prompt is already under the (maximized) SIP, you won’t see anything of it, unlike under n0p’s DOSBox. That is, you won’t see what you write. To quickly fix this problem, issue the ‘cls’ (CLear Screen) command (consisting only three letters, it's easy to be entered even if you don't see the prompt); it’ll clear the screen and the prompt will be shown at the top.
Unfortunately, the keyboard, unlike with n0p’s DOSBox, can’t be maximized by clicking the upper left corner of the screen. The only way to maximize it is pressing the Left arrow on the D-pad, while you can switch between the three panels using the Down arrow. This, unfortunately, also means you can’t use the D-pad in, for example, games.
Finally, another disadvantage of this port is the fact that it doesn’t support automatic emulation optimization – that is, built-in fine-tuning the emulation “strength” based on the CPU load. This also means you will also want to keep an eye on the actual CPU load of the given application / game and, if it has reached 100% and is constantly staying around it (not decreasing under 96-97%), just decrease the cycles given to the emulator. This, when done properly (so that the CPU utilization remains between 90 and 95%, but doesn’t exceed, say, 97%, driving the CPU into saturation and leading to (even more) sound problems and, after a while, visible visual performance degradation) maximizes performance. As games / apps are vastly different in their CPU usage, manually tuning the performance can be a real pain in the back. This is why the auto performance tuning in n0p’s app is a godsend – there, all you need to do is decrease or increase the frameskips, which is far easier and requires far less manual work than the cycle emulation fine-tuning in DOSBox ports not sporting auto settings.
2.2.2 The old pDOSBox 1.1
An earlier, release version of the above-introduced pDOSBox. It is clearly weaker than pDOSBox 2 beta 2. Therefore, I don't recommend it at all, unless you, for some reason, want to prefer it over 2b2: for example because you don’t want to set back the clock all the time.
2.3 PocketDOS 1.12
PocketDOS is the oldest MS-DOS emulator for Windows Mobile. It has been around for quite a while - well before the first DOSBox ports. It was, however, only lately that it became a bit more gaming-friendly; for example, it only received VGA support (including high-resolution modes on high-res Windows Mobile handhelds) in 2004.
Unfortunately, in general, it's less suited for generic gaming than n0p's version. Not only because of the non-existing (and, as far as beeper emulation is concerned, vastly inferior to that of n0p's DOSBox) SoundBlaster / AdLib emulation, but also because, in general, fewer titles run under it. A well-known example of this is Civilization, which, as of the latest, 1.12 version, still refuses to run, unlike under n0p’s DOSBox port.
The latest, 1.12 version of the emulator has just been released. The promised emulation speed increase (when using the built-in core and not enabling the other, 286+ cores) is indeed pretty good and, generally, outperforms even n0p's DOSBox in some games and is indeed faster than the previous, 1.11 version. Also see my Norton System Information benchmarks in the main comparison chart, which clearly shows the new version has indeed become faster. Also, some (minor) bugs have also been fixed; for example, the missing toolbar / SIP keyboard issue on the Dell Axim x51v (see THIS screenshot, taken under the old version).
It has some other goodies too. For example, unlike any of the DOSBox ports on Windows Mobile, it does support physical serial ports and printing. You may find this functionality important if you need to run legacy MS-DOS applications collecting data via the handheld's serial port and/or need to print out some stuff.
Also, another definite advantage of the title is being based on a full DOS operating system. This means for example batch files calling even scarcely used DOS commands, using not widely used command-line parameters, the full DOS operating system will know it. This is what the DOSBox ports are clearly weaker at. Note that you can choose from three versions of different DOS versions (that of Caldera (ex-Digital Research), DataLight and, in addition, the default FreeDOS) upon installing the application as can also be seen in this screenshot. You can even install more than one of them and just switch between them in Settings / System / Startup / Boot from (screenshot) when you need to switch (because, for example, a given application or game doesn’t run under the default FreeDOS. An example of these apps / games is Legend's Spellcasting 201, which doesn't run under the default FreeDOS.)
However, in most cases (when you only want to run some programs / games and don’t want to issue delicate DOS commands or run batch files that do depend on some scarce feature of DOS not present in the DOSBox implementation), being based on a full DOS doesn’t deliver much advantage as most games don't make extensive use of the external DOS commands - not even internal (command.com) ones.

2.3.1 Scaling, resizing
PocketDOS' scaling/stretching behavior in high-resolution modes (on a high-resolution handheld) is vastly different from that of DOSBox ports. DOSBox ports don't give the user any way of deciding how to downscale (make it smaller) the original high-resolution (640*350 EGA or 640*480 VGA) images to fit on a screen with SIP's on them. They only have one default behavior for all the possible resolutions as is described in the following matrix:
PocketDOS, on the other hand, behaves radically differently. It offers the user no less than four scaling options in hi-res EGA and VGA modes; two of these options (the one employing a horizontal compressing by 2, the other also vertically) targeted at users using a QVGA handheld so that they don't end up having to pan horizontally (and, in the second case, vertically), unlike in the cases of using the original resolution (where both horizontal AND vertical panning is necessary and, in many cases (for example the main text area of Legend Entertainment games), not even texts can be read without excessive (in every single row) horizontal scrolling.
(Note that the main comparison chart – to be linked below – has a lot of screenshots demonstrating these modes.)
As can be seen, the way it lets the user to select a scaling mode of his choice and, unlike DOSBox ports, not forcing QVGA users to either a downscaled, non-pannable view of the screen or one that needs to be panned in both directions (but not both) is a big advantage. In this respect, PocketDOS should be the first emulator to be given a try if you plan to play high-resolution games on your low-resolution handheld. Again, when presenting high-resolution originals on low-resolution (320*240) handhelds, it has a decided advantage over DOSBox ports.
Note that one of the video modes employing downscaling of VGA originals results in pretty bad results (particularly when you also enable the on-screen keyboard in addition to the always-visible toolbar). Here, some people (see X-Phile on Sun Jun 12, 2005 11:46 pm) also complain of this. If this issue gets on your nerves, make sure you switch to a non-scaled view, even if it results in a need of (sometimes heavy) vertical panning.
Finally, let me point out that the main comparison / feature chart (to be linked below) has a LOT of example screenshots demonstrating all these modes on both QVGA (low-resolution) and VGA (high-resolution) devices.
2.3.2 Using PocketDOS
Using this application is pretty straightforward. If you have a WM5 device (meaning the lack of, from the, in operating systems prior to WM5, RAM-based separated Built-in Storage (BIS)) with a single storage card, it will be automatically mounted as drive c:. That is, in these cases, after booting in, you will see the contents of your memory card right away and can start running your favorite apps at once, without having to play with manually mounting anything.
If, on the other hand, you either have a handheld with an operating system prior to WM5 with a built-in BIS and/or two memory cards (and you want to access the contents of your CF card, not that of SD), you will need to manually mount the other card. Fortunately, it's pretty well explained in the built-in help of the setdrive command.
You will most probably want to switch to Landscape mode (from the default Portrait) if you can live with the three-row SIP (and you aren't sensitive to the probably bad polarization problems of your handheld, which may be an issue with several non-high-end handhelds like the Dell Axim x50v/x51v). To do this, click the Windows button (above Esc), go to Settings / Display / Orientation and switch orientation.
2.3.3 Problems with the EMS/XMS memory
Unfortunately, PocketDOS has much more problems with the extended / expanded memory than n0p's DOSBox port. You can't allocate so much memory as in the latter and when you do allocate, the entire emulator may still restart itself when you try to start a memory-hungry title. This problem is particularly topical when you use the DOSBox CPU plug-in (and not that of the MUCH slower Bochs).
Also see some related posts in this thread for more info on other limitations of the memory model used by the emulator.
3. Not recommended emulators
In addition to the already-introduced three recommended emulators (and some of the older titles), here's a list of the non-recommended ones:
3.1 Mamaich’s DOSBox port
(Note that n0p’s (old and not recommended) 0.61 DOSBox port is based on this one, with some enhancements)
Shows some black screen and, then, immediately exits.
3.2 Ming Zeng's PocketDosBox v0.1.0
(based on the rather old DOSBox 0.60, last touched March 06, 2005)
Doesn't work on any Windows Mobile test device I've thrown it at (Cannot find … or one of its components)

