RetroTick
Dev tools
emulator
SHOW HN2026
How HN took it
11 positive, 10 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 13 critical, out of 35 comments about the project. Thread score +0.01.
Execution: 1 for, 12 againstIdea: 3 for, 0 againstPerformance: 2 for, 0 againstDesign: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Impressive and fast for a browser-based Windows emulator
From 3 comments
Seems to run a lot faster than the previous proof-of-concept I've found (https://www.boxedwine.org/app). Then again, that website runs an entire Linux VM to support Wine.
jeroenhd on HNI love how quick it is and that it can run screen savers. My site has a similar concept with drag and drop but is using BoxedWine behind the scenes so it's a bit slower to boot…
DustinBrett on HNThis is seriously impressive. Emulating x86 + stubbing enough Win32 APIs in the browser is not trivial. How are you handling system calls that expect filesystem or registry…
maniazi83 on HN
DOM-based window elements are inspectable
From 1 comment
I can right click and inspect HTML. I was thinking it will all be rendered on a single canvas. It's not. All the window elements like buttons, title bars etc are html divs. This…
smusamashah on HN
Objections
Many programs fail to run, including VB6 and QuickBASIC executables and many games
From 3 comments
Cool concept. I tried six different old Windows executables from programs I wrote way back when. FWIW: * My old VB 6 .exe apps all fail with "Reason: Unimplemented API:…
realityfactchex on HNI tried 22 old game EXEs I have and none of them worked. They would import and show the icon and some would open, but nothing would work and most wouldn't even close. They would…
starshadowx2 on HNBANGBANG BLOCKS Bowarrow BOXWORLD Bricks CHIPS CODEBRAK DOTS HANGMAN JACKS JEZZBALL JWLTHIEF KOLUMZ PEGGED PIPE rodent SLAM TETRIS HOVER LEMMINGS These two .exe versions I have…
starshadowx2 on HN
Keyboard shift and DOS interrupt support are incomplete
From 3 comments
Funny project... Tried to run SHELL from QBASIC, but it crashes: ``` D:\qbasic.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. Reason: illegal instruction Address: 0x00002fee ```
ale42 on HNNot sure shift is working. I tried using QBASIC but couldn't type : only ; because of that. Then I tried running the program SHELL and it crashed.
stuaxo on HNNice. QBASIC FOR i = 1 to 5: PRINT i: NEXT hung up after 4. The shift key didn't work in the Qbasic Editor.
ddgflorida on HN
Built with AI coding tools, criticized by some commenters
From 2 comments
Really doesn't surprise me, to be honest: > We strongly recommend contributing with Claude Code or similar AI coding tools. [...] Of course, coding by hand is also welcome.
fao_ on HNMaking this a partial WINE-in-a browser, quite impressive. How much of this was AI?
pjc50 on HN
Requests
Support more programs such as Sim Theme Park and Winamp 2.x
From 2 comments
Please let me plan Sim Theme Park. I can't seem to run it on Crossover on my mac.
TechSquidTV on HNWinamp 2.x would be great to add if allowed!
tty456 on HN
Launch programs from a URL parameter
From 1 comment
Pretty cool. The pipes program doesn't seem to have color. Thoughts on making programs launch from a URL parameter? IE Launching a screensaver or game?
haonnoah on HN
Questions
How are filesystem and registry calls handled
From 1 comment
This is seriously impressive. Emulating x86 + stubbing enough Win32 APIs in the browser is not trivial. How are you handling system calls that expect filesystem or registry…
maniazi83 on HN
Can it run Doom
From 1 comment
Can it run doom?
ThrowawayTestr on HN
Alternatives named
retrowin32
From 2 comments
Just a couple of hours ago I was thinking about this project from some time ago doing the same thing: https://github.com/evmar/retrowin32 I wondered how much of this could be…
butokai on HNThis is super cool! Checkout retrowin32 for something similar but written in Rust and not specifically targeting the web: https://github.com/evmar/retrowin32
LinusU on HN
BoxedWine
From 1 comment
Seems to run a lot faster than the previous proof-of-concept I've found (https://www.boxedwine.org/app). Then again, that website runs an entire Linux VM to support Wine.
jeroenhd on HN