Why do we have various
emulators ?
Just because they are many people trying to make virtual Apple IIgs ! Emulation is quite hard to perform well and they are many paths which can be followed in order to get the wished results. Plus the fact that an emulator depends of the operating system where it will be used, so an emulator for Mac OSX can be different from the one on Windows... And it will be definitely different from an Atari emulator.
Why some functions or
software do not work ?
Well, having the perfect emulation is the Holy Grail we will all achieve one day
Even if emulating an Apple IIgs with
today’s Macintosh is made simplier, it is still a
question of rendering. Controlling all the speeds,
characteristics or dirty tricks made by some (just
think about the FTA Demo...) need to perform a lot of
testings and calculation. So it may happen that some
very special programs do not work. It is just then to
understand why and to patch the right part to be even
more compatible.
Regarding the functions, the emulator intends to allow all the things the original Apple IIgs had, plus some cool features added to make it a better experience. And a lot can still be added ...
What will be the future of
emulation ?
Emulators like KEGS-OSX, are just programs made to keep the Apple IIgs computer somehow alive. This is in fact what emulation is about. To allow old softwares to be used again and to keep these old fantastic computers part of our memory. As long as there will be people wishing to remember the good old days, there will be Apple IIgs emulators…