4. The main comparison chart
Yes, I haven't given up throwing even more information at you This article also contains a VERY large comparison chart available HERE. CLICK THE LINK, YOU WILL FIND THE INFORMATION THERE REALLY USEFUL! Also, as usual, it's packed with screenshots. Also note that this chart has nothing to do with the previously linked dosbox.conf chart - they are completely different entities (yes, this article has a LOT of material!)
In addition to comparing the two DOSBox ports by Wall, the new one from n0p, the latest, just-released PocketDOS and, finally, the desktop DOSBox original, I've also made some extensive, real-world compliance testing with several games and utilities. Feel free to scrutinize these reports. Note that I've preferred checking my favorite titles; hence the several Legend Entertainment games (all of their (text) adventure titles, except for the late and, therefore, CPU/memory-hungry Death Gate and Shannara).
I especially recommend the "Norton System Info benchmarks: effects of different fine-tuned parameters" row to see how the performance of these emulators can be tweaked. As can clearly be seen, the only way to (slightly - but not much!) increase the performance of n0p's application is increasing the frameskip parameter. PocketDOS is more tweakable.
In the same row, I've also elaborated on the effects of enabling 286+ (with PocketDOS) /386+ (with the DOSBox ports) emulation. As can clearly be seen, the speed hit caused by these plug-ins is particularly high with PocketDOS. Try to stay away from the Bochs plug-in - it REALLY slows down the execution! The DOSBox plug-in of PocketDOS is clearly better. Too bad it has severe memory-related problems: the majority of 386+ games I've tested did run with "real" DOSBox ports but refused to start with the DOSBox plug-in of PocketDOS. They, on the other hand, generally ran under the (again, VERY slow) Bochs plug-in.
If you don't understand something in the chart, make sure you also check out the, in Section 2.1.3, already discussed dosbox.conf chart. I've elaborated on a lot of issues in there - for example, what the different mouse emulation modes mean, when they should be used, which games are affected etc.
Appendix A - SI benchmark results
In addition to the "tweaking" benchmarks I've elaborated on in the main chart (again, see the "Norton System Info benchmarks: effects of different fine-tuned parameters" row), I've made some really thorough benchmarks with n0p's DOSBox port to see how the frameskip parameter affects overall speed and what the speed of the different CPU cores are. This has all been measured on my 624 MHz Dell Axim x51v.
As can be seen (and has also been pointed out in the main chart),
it's not really worth using more frameskips than four or five; it won't result in further performance increase
the 'verysimple' core is about 50% faster at every frameskip settings than the full core. Interestingly, the, by n0p, not recommended, 386+-compatible normal / dynamic cores produced better results than the 'full' core. This also means if you need 386+ emulation, you may want to give a try to the 'normal' core first, and only then to the by n0p recommended 'full'.
Note that the tests were done using auto cycle settings. As has already been explained, you will NOT want to disable auto cycles. If you do disable them, you will have a hard time using these kinds of (synthetic) benchmarks to correctly benchmark your emulator. Some examples of this case (using Wall's emulator as an example):
The CPU cycles can be increased infinitively; at 9900 (instead of the, on the x51v, default 2700, where the SI index was supposed to be 16), it displayed an index of ~59. These values remained the same after starting a very CPU-intensive background process (Pocket Controller) to make screenshots. That is, the results are plain wrong.
The frameskip parameter doesn’t seem to have any effect (1 2), which is, of course, incorrect.
Recommended links / additional info
A trip down Memory Lane: PocketDOS and Realms of Arkania. The author asks whether the emulation speed depends on the speed of the medium PocketDOS is installed to / the games are stored on. In general, no; that is, you can keep your stuff on (even slow) memory cards and don't need to copy them into the main storage (let alone RAMDisks under WM5+).
Running Master of Orion under PocketDOS
A Russian thread on n0p's DOSBox
… and another, VERY long and informative one
A Russian thread on PocketDOS
Yes, and another one at www.soneric.ru
A German thread on n0p’s emulator, also pretty informative: DosBox für Pocket PC. It also contains a list of games running under n0p's emulator. Note that the original author states installing PocketDOS is very complicated because you need to get a copy of MS-DOS from somewhere. This is certainly not the case: later versions of PocketDOS have all come with MS-DOS built-in; on top of that, it's a free DOS version by default. No need to install anything else - and, if you install PocketDOS using the desktop installer EXE, you only need to run one EXE file and just press the Next buttons. He also states King's Quest 5 and 6 run slow under the emulator with 0.61 - that's not the case with 0.63 any more. Also note that, at first, he found that using the OpenGl value instead of Surface (see the Output parameter) results in slightly increased speed (using on a 400 MHz QVGA Loox). Later, however, he stated he didn't see any difference.
The old PocketDOS forum is HERE (was at Pocket PC FAQ; right now, the old contents is only accessible on the latter address); the new is HERE.
TIPS: How to get games working (well) under PocketDOS; a related remark & explanation on "Simulate display retrace" HERE
Working DosBox for X50v found (on Wall’s pDOSBox)
A Zodiac thread
A game compatibility list of (the old) PocketDOS 1.11. Note that its information isn't necessarily applicable to the latest (1.12) version; for example, the latter already runs both Spellcasting 101 and Populous without problems.
HERE: WM2003SE Dell Axim x50v + GAPI hack problems (NOT a problem with WM5-upgraded x50v's or any other models, including the x51v); some comparison between the current DOSBox ports
The Vogons (Very Old Games On New Systems) forum main page, listing all the other desktop DOS emulation projects (as has already been stated, DOSBox is "only" one of them)
Desktop DOSBox guide - really worth checking out for WM users too because it for example explains how MS-DOS apps should be configured, what drive names should be preferred etc. There is another tutorial HERE; it also explains the usage of the cycle and the frame skip parameters.
Some remarks on the two additional mouse emulation modes in the new n0p emulator version

Wisbar may result in the emulators’ hanging
Anyone know of any decent DOS emulators? (old!)
Retro Gaming help on XP (doing this on the desktop; however, the info is generally useful on the PPC ports too)
Good adventure/puzzle games for iPAQ 1950 - Nurhisham Hussein’s comments
Which DosBox works better?
PocketDOS?
windows 98 emulator – discusses PocketDOS’ (poor) Win emulation capabilities
A possible alternative to pDosBox (with sound) - at first, discusses n0p’s old port; then, switches to the new one.

UPDATE (06/03/2007):
In the meantime, I’ve been notified of a brand new, Wall-based project; pckDOS (current version: 0.63 001). To install it, just download pckDos_063_001.rar, decompress it and transfer the files inside it to anywhere on your PDA. Create a .lnk file to either pckVGA.exe to pck320.exe (for VGA and QVGA devices, respectively).
Unfortunately, it’s clearly worse than Wall’s version 2.0. While it does have VGA support, it’s even slower, has absolutely no sound emulation (not that that of Wall could be called satisfactory) and has no ways of quickly maximizing the SIP when possible (see “Left” on the D-pad with Wall 2.0 or clicking the upper left corner with n0p 0.63). At least the latter is a major problem; so are the traditional problems with Wall’s app (for example, messed-up characters in Legend Entertainment’s EGA games).
It’s very important to start pckDOS using a link; otherwise, you’ll have MAJOR SIP problems as can be seen in here. With Wall’s original 2.0 (or any other app), no such problems exist – that is, with them, you don’t need to put a link to the main executable in your Start menu.
All in all, this title is NOT recommended. Stick with Wall’s version 2 if the need for setting back the clock isn’t a problem because of (mostly) the maximizable SIP.
As far as MS Smartphone-compliance is concerned, the following needs to be known:
* n0p’s DOSBox 0.63 and the QVGA version of pckDOS 0.63 001 don’t even start on any SP platforms
* Wall’s 1.1 starts on QVGA devices (like the Vox) but has severe problems with text input: on the Vox, it’s impossible to enter characters that have a number of their secondary function
* The best is without doubt PocketDOS (tested with version 1.12): it has excellent text input capabilities using the numeric keypad of Smartphones and supports newer, higher-end QVGA devices (in both Portrait and Landscape mode), in addition to the traditional 176*220 screens (screenshots of the latter HERE and HERE - as can be seen, you can't expect much of the old, low-resolution Smartphone screens. Newer QVGA screens are WAY better.)
A screenshot of running the emulator on a new QVGA MS Smartphone (the HTC Vox) in Landscape mode:
(same, showing running Populous HERE)
Of course, it needs a LOT of learning because of the numerous input modes. This is only explained in the in-program help (screenshot) and, it seems, nowhere else. I’ve collected some of them so that you can have some idea how text input / cursor control work.
Main control:
Back Backspace
Esc Escape
Talk Cycle 'zoom' modes
Home Minimise PocketDOS
Vol Up/Down Scroll display left/right
Right Softkey Menu
Left Softkey Switch input modes
Text Mode:
# (Hold): Select symbol
#: Space
* (Hold): Select text entry method
0-9: Text entry
*: Cycle text entry methods
This is about the third of the available modes / controls: there are a lot of others.
I haven’t had any problems with PocketDOS running on newer (QVGA) Smartphones, except for the inability to activate the menu – the right softkey just didn’t work on my HTC Vox (tested both of them). It, on the other hand, worked flawlessly on my older WM5 AKU3 176*220 HTC Oxygen.
As usual, in the meantime, I’ve received a lot of praising for the article; for example, HERE is a sticky request at HowardForums, one of the most lively mobile phone forums by forum regular Ago Vino Verita

