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Comment by kyberias | Hacker News Reader

This looks very realistic but it's really just a fake, not a simulator.

I had an idea some time ago of implementing the relevant Amiga ROM libraries (intuition, graphics etc.) so that the calls could be transferred to browser DOM. The CPU would be a normal m68k emulation. Original application could be started and the windows they open would actually be DOM elements.

My first stage of this implementation was to transfer the libraries as emulations for Win32 Windows. In this implementation intuition-windows are Windows windows. :) To be clear, the idea is to emulate the API, not the HW. I guess it's like WINE but for Amiga.

I have some early POC prototypes of this using emscripten. So in principle it can be run in a browser. Maybe some day...

It's kind of a crazy idea but kinda cool I think. :)

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I think you're confusing the terms "simulator" with "emulator".

Both ideas have their place place though and I'd definitely be interested to see your project (if it ever matures) too

Sometimes the terms emulator and simulator are used to distinguish between two different types of software.

An emulator emulates the hardware (CPU, network interface, disk, graphics, etc.) and the real operating system runs mostly or entirely unmodified atop this.

A simulator reproduces the APIs that an application expects without running the actual operating system code, through some combination of a port or a reimplementation.

However, I think it's fair to use the word simulation here too. It is a simulation from the user's point of view.

In fact, another way to categorize all this is at which level the mimicry happens: hardware, API, or user.

Or, it could be defined as the opposite:

An emulation presents a replica of something else's outward observable behavior.

A simulation runs a specific internal model, which generates some gestalt behavioral results.

An emulator might simply mimic surface-level behavior directly, or use an internal simulation in order to generate it from first principles.

There really isn't a hard and fast agreed-upon definition of these terms in software, but these seem in tune with their non-computing definitions.

I think your definitions are spot on.

To add a little: sometimes emulation can be achieved by simulation.

I don't have a confusion about them.

However, you are right, this can be called a simulator since it simulates the Amiga user experience on a very high level.

It's a simulator not an emulator. They're two different things. This is the former.

I have to admit you're right. It's just that it's not very common to see a user interface simulation. One usually encounters simulations of some low level phenomena.

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