Emulating HP’s calculators on Windows Mobile

Hewlett-Packard’s calculator series, while in no way as popular or standardized as the emulators of Texas Instruments (please see THIS for the one and only COMPLETE overview of emulating the latter calculators on Windows Mobile), indeed have their place under the sun. What is more, they have way better emulators under Windows Mobile that TI.
Note that, as with the above-linked TI article, you may want to read this roundup and actively follow the for example Wiki links. Higher-end HP calculators (as with those of TI) can easily be better than any native calculator and/or unit converter on Windows Mobile (WM for short), let them be traditional touchscreen-enabled Pocket PC's (Windows Mobile 6 Professional / Classic models) or no-touchscreen Smartphones (Windows Mobile 6 Standard) devices. Furthermore, which should also be taken into account, the majority of these emulators can freely be used (as opposed to mostly commercial native WM calculators) – with the highest-end HP models even when you don’t actively own the original calculator. I provide you with all the necessary manual links so that you can easily find out more information on a given model – that is, you don’t even need to own the (original) manuals. Hats off to HP (as opposed to TI) for being so generous and providing the ROM image of their best calculators and allowing for using them even if you don’t own the original calculator!
As usual with most of my roundups, you simply won't find a better, more thorough source of the subject. This is particularly true of my first-hand information on MS Smartphone (Windows Mobile 6 Standard) compliance. That is, if you're lucky enough to have a newer, high-resolution (QVGA) Smartphone and look for a decent calculator compatible with your device, make sure you read this article - you won't find "hacking" tips like these anywhere else.
Let’s start with the most popular 48/49 series, which many consider even better than the top-of-the-line Texas Instruments calculator series, the TI-89.
1. Emulating HP-38G/39/40G/48GX/48SX/49G
The HP-48 and HP-49 series are no doubt the best calculators ever manufactured by HP. They are not only graphing calculators, but also support CAS (read THIS for more info on this very subject). Should you want, in addition to, say, the Wiki pages, a guide to the different models and their target audience, also check out hpcalc.org’s Calculator Buying Guide.
Also note that, in 2000, HP ACO allowed the use of the HP38, 39, 40, 48, 49 ROM's even if you're not an owner of this calculator type (see for example THIS for references); that is, you are free to use this emulator even if you don’t have the original calculator(s). This is great news, particularly given that the manuals of the calculators are also available online.
Fortunately, the Pocket PC emulation of all these models is very strong (no bugs, hi-res VGA support, object export/import supported on Windows Mobile too etc.), as opposed to that of TI calculators.
1.1 Download, installation, configuration
First, you must download and install the original Emu48CE (alternate download HERE; homepage HERE. Here, click Emu48CE on the left and, then, Downloads at the top.) Emu48 is THE emulator for these models. It’s so good some have even tried to sell it on Handango (needless to say, it’s free).
Make sure you install all the ROM’s you want to use on the when prompted as, by default, it only installs the 39G ROM’s as can be seen in HERE. Note that you MUST untick the “Install Emu48 on PDA (required)” checkbox as can be seen in here (it also shows I’ve enabled installing all the other ROM’s). (If you forget to untick this checkbox, don’t try to click the newly created GNU Emu48CE icon in Start/Programs. Instead, just go to Start/Settings/System, click Remove Programs and select "GNU Emu48CE V1.23". Click Remove and, then, Yes.)
Note that the ROM files are installed by separate CAB installers; therefore, you won’t want to automatically dismiss the “Please check your mobile device screen” dialog of the desktop ActiveSync installer before the installation of each module is finished to avoid messed-up installment (for example, ROM images installed to the built-in storage instead of the storage card because the default setting under WM5+ is the latter).
Now, go to the Christoph Giesselink’s (the leader of the emulation project) homepage HERE. You’ll need to download at least (two if you have a QVGA device) two files:
E48MB113 (should the direct link be broken, just go back to the homepage and look for something like “The executable package of Emu48 v1.13 for Pocket PC 2002, Windows Mobile 2003 (SE) and 5.0 (ARM platform).”, where 1.13 will be increased.
the ZIP file linked at the end of the description of the same program (“Already patched KML files (from Emu48CE without bitmaps) can be found here.”)
Decompress the contents of both ZIP files. Copy the decompressed files to the home directory of the emulator (it’s \Program Files\Emu48 when installed to the main storage – note that you will want to prefer installing the emulator to storage cards on models with little built-in storage because the ROM images take up a lot of memory). Make sure you overwrite ALL the original KML files!
Now, on a file explorer tool (for example, the built-in File Explorer) go to the same director right on your handheld and tap the just, manually transferred Emu48.ARM.CAB. This will create a new, Emu48 icon in Start/Programs (with WM5+ devices; with pre-WM5 ones, it’ll be right in the Start menu) – you can tap it right away.
Upon starting the emulator (or, when you choose File / New), you’ll be offered the choice of selecting a new so-called 'KML script'. I’ll elaborate on these scripts a bit more later; now, suffice it to say that they tell Emu48 which ROM to load and what keyboard bitmap to use. Note that the default files are optimized for QVGA (I’ll elaborate on VGA issues later) and most of the titles also contain the emulated model version; that is, it’ll be pretty easy to select one. (Of course, you can always experiment with the alternatives as the more popular and recent calculator models (48/49) have more than one KML file, all with different layout. That is, do experiment with them - it's certainly worth it.)

Let’s assume you want to emulate the 49G; therefore, let’s select one of the alternatives, “HP49G for Emu48”:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Now, click the OK button at the top right of the dialog (to the left of the X button). If nothing seems to happen, repeat this. You’ll be presented the results of the script compilation; if everything is OK, you’ll also see no error messages at the bottom of the scrollable text area and another OK button. The GUI loads and you can start working right away.
The KML script compilation process may encounter problems, particularly if you download additional KML scripts. You will want to do the latter to, for example, have a high-resolution VGA button layout on your VGA handheld, not just a low-resolution, ugly, blocky QVGA one. The two most common errors are the lack of the ROM file to load and the lack of the keyboard bitmap files:
When the ROM is missing, you will get the error message “This KML Script doesn't specify the ROM to use, or the ROM could not be loaded.”. If you don’t want to do some blind guesswork, just look into the associated KML file (with “HP49G for Emu48”, it’s in the file hp49.kml – just look for the “Title” at the top of each KML file to quickly find the associated source file) and look for the section defining the ROM; that is, the Rom parameter in the Global group at the top:
This states that, for the KML file to work, it needs a "ROM.49G" file in the same directory. Look around for the file – for example, reinstall it using the Emu48CE installer.
Missing bitmap files, for example, the lack of a “hp49.bmp.png” file in the home directory of Emu48, will result in receiving the compile error “Cannot Load Bitmap hp49.BMP” Fixing this problem, in general, only involves reinstallation and/or Googling for the given BMP layout file.
Finally, you may also encounter warnings (NOT fatal errors! That is, the compilation succeeds!) like “Patch BEEP.49G is Wrong or Missing”. These warnings can safely be ignored as these beep files only add beeping capability to the emulator – something you don’t necessarily want. If you DO need these files, however, you may find them all in the official, free HP SDK (details HERE, should the direct link refuse working) and copy emu\beep.48 / emu\BEEP.49G to the home directory of the emulator. Note that, alternatively, you can also find these beep files in the additional VGA skins, explained in the following section.
1.2 Additional KML files (a must for VGA users!)
The default keyboard skins coming with Emu48CE are QVGA only. If you have a VGA device, you’ll need to download the following skins:
Wombat3 for 48 SX and GX
HP49VGA for 49g
Just unZIP these files and transfer all the KML and bitmap files to the home directory of the emulator. After this, upon selecting a new KML file, you’ll also be shown these files as can be seen in HERE (Beemer’s 49G skin) and HERE (the Wombat3 GX skin). In action, they are indeed very cool as can be seen for example in HERE and HERE. Much prettier than low-res QVGA skins, aren’t they?
Note that if you don’t like the original (white) Wombat3 48GX script, you can also give a try to the dark, much more "natural" Juan Pardo scripts HERE. It’s not only more “natural”, but also contains some new, useful buttons in the upper left area of the screen. Example screenshot HERE.
There are several Landscape skins too (unfortunately, not in VGA – that is, for example HTC Universal / Athena users are left in cold. By default, the VGA skins aren’t Landscape-compliant.)
1.3 Usage
After all the hurdles of the installation (and, if you’re a VGA user, the additional installation of VGA skins), you can rejoice: the rest is much easier and there are no known problems with the emulator running on a Pocket PC (WM Classic / Professional), unlike with the TI emulator.
If, on the other hand, you only have a MS Smartphone, don’t expect much: while (after manually extracting and installing the files) the emulator itself starts, you can’t go any further from the KML selector screen (tested on the QVGA HTC Vox in both orientation modes; screenshot HERE and HERE).
The emulators can be used in exactly the same way as the original calculator. The only difference is the lack of the “physical” expansion like SD cards / connectivity. However, there is connectivity emulation in the emulator.
1.3.1 What if you don’t know the original calculators?
The documentation / manuals of all these models are available online. See the following links:
49G+ / 48II docs
It’s also linked from this generic page, with manuals of previous models too (note that the HP39 link doesn’t work; use the one HERE instead). I especially recommend the HP48 manual HERE if you’d like to more closely learn more about the system. Note that, however, you don’t necessarily need to read it; my tutorial will be sufficient to get you started and even load third party apps into the emulator. Only check it out if you really want to learn more about these excellent calculators.

1.3.2 Uploading third-party software in the emulator
Get the software title, start the emulator, make sure it doesn’t do anything and, in the desktop version grab the binary distribution (it’s, in most cases, ends in .lib file) to the emulator image. In the Windows Mobile version, select Edit / Load Object and select the file. Note that as, on Windows Mobile, Emu48 uses the system-level, default file dialog box, you may want to put your files in either \My Documents or in the root / the first subdirectory of your storage cards in order to be seen. Alternatively, you may want to install Mad Programmer’s free, excellent File Dialog Changer as is explained in for example HERE. In here, I’ll go on with showing you desktop Windows screenshots; after loading an object, it must be saved into the local memory using exactly the same steps as on the desktop Windows.
In this example, I show how the single PSYCH13.lib file of the HP-48GX version of Psychro needs to be deployed.
To make absolutely sure a given program file can be deployed in the emulator with simple (object) drag and drop, look into the beginning of the file. If it is indeed binary and starts with HPHP as for example in this example:
then, it’s compatible with this transfer model. (Otherwise, for other types of resources like additional GIF files with, say, games like the 48 port of Prince of Persia, you must use the MUCH more complicated terminal emulation. I don’t elaborate on the latter as most math libraries – the files that you most probably want to run, as opposed to games – come as standard LIB files deployable this way.)
After dragging, you’ll see something like THIS.
Now, you will need to store the uploaded program in one of the so-called “ports”. It’s how HP refers to different memory types. Port 2 is, for example, the emulated SD cards in the 49G+ (and the 50G), the highest-end 49-series model(s). With other devices, only port 0 and 1 are accessible; of the two, you’ll want to use the latter.
To do this, just press 1 and, then, STO (the second button in the second row on the 48GX). The stack list will be cleared, showing the object was indeed saved.
Now, switch off the device (the green button and ON; both are at the bottom right) and, then, again on (the lower left ON button). Press the green button again and, then, 2 (LIBRARY). You should see the title “PSYCH” in the title area at the bottom (also see where the mouse cursor stands in the screenshot!). You can click it (two times) to start it (screenshot of the running app HERE).
You can add a lot of other apps in the same way: when no program runs, just drag-and-drop the program, click 1 and STO, switch off and on the machine and voila: the new program is ready to run and listed in the Library section, next to earlier deployed libraries (screenshot of running HERE).
1.3.3 Downloading additional software
The best source of additional software is the archives of hpcalc.org. See THIS for HP48 and THIS for HP49 software.
Just an example of some famous libraries directly deployable on a 48 (from the Symblic Math category)
Erable 3.024
ALG48 4.2
In addition, there are other pages to acquire software from; for example, that of Savage Transcendental Studios. This page contains some additional database / Japanese studying 48GX/49G(+) apps. Some of them are simple libraries (for example, the 48G version of Kana Tutor and Psychro), which can be loaded straight into the desktop emulator via simple drag-and-dropping and, to the Windows Mobile one, by simple object importing. These programs are also accompanied with PDF files explaining how this needs to be done.
2. HP-41; dedicated website
There is only one, free emulator to emulate these old, alphanumeric calculators, eV41. It’s currently at version 0.93 and it’s highly unlikely it’ll be developed further (it was last modified over five years ago). Not that it’d be THAT important: for example, it supports loading user code even in current form.
Note that in order to access the WM version, you’ll need to register yourself! Also note that this distro also contains the desktop Windows emulator.
Fortunately, using this emulator is pretty straightforward and there are no known problems / bugs running it on any platform, except for the lack of Landscape (don’t try relying on scrolling because, as with the TI emulator, it’ll result in bitmap problems as can be seen in HERE) and Smartphone (a “hacked” version of ev41 doesn’t find some DLL) support.

3. HP17B/17BII/19BII/27S/28S/42S: emu42
(current desktop and Pocket PC version: 1.09 and 1.08, respectively; note that the page at hp42s.com lists OLD versions. HERE is the manual.)
As with later calculators (the above-introduced emu48 and the HP38/39/40/48/49), there is an all-in-one emulator for the HP 17B, 17BII, 27S, 28S (1988, semi-graphical: 137*32), 42s (weaker Wiki page HERE; released in 1989; still WAY worse than the TI-89 – for example, no real graphing).
It uses exactly the same approach to KML files / skinning as emu48; that is, if you do read the emu48-related first chapter, then, you won’t have problems deploying for example new, additional skins from the homepage (for example, the VGA 42S skin, SKN42SMV - since version 1.02, it also supports VGA resolution). Fortunately, as opposed to Emu48, it requires no tricks when installing – no need to manually copying KML files etc.
Note that, unlike with Emu48CE, you must download the ROM’s from your calculators manually – they aren’t available on the Web (don’t even try to run a Web search for the ROM names in the KML files.) If this is a problem and you need to emulate the 42s, I have some great news for you: there is another 42s emulator, Free42, which does not require a ROM image.
4. HP42s: Free42 1.4.36.
As has already been mentioned, as opposed to Emu42 discussed in the previous chapter, this emulator does not require a ROM image and may be used even if you aren’t a rightful owner of the original emulator.
There are two versions of the emulator: decimal and binary. The latter is much faster but, because of the internal representation differences, may not work with some legacy applications. If this is not a problem, install the binary version (copy and execute it there to install). Also see the section “What's the deal with the "Decimal" and "Binary"?” in the README.txt coming enclosed in the ZIP archive. The two versions can co-exist without problems on the same machine and, therefore, you can always go back to the decimal version, should a given application refuse running.
(the same with the “realistic” skin, which is pretty blurred because of the low resolution)
Note that, as with the ROM’s, the original, official manual of the 42s isn’t available on the Web either (as opposed to the 39G/40G (CAS)/41C/48G/49G+ series with manuals online); however, there’s an unofficial ‘fan’ manual HERE. The latter manual is very easy to understand – actually, I’ve found it much easier to comprehend than HP’s official manual.
Compatibility-wise, you can use the numeric keys of devices with built-in keyboard. It’s not compatible with the Landscape mode. It’s capable of importing / exporting programs. And, finally, good news for QVGA Smartphone users: if you copy the executable file(s) (after manually extracting it/them from the CAB file(s)) to your phone, it’ll run flawlessly. The numeric (phone) keys will work OK; for the rest of the keys to access, you’ll need a cursor emulator like SPHelper. Example screenshot or it, running on my HTC Vox / s710 (the cursor is that of SPHelper):
Of course, this only applies to QVGA Smartphones - traditional (176*220) models will only show part of the skin and are, consequently, useless.
5. HP-16C
This calculator, mainly meant for computer programmers needing for example binary / hexa conversions, was manufactured between 1982 and 1989. Also see THIS for an intro to this model. It only has one emulator, CP16 (direct download links HERE); the current version is 0.326.
Installing and using this emulator is pretty easy: you download the above-linked ZIP file, extract cp16_ppc.exe from it, transfer it to your Windows Mobile device and start it from File Explorer (you can, of course, put a link to it into \Windows\Start Menu\Programs).
Compatibility-wise, it’s not Smartphone-compliant. It has built-in support for Landscape (View / Landscape); for it to work, you must start the calculator in Portrait mode because the emulator only rotates the GUI for itself, not on the OS level. This also means you won’t be able to use it in left-handed Landscape mode (the native mode for the Universal, Wizard, TyTN / Hermes and all other Pocket PC’s with a slide-out keyboard) unless you use a third-party hack to rotate the Portrait screen with 180 degrees before starting.

6. HP-10B Plus (business), HP-12C (financial; is still being manufactured (since 1981)) and HP-15C (advanced scientific)
I elaborate on these three calculator models in the same chapter because they are emulated by very similar, commercial emulators by Lygea Calculators. They are self-standing applications meaning you won't need to hunt for / download ROM images.
These emulators are as follows:
Pocket 10B SE Business Calculator 2.0; ($19.95) (WM6 VGA screenshot)
Pocket 12C SE Financial Calculator 1.61; $23.95 (WM6 VGA screenshot)
Pocket 15C SE Scientific Calculator 1.22; $20.95; WM6 VGA screenshot:
Using and the compatibility / features of these three emulators are pretty similar. For example, all of them support the Landscape orientation (example of the 10B emulator HERE) and use hi-res on VGA devices and, generally, look “cool”.
Note that all these emulators store their resolution-dependent resource DLL’s into \Windows, which isn’t the best news for users of some non-native WM5 models updated to WM5; for example, the HP iPAQ hx4700. Unfortunately, relocating these files to the app’s home directory won’t work (haven’t tested the same with relocating to another directory on the System Path - it might work).
Smartphone compliance-wise, the hacked (EXE + DLL’s in \Windows) version, unfortunately, doesn’t display the three bottom icons for going further (and clicking around won’t help either). That is, while you can enter the reg. number (with a cursor emulator like SPHelper), you just can’t go further. This means no (hackable) Smartphone compliance.
6.1 Pocket BizCalc by Odyssey Computing, Inc. 4.0.09
The 12C is also emulated by Pocket BizCalc by Odyssey Computing, Inc. It’s pretty OK and considerably cheaper ($14.95) (but much uglier, non-Landscape-compliant and not making advantage of hi-res resolutions) than the Lygea emulator.
Note that Michu’s Emupage only lists the H/PC and the Palm-size PC versions. You won’t want to get any of them: the H/PC version has major screen rendering problems (for example, the original LCD screen is invisible; see THIS and THIS if interested) and the latter is MIPS / SH3-only; that is, it won’t work on ARM devices, meaning any PPC2k2+ Pocket PC’s manufactured in the last 5-6 years.
Also see HPC:Factor’s review HERE if interested.
Smartphone compatbility-wise, after manually extracting and transferring the pbizcalc.exe file to the QVGA smartphone, it’s more or less usable. However, the right and the bottom side of the GUI will be hidden. This, unfortunately, means the multiply, addition, substraction, division and addition operations (along with some more advanced memory operations) won’t be available to “click” via a cursor emulator like SPHelper. (Screenshot HERE)

7. HP-10B II (Business; Wiki stub)
A similar (but definitely weaker – see below!) calculator, Moravia Advanced Financial Calculator 1.0 (direct Emupage download link; can’t be found on PenReader’s homepage any more), is available (but, given that PenReader doesn’t seem to support it any more, it’s rather dubious whether it’s worth paying for).
As can be seen, this calculator is definitely inferior to the original one – just compare the functionality it offers to that of the original (see the buttons in the screenshot above and those of the originals at the MyCalcDB page. It’s not a 10B emulator either (see the original page HERE).
Smartphone compliance-wise, if you extract the one and only EXE file from the original CAB file, it’ll run flawlessly on QVGA models in Portrait mode as can be seen in the following screenshot (just press the Action button when you’re shown the license agreement to get rid of it):
Unfortunately, you must use a cursor emulator even for inputting numbers – the numeric keys won’t work. And, of course, don’t expect compatibility with traditional 176*220 Smartphones either because of the skin size (screenshot).
8. What next?
This is the second instalment in my thorough article series on Windows Mobile calculators, the one on Texas Instruments calculators being the first. I'll soon publish the third instalment on native (non-emulator) Windows Mobile titles. Stay tuned
9. Other discussions of HP emulators
Some links for readers wanting to know what others think about the emulators.
Hp 48g/48g+/48gx/49g/49g+/49gx
Tutorial: HP48G calculator on your Axim.
Emu98CE; also quickly elaborates on emulating other HP models
Engineering Software
HP48 Emulator with 2003?
Cool! HP48GX Emulater
RPN Calculator (also discusses other, earlier HP models)
Need a recommendation for a calculator (mostly on other, non-HP models)
Graphing calculator - advice?? (mostly on TI’s calculators)
good scientific calculator... (generic)
Graphing Calculator for Axim? (generic)
Calculator Software
Math apps! (Calc. Emulators, Plotting, Physics, etc.) - PLease! (generic; note that the VGA 49 link doesn’t work any more)
Calculators (general; mostly about TI)

Emulating home computers on Windows Mobile Part V - Sinclair ZX Spectrum

UPDATE (06/18/2007): an updated version posted to http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2030&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 . Sorry, I don't repost it here: it'd take far too much time / energy to cut it into manageable, postable pieces. That is, the version below is the first, outdated one. Make sure you follow the link to the newer.
The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was a very popular home computer system in the eighties.
The history of the Spectrum didn't end at the official, 1990 discontinuation of the series. As with the Commodore 64 (see the review of all Windows Mobile-based C64 emulators HERE) , which still receives top-notch scene demos, the Spectrum had (and is still having!) a spectacular afterlife in the ex-Soviet states; most importantly, Belarus and Russia.
Particularly in Russia, there have been a plethora of self-manufactured ZX Spectrum-based home computers throughout the entire nineties, with a lot of fans and developers. This trend even continued to this century - currently, there is some hardware manufacturers still producing ZX Spectrum-based & compatible computers like the Pentagon and the ATM Turbo. While these models, in general, haven't really improved on the (gaming-wise, particularly weak) graphics subsystem of the original Spectrum (not taking the new low-res EGA-like mode into account), they come with plenty of memory (128k to 1M in general), good sound capabilities, IDE hard disk, CD-ROM, mouse etc.
Russia's leading role in the ZX Spectrum's surviving has also resulted in something else: a steady stream of software titles released for these ZX Spectrum-based computers. Just pay a visit to the Virtual TR-DOS main page (Wiki), which is the largest archive of the software ever released for these models. I especially recommend downloading the full app / games database (it's the Virtual TR-DOS Games & Press Base link on the main page) and browsing the database. Titles with the type "RU" are all genuine games developed by Russian developers. Titles with the type "D" are also interesting because they show what projects Russian developers have ever embarked on (but, then, either failed at or, at least, didn't deliver a final, fully working version). The dedicated demo download page is HERE. I've even posted some screenshots of a somewhat working (!) Civilization and Wolf3D-clone in the The Comparison & Feature Chart (“Chart” for short). You WILL want to check out these demos in a capable emulator (in either the desktop-based Unreal Speccy or its Windows Mobile version, UnrealSpeccyPPC) - they are really fun and clearly show these models (except for the really bad, one-colour graphics) are much-much better than anything imaginable on the original ZX Spectrum. You may also want to check out some scene demos (again, under a capable, compatible emulator); for example, the two ZX demos written by AND, author of UnrealSpeccyPPC. While, technically (mostly graphics-wise), these clones aren't as good as the Commodore 64, some demos (and genuine Russia-based) are really top-notch.
If, on the other hand, you "only" want to play old, original, commercial games written for the original ZX models and are not at all interested in advanced stuff like watching Russian demos written for somewhat more advanced Spectrum clones, you will also want to read on - you'll find all the answers in this article.
In this roundup, I present a full roundup of the Windows Mobile (both Pocket PC and MS Smartphone) emulators of the platform. As usual, I'm absolutely sure you won't find a better discussion of the subject anywhere else. And, in addition, I present you a lot of new and REALLY groundbreaking information never ever published in English - only in Russian (one of the several languages I have the honor to speak) and a very short news item in Czech. Yes, this is the FIRST roundup to report on the BEST ZX Spectrum emulator ever written, UnrealSpeccyPPC. You can be pretty much happy that I also speak Russian (along with a lot of other languages) – without my knowing the language, Windows Mobile users would have ended up being not reported on this really groundbreaking emulator, let alone being presented with a usable tutorial, which I also provide in here – probably not even in the future.
This roundup is somewhat different from the previous one discussing Commodore 64 emulators. The sole reason for this is very simple: of the five Pocket PC-capable Spectrum emulators, there is only one that should be preferred unless you need Portrait mode or an on-screen keyboard with all the original labels. With the C64 emulators, there were two strong Pocket PC contenders (PocketCommodore64 and PocketHobbit) and, of course, the Smartphone-based PocketHobbitSP2003. In the case of the Spectrum, fortunately, there is only one really recommended emulator, which greatly simplifies the discussion.
This means I put particular emphasis on the most recommended Pocket PC emulator, UnrealSpeccyPPC, unlike the other two non-disqualified titles (PocketClive and SpectrumAnyWhere), let alone the two titles (the comparatively new, but with the arrival of UnrealSpeccyPPC, already-outdated PocketSpeccy and the very old (the last version was released in 1999), Handheld PC-specific SinclairSpectrumEmulator), which I haven't included in the Chart . Of course, as far as the MS Smartphone platform is concerned, I also put particular emphasis on the most recommended MS Smartphone emulator, FuseSP. This, of course, doesn't mean I completely ignore the two non-disqualified Pocket PC-specific titles (PocketClive and SpectrumAnyWhere) either - I've very thoroughly compared them to the rest in the Chart . It's just that, in the textual tutorial below, I don't elaborate on how you can for example load programs. In the Chart, you'll find most of the needed information though.

First, let's elaborate on whether it's at all worth emulating ZX Spectrum (or, of course, one of its more advanced, Russian clones).
1.1 Is Windows Mobile-based Spectrum emulation worth the trouble at all?
While, technically, the ZX Spectrum has FAR inferior gaming capabilities compared to the most important, direct competitor of the model, the Commodore 64, in certain cases (not taking into the account of emulating post-Soviet games / hardware), it may still be worth preferring to emulate other platforms.
First, there are several games not released for other platforms or, when released at all, these titles are not possible to get. For example, should you want to play the classic game Pssst, you WILL need Spectrum emulation (unless you play the Flash remake). Also, there are some other well-known titles not existing on many other platforms; for example, Lords of Midnight and Doomdark's Revenge. These two, excellent titles only existed on two other platforms (C64 and the Amstrad CPC); therefore, should you be unable to find for example a copy of the C64 / CPC version, you may end up having to play the Spectrum one.
Furthermore, as opposed to, say, emulating the Amstrad CPC or the Commodore Amiga, the Spectrum is emulated without major glitches and on even very slow Pocket PC's and MS Smartphones. While it's impossible to play most Amiga games on even the fastest Windows Mobile devices without stuttering sound, ZX Spectrum games run on even on lowest-end, 7-year-old models without problems. This also includes today's TI OMAP-based Pocket PC and Smartphone models, of course.
Supporting low-end hardware, fortunately, also means support for even low-end, low-resolution (176*220) MS Smartphones. As the Smartphone platform has way fewer games than its big brother, the Pocket PC, emulation becomes even more important. While, fortunately, there are some really excellent gaming console emulators for MS Smartphones (even 176*220 ones) - for example, Masterall's emulator masterpieces and SmartGear, home computers are generally not emulated on the platform (that is, there are no for example Atari ST or Amiga emulators for the MS Smartphone). The lack of (home computer) emulators and native games makes it very important for any MS Smartphone user to have access to a plethora of ZX Spectrum games, which are, as has already been pointed out, perfectly emulated even on low-end, cheap mobiles.
1.1.1 When to stick to emulating another platform?
Of course, not all titles should be played in a Spectrum emulator. For example, when a particular title also exist for the Nintendo NES, the SNES, NEC’s TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine), the Sega Master System (SMS), Genesis / Mega Drive or Game Gear, going for these emulators may turn out to be a better choice. (Please do click the links for the complete rundown of the Windows Mobile emulation possibilities. Also make sure you follow the other, for example Commodore 64 / Amiga / Atari ST / Amstrad CPC / IBM PC links to emulating home computers.) With the exception of SNES, the emulators of these systems are also very low-end handheld-friendly and the games, in general, are at least as good as on the Spectrum (and, in MOST cases, technically MUCH better, with much more advanced graphics and/or music).

As a rule of thumb, if you plan to play a given title but would like to get the best gaming experience, go to Wikipedia, look up the given title and check out what other platforms it has been ported to (it’s listed in the text box on the right, in the “Platform(s)” row). In general, you can safely ignore the Commodore Amiga (as long as you want sound) ports. If there is an Atari ST port (another, more advanced home computer with excellent Windows Mobile emulation capabilities), you may want to check it out; as is the case with most C64, NES, SNES, SMS, PC Engine, Genesis and Game Gear ports. Most of these games / ROM's are available on the Web. In my past articles, I've explained how you can find these titles and what you will need to play them on your Windows Mobile device.
The same stands for games that have a native Windows Mobile interpreter; for example, Magnetic Scrolls titles. Speaking of these excellent games, unfortunately, the ZX Spectrum versions have no pictures at all - as opposed to even the C64 version. Therefore, in no way should you use a Spectrum emulator to enjoy these games – unless you don’t need images, that is.
1.2 Downloading C64 games / apps / demos off the Web
All emulators are common in that they, generally, read standardized file formats. If you're new to Spectrum emulation, you need to know about tape and snapshot images (and, if you would like to access the mostly post-Soviet TR-DOS titles, disk files). All emulators handle both tape and snapshot formats; UnrealSpeccyPPC, THE most recommended emulator, also handles disk images.
The main source of original (non-post-Soviet) Spectrum games and other titles is worldofspectrum.org. It at least lists all the available games. Note that, should it not contain the tape images of a given title because of (C) reasons, you will need to Google around. It’s by doing the same that I've found a source of R-Type, for example. Also, the Virtual TR-DOS main page has almost all old titles; I'd, however, prefer worldofspectrum.org to it because it has a lot of other, great information (game manuals, links to original articles / tips), unless you look for something not available in the latter or, of course, post-Soviet titles.
(Note that, still speaking of worldofspectrum.org, it has a pretty good and up-to-date emulator lists, also with WinCE (PPC) and Smartphone sections. The former still doesn’t list UnrealSpeccyPPC.)
As far as scene demos are concerned, your best friend will be zxdemo.org. It contains a generic, international (not just post-Soviet) overview of the scene, albeit, sometimes, it also contains weird stuff like this article, which, it seems, mistakes Finland for a post-Soviet country ("Q. How active is the demo scene in the UK? A. Well, on the Spectrum there's just a few of us keeping it all together. Over here the Spectrum scene is more focused on the whole retro gaming thing. As far as the wider scene goes, there are a couple of groups, but we're not really as active as other places like Finland. It does make you wonder - do they teach kids C at kindergarten or something?" FYI: it's not for the ZX Spectrum demoscene that Finland is famous for. In this regard, the two ex-Soviet, Russian-speaking countries are WAY ahead of Finland.) The direct Spectrum demo / tune downloads are HERE.

1.3 Using the emulators
After you've downloaded the games you'd like to play (demos you want to watch etc.) and installed the emulator, start the latter. Note that as none of the current emulators support archived files, you will need to decompress the files before transferring them to your handheld.
The target directory is very important as it's only one title, the (otherwise) most recommended UnrealSpeccyPPC, that is capable of loading Spectrum titles from anywhere in the file system. This is particularly true when used together with Mad Programmer's File Dialog Changer in order to be able to navigate to any directory, and not just the root and the direct subfolders of the root, as is the case with WM5+. Please see my earlier articles on how FDC should be installed and used.
The other emulators (including the only one native MS Smartphone emulator, FuseSP) all require the files to be put in a specific directory so that the emulator can find them. They are, in all cases, either the home directory of the emulator or a subdirectory of it. This also means you MUST install the emulators on a storage card if you want to avoid your built-in storage to be overcrowded with Spectrum files.
Please see the "File dialog?" row in the Chart for more information on what these directories are.
1.3.1 Loading programs into the emulators
The two (main) types of available media also means vastly different methods of loading them.
1.3.1.1 Snapshot files
First, with "snapshot" files (files that, effectively, contain a full print of the memory & full state of a computer), you just click them and they're immediately (without having to wait anything) loaded.
The advantage of this approach is immediate loading. The disadvantage is the lack of boot screens (which you may want to see - at least once. Some of them, for example, that of Rainbow Islands, is pretty cool) and the comparatively big size (as the entire RAM is saved - even with programs that are way smaller in size).
You can recognize a snapshot file by its extension: SLT, SP, SNA or Z80; the latter two being the most common.
1.3.1.1.1 Snapshot file loading in UnrealSpeccyPPC
To load a snapshot file in UnrealSpeccyPPC (the recommended emulator for the Pocket PC), after starting the emulator, click the large Open File button at the top (screenshot here; note that, as with all my all screenshots, I traverse the focus to the button / GUI item you need to activate so that it is easily recognizable). Note that, after loading something, its label will change to the full path + file name of the currently attached file as can also be seen in HERE. After this, click the file to load and, then, click Start at the bottom left (later, when you exit back to this screen to, say, make some changes in the settings, this button will be renamed to Resume). The execution will immediately be transferred to the given title.
1.3.1.1.2 Snapshot file loading in FuseSP
Conversely, to do the same in FuseSP (the recommended emulator for the MS Smartphone), after loading the emulator, go to Menu (right softkey) / 1 Load Snapshot; in the Select Snapshot GUI list control, select the one you'd like to load (pressing Action will result in being presented a full, vertical list of all the available ones to greatly speed up the selection; just press the Action button again to select a title from this view.). Then, just press Done (left softkey); you'll be taken right into the emulator, running the just-loaded title.
1.3.1.2 Tape files
Loading tape files are a bit different because they, by default, aren't auto-started in the Pocket PC emulators (including UnrealSpeccyPPC); it's only on the MS Smartphone where they are auto-loaded by default (which can be disabled).
Tape files have the file extension TAP, TZX (and CSW with UnrealSpeccyPPC). Compared to snapshot images, they are, in cases, MUCH slower to load but more closely mimic the actual tape loading experience, with some emulators (UnrealSpeccyPPCis one of theml FuseSP isn't), even exactly the same visual (border coloring) and audio (beeps) effects. In addition, you'll always see the infamous loader (title) screens not possible with snapshot-based games.
1.3.1.2.1 Tape file loading in UnrealSpeccyPPC
To load a tape file in UnrealSpeccyPPC, do exactly the same as you did with loading the snapshot file: that is, click the large Open File button and select the file. Now, however, before clicking Start, make sure you set the drop-down menu between the Open File and the "Reset" button to BASIC 48 (if it's a program compatible with the 48k Spectrum and not requiring a Spectrum 128). After this, instead of the Start (Resume) button you used with the snapshot images, you will need to press Reset (so that the previous program, if present, is removed from the emulator).
Now, you'll be taken to the BASIC prompt of the emulator, which resets itself. After bringing up the on-screen keyboard (click the keyboard icon at the bottom right corner), just click "J". This will result in "LOAD" to be inserted in the command row. Now, press the somewhat smaller "S" in the lower right area of the on-screen keyboard (it, then, becomes red showing it’s in effect) and press " (Symbol Shifted character of the P key). Repeat the same so that you see the command
LOAD ""
on the screen. Now, press the Enter key - it's just under the already-used P key; it's denoted by a ^ character. The tape loading process will start.
Should you make an error during this, just click the small "c" in the lower left corner of the keyboard and, then, click '0' (zero). This will delete a character (or a full command) backwards. Remember to click "c" again if you want to delete more than one character.

1.3.1.2.1.1 Disk file loading in UnrealSpeccyPPC
Finally, loading disk files (in UnrealSpeccyPPC only) is even more different. Start with the usual Open File / selection screen and press Reset. (You will, as opposed to the Tape loading screen, NOT need to set the operating system to something else than TR-DOS!)
You'll be presented a directory list on a green background. Using the 6/7/8/9 buttons on the on-screen keyboard, position the mouse cursor on top of the item you'd like to load so that it is highlighted. (With most, say, Virtual TR-DOS or contemporary, post-Soviet disk images / demos / games, there's only programs in the image and, therefore, you'll only see one image in there.) After this, click 0 (fire) - the given program will be loaded and started.
1.3.1.2.2 Tape file loading in FuseSP
To load a tape file in FuseSP, in the “UI mode”, select Menu / 2 Load Tape and do the same as previously, with snapshot images – that is, select the file to load. Note that you should NOT untick the “Auto load” checkbox. Should you untick it, you would need to, after manually resetting the emulator (Menu / 6 Reset), manually enter LOAD””. This would be pretty problematic – if you don’t have a built-in full thumbboard, the only way of doing this is assigning all the used letters and signs (L, O, A, D, “) to a hardware / phonepad button, one by one and, then, pressing them. As is also pointed out elsewhere in this roundup, this is what makes it (almost) impossible to issue any long(er) custom commands in FuseSP.
1.3.2 Other features / settings
1.3.2.1 Turbo mode
UnrealSpeccyPPC allows for a "turbo" mode in addition to the "100% speed" one. The former will allow for, on current, fast Windows Mobile devices, much (in cases even 1500% of the original Spectrum speed) faster program execution.
Enabling turbo mode also greatly speeds up tape loading. However, it, as with the C64 emulator PocketHobbit, it also results in most importantly character input problems: with enabled turbo mode, you won't even be able to enter almost anything because of the doubled characters. Also, games will be unnecessarily fast.
This means you will only want to enable turbo mode during, say, lengthy tape loading sessions. To do this, just press Application button 4 on your Pocket PC. You will also see the FPS value, continuously displayed in the lower left corner of the screen, to be increased (and the sound muted).
1.3.2.2 Buttons
Better emulators also let for redefining buttons. This is essential when dealing with non-Kempston joystick emulation and on the MS Smartphone platform, where you need to assign original alphanumeric letters to the phonepad / control buttons of the device so that you can use the given letters / numbers at all (assuming your Smartphone doesn't have a built-in keyboard).
1.3.2.2.1 Buttons in UnrealSpeccyPPC
To make any (additional) button assignments in UnrealSpeccyPPC, as is also pointed out in the "Joystick: supported keyboard layouts " row of the Chart, you'll need to click Advanced Settings, tap-and-hold the functionality you’d like to assign and select Assign. (If you no longer need the previous assignment(s) of a button, just select Empty in the same menu.)
You can also manually edit the action_map.ini file in the home directory of the emulator. Make sure you convert the file back to the LF-only (Unix-style) format from the DOS/Windows-specific, CR+LF format, should you use a Windows-based editor also putting CR's at the end of each line. Note that it's quite unlikely you'll need to modify existing button assignments as the built-in, pre-defined ones cover most games.
1.3.2.2.2 Buttons in FuseSP
With the MS Smartphone-based FuseSP, the situation is wildly different. This emulator, unlike PocketHobbitSP2003 (the C64 emulator for the MS Smartphone), doesn't let for arbitrary character input. That is, unfortunately, unlike with PocketHobbitSP2003, you can't just use the phonepad in the traditional text input way.
While the default character mapping, that is, numerals (and the most widely used other control characters: Enter (Talk), Space (hang up)) are assigned to the phone buttons (including the volume up/down keys, the Power button and the two softbuttons), and these assignments generally work great in most games (where you need to use the numerals 1, 2, 3 etc. to select at least a joystick mode), you may need to assign other characters to a specific button so that you can enter other types of characters.
If you encounter situations like this, go to the main screen (by pressing the Back or the Home key while in the main emulation window; this is what the README.txt coming with the emulator calls "UI Mode", as opposed to the in-emulation "Spectrum mode"), invoke the main menu (right soft key), select "5 Define Keys", select a hardware button (for example, Left Softkey) to assign the given original key to, press the Action button to quickly bring up the selection list, select the new assigned key (for example, in here, “A”) and press Done (left softkey). The assignment will change.
Incidentally, this menu can seem a bit complicated at first because, in addition to the plain character assignment operations, it's also here that you can en/disable Kempston emulation (enabled by default) and mirror the D-pad directions to the phone keys so that you can not only control the game via the D-pad, but also with the phonepad buttons 2/8/4/6 for down / up / left / right. If you don't need the latter functionality (because you exclusively use the D-pad to control your player) but would prefer to be able to assign more functionalities / more original keys to the available (few) hardware buttons, you can safely untick the "Mirror Joystick on Keys" checkbox in here, which is enabled by default.)

Also, again, note that it's in here, at the top (with the "Kempston Joystick" checkbox, that you can disable the Kempston emulation. Should a given game not support Kempston, you'll need to untick this checkbox and, right below the checkbox, make sure you correctly assign the four directions (and the Action button) to real, original keys. These assignments, naturally, aren't editable while Kempston emulation is enabled (after all, Kempston isn't character input emulation-based). However, after disabling Kempston, you can freely edit them, should their default value (the traditional Sinclair interface) be useless.
Note that, fortunately, the key binding / assignment settings are separately saved for each game. This is highly useful because games tend to use different button assignments and continuously redefining them can prove really annoying.
Finally, note that, in FuseSP, you can explicitly (it’s disabled by default) enable the use of external, built-in key/thumbboard, as is the case with UnrealSpeccyPPC, where, in order to make built-in keyboards work, you must select the “Keyboard + cursor” control scheme in BUTTONS. To do this, go to Menu / 4 Options and tick “Device has full keyboard”. Note that it will NOT work correctly with the HTC Vox / S710 slide-out keyboard – the numerals will be used instead of the alphabetic keys, only letting some keys to be accessed. Users of non-sliding, Landscape keyboards, on the other hand, reported success with their keyboards.
1.3.2.3 Joysticks
Traditionally, the Spectrum had a wildly different approach to controlling games than the Commodore 64 or most other home computers designed & manufactured after 1982. The Spectrum not having a built-in joystick port, the user needs to use the keyboard for control. By default, the keys 5 (left), 6 (down),7 (up) and 8 (right) are used to direction control in many games (and, of course, in the BASIC too) and, in general, 0 to fire. You can control a lot of games with this scheme; for example, Harrier Attack! and Pssst, just to name a few.
However, this keyboard-based control was really awkward, which were helped in two ways.
First, other blocks of buttons, more closely representing the four directions and separated to the left and right sides of the keyboard, have been used by some games. The most important of these assignment is the QAOPM scheme, where Q is used for left, O for down, P for up, A for right. For firing, traditionally, two keys were used: either M or the space. Should you encounter a game supporting these buttons instead of the standard 5/6/7/8 ones, you will want to reassign the D-pad directions to use these buttons. Note that, with UnrealSpeccyPPC, where there are several pre-defined control schemes (and you can also create your own ones), you will only need to select the one you need in the BUTTONS tab in Advanced Options. If there's no pre-defined schema for a given game, you'll want to edit action_map.ini by conveniently copying an already-defined block of button assignments, giving it a meaningful name (in the first, preset= attribute) and make the necessary changes. After storing the file and restarting the emulator, the new schema will be visible and selectable. Alternatively, you can also do the same from inside the emulator – with somewhat more effort & clicks.
It's also very important to notice action_map.ini assigns the <AutoFire> functionality to the TSOFT1 button; that is, the left WM5+ softkey. As this button may be missing on some upgraded / native WM5 devices (for example, the Dell Axim x50/x51 series and the non-phone HP iPAQ's) and, of course, ALL devices prior to WM5, you will want to redefine it to use, say, the second application button (APP2).
The second, additional hardware-based approach, was adding joystick interfaces in the extension (interface) ports. These interfaces allowed for plugging in the, then, already (except for the IBM PC, which went its own, analogue controller way) industry-standard 9-pin digital joysticks pioneered by the hugely successful Atari 2600 gaming console.
Two main standards (meaning to different hardware joystick interfaces) exists: that of Kempston and Sinclair. The former doesn't map any keyboard buttons but use its own; the latter does button mapping (which is exactly the same as with the traditional key-based buttons, except for the direction "left", which is, instead of key 5, is mapped to key 9.
In general, hardware joystick-aware games support both joystick interfaces, except for the earliest ones, which may only support Kempston only (the earliest interface to hit the market – it was only later that Sinclair released a joystick-enabled interface, ZX Interface II, to the public). Make sure you look for joystick setup questions at the beginning of games so that you can select the most optimal solution not resulting in your having to switch joystick assignment schemes.
1.3.2.4 Changing screen orientation; image downscaling issues
As opposed to C64 emulators, all Pocket PC emulators have one wired-in (either Landscape or Portrait, but not both) screen orientation. It's only the Smartphone-based FuseSP that supports switching between the two orientations using either the # button (in "Spectrum" mode) or Menu / Options / Screen orientation.
In addition, as opposed to the Smartphone C64 emulator PocketHobbitSP2003, FuseSP supports full-screen stretching on QVGA devices in Portrait mode, which is really-really useful in making use of the entire screen estate. Make sure you look for the option "Stretched Portrait" in Menu / Options / Screen orientation (or, while pressing # to switch screen orientations / modes, select the one that fully stretches the image vertically).

Note that, in the default Portrait mode, as the width of the physical Pocket PC (or QVGA MS Smartphone) screen is 240 (with low-res MS Smartphone screens, 176) pixels, while the original screen width of the Spectrum is 256 pixels, shrinking (read: dropping some pixel columns) must be done to fit the original screen into the available screen estate. It's worth pointing out that PocketClive, the only Pocket PC-based emulator (not counting in the not recommended, Russian, TRD-only, GUI-less PocketSpeccy) to use the Portrait emulation, not only supports shrinking, but also, to avoid the (ugly) consequences of it (completely dropped columns)
Finally, it's worth pointing out that FuseSP applies a VERY clever method at dropping lines as it uses some interpolation to render the missing info of the dropped columns in the neighboring columns. This results in the vastly enhanced and eye-friendlies, albeit a bit blurry representation in QVGA mode. On 176*220 screens, of course, this can't really help the situation.
Now that we've quickly reviewed the issues common to Spectrum emulation on Windows Mobile, let's see what emulators there are and how they compare to each other. In the following two chapters, I introduce Pocket PC and MS Smartphone emulators.
2. Pocket PC (Windows Mobile 6 Professional / Classic) emulators
2.1 UnrealSpeccyPPC 1.02
This new, excellent and, outside the ex-Soviet region, absolutely unknown emulator is by far the best Spectrum emulator out there, a port of the also successful and excellent Unreal Speccy. It has all the goodies one would effect from a decent emulator: auto fire, huge and, particularly on VGA devices, (almost) transparent on-screen keyboard (on QVGA devices, the buttons are considerably larger as can be seen in HERE), support for all tape / snapshot and even disk formats.
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The main discussion thread discussing this emulator is HERE (Babelfish "translation" HERE). There are some other threads at other sites; for example, THIS.
What is more, the CAB file can be installed on MS Smartphones too as can be seen in here:
(note that it was only to prove the emulator is running on a QVGA Smartphone that I’ve made the task bar displayed (via activating SPHelper). Otherwise, it’s hidden.)
While the Smartphone version is in no way flawless, you will certainly want to play a bit with it to find out its weaknesses / strengths.
2.2 PocketClive v2B
A famous (but long-abandoned) emulator is PocketClive.
The most important difference between PocketClive and the most recommended UnrealSpeccyPPC is that PocketClive uses the Portrait screen resolution and a full keyboard showing all the original labels. Unless you’re an experienced Spectrum user and you DO want to know how the BASIC commands can be accessed on the original Spectrum keyboard, you may want to give a try to this emulator. (Or, alternatively, PocketSpeccy, which uses exactly the same on-screen keyboard, but is capable of reading TR-DOS disks; that is, TRD files.)
As this emulator is NOT recommended (but not disqualified either), it’s in the Chart that you’ll find the most information on using this emulator, NOT in the first chapter (which only discusses the two recommended emulators suiting the needs of 96-97% of existing users: UnrealSpeccyPPC for the PPC and FuseSP for the Smartphone).
Not many English threads discuss this emulator. The ones that at least mention it are for example "i just played Simcity on my Be300" or THIS
and THIS AximSite threads, THIS PG, THIS (“Pocket Genesis”) and THIS (“Just Chattin' - What games are on your PPC right now? (omit none!)”) threads. In the Russian language area, the situation is MUCH better; see the following threads:
1
2
3
4
2.3 SpectrumAnyWhere 1.1
This is another also-run emulator without any really outstanding features. UnrealSpeccyPPC is orders of magnitude more featureful.
The most important fact you need to know about this emulator that it can not directly be installed on WM5+ devices. This, however, can easily be fixed with a quick hack I’ve described in the Chart. Also note that you will NOT want to use it on WM2003(SE) devices because of the on-screen keyboard coordinate offset problems.
Even fewer existing threads discuss this title; the only English thread I could find was just a mention at Xda-developers (“amiga emulator on your pocketpc”). In Russian, there aren’t many more threads either; in addition to the zx.pk.ru threads linked in the previous section, I also recommend THIS.
2.4 PocketSpeccy
This emulator is pretty new, but already discontinued emulator “only” supports ".trd" disk image files – that is, it can NOT be used with any “old”, “traditional” tape / snapshot files. It has absolutely no GUI: for example, it’s in the config.ini that you need to supply the disk to load (and all the other – not many!) parameters before starting the emulator. Pretty awkward, if you ask me.
As it’s now discontinued and superseded by UnrealSpeccyPPC, I do NOT recommend it and don’t even include in the Chart.
Should you still be interested in the emulator, check out THIS Russian language thread.
2.5 SinclairSpectrumEmulator 1.1
This Handheld PC-based emulator is really outdated (from year 1999) and is, therefore, in no way recommended. Get UnrealSpeccyPPC instead. There is just no point in bothering with it – unless you have a Handheld PC, that is. But, even then, you may want to prefer trying to hack UnrealSpeccyPPC to run on your H/PC (assuming it has an ARM(-compatible) CPU).
3. MS Smartphone (Windows Mobile 6 Standard) emulators
3.1 FuseSP 0.22
This is THE emulator you should try first if you have any MS Smartphone model. It’s pretty capable (except for the lack of direct, phonepad-based text input) and highly recommended.
Please consult Chapter 1 for usage tips and don’t forget to scrutinize the Chart for additional tips and tricks.
Related threads: “A few thoughts on useability”
FUSESP in QVGA Landscape 320*240......
ZX emulator FuseSP v0.12a with NumKeys support, I added support for number keys
3.2 PocketClive for SP 2B-0.2
Unfortunately, this emulator seems to be only running on the oldest, 2002 Smartphone version, but not on newer (SP2003+) ones. I was just unable to access any kind of menu on either my WM6 HTC Vox / s710 or WM5 HTC Oxygen / s310. That is, don’t bother.

4. The Comparison & Feature Chart
As with ALL my Comparison & Feature Charts, this one is a MUST to check out as it offers a great way of comparing the reviewed titles. It, as with my past charts, contains tons of screenshots (don’t forget to click the links), usage tips and mini-tutorials.
It’s available HERE.
The test / rows should be pretty much self-explanatory. If you at least superficially have read my past emulation-related articles (if you haven’t, do it NOW – they are just the best emulation-related articles, no wonder even Michu himself made them sticky in the official AximSite emulator forum, and many of them have also been frontpaged by several leading Windows Mobile-related sites.
That is, do yourself a favor – if you DO want to know EVERYTHING you can ever know of an emulator, do check out the chart!
Note that I haven’t listed some other, good, famous games for the Spectrum in the chart. They also run under both FuseSP and UnrealSpeccyPPC without problems.
Some examples (also see the “100 Best games” list; original version also HERE):
Deathchase
ALL OR NOTHING
STOP THE EXPRESS
HEAD OVER HEELS
THE SENTINEL
NEBULUS
Uridium
Impossible Mission
Turrican.

Article updated & cleaned up.

I`m looking for PocketCommodore64 or any other emulator that I can run on my navigation system with WinCE 6.0. Could anybody can help with working link?