RPCEmu 1.1.18 released 29/08/2026
The Acorn Risc PC, brought up to date
An emulator for the Acorn Risc PC and A7000, running RISC OS on your own computer at the speed of real hardware.
Download 1.1.18 See what it does
Free software under the GPL v2, for Linux, Windows and macOS. It runs RISC OS 3.5 and later, and works best with RISC OS 5, which is the version still being developed and is open source. No operating system is included, and the emulator will fetch one for you.
Run the software you kept
The applications and games you used, on the machine they were written for, at the speed it ran. The package manager installs from the repositories a real RISC OS machine uses, and ADFFS works here so the preserved commercial games run too.
What runs, and how well →A machine that behaves
Not an approximation. Page permissions fault when they should, the FPA10 is timed to the cycle, and real USB devices from your own computer enumerate in the guest. Software that expects hardware finds hardware.
How the machine is emulated →A platform to build on
Keep your editor and send the build to RISC OS from your own shell. Conditional breakpoints on the emulated processor, several machines running together, and a headless mode for a server.
Developing on it →What it emulates
Six machines and thirty years of RISC OS
It runs RISC OS 3.5 and later, and the version you choose narrows which processor to give the machine: StrongARM from 3.7 onwards, and the Kinetic under 5. Version 5 is the one to want anyway, because it is still being developed, it is open source, and it is what the emulator will fetch for you.
The machines
- Risc PC ARM610
- Risc PC ARM710
- Risc PC StrongARM
- Kinetic StrongARM with its own memory, 512MB
- A7000 ARM7500
- A7000+ ARM7500FE
The operating system, and what to run it on
| RISC OS | Processor to choose | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| RISC OS 5 Recommended | Any processor, and the Kinetic is supported | Current, open source, and fetched for you on request |
| RISC OS 4 | ARM610, ARM710 or StrongARM. The Kinetic needs a specific build of 4 | The Kinetic shipped with its own 4.03, which is why |
| RISC OS 3.7 | ARM610, ARM710 or StrongARM | The Risc PC as most people remember it, and where StrongARM support begins |
| RISC OS 3.6 | ARM610 or ARM710 | Runs, with a ROM image of your own |
| RISC OS 3.5 | ARM610 or ARM710 | The earliest version supported |
What you can run
What it is like to use
A fork of RPCEmu, so it does everything the original does. This is what it adds.
Wondering whether something you own will run? The compatibility list records what people have tried and how well it went, and you can add to it.
The machine
A Risc PC, as fast as the real thing
A Risc PC with the processor you choose, from the ARM610 a 600 shipped with to a Kinetic card carrying 512MB of its own. Guest code is recompiled as it runs, so the desktop feels like hardware rather than like an emulator.
How the machine is emulated →
Games
The games that never used to work
Many Acorn games need ADFFS, and ADFFS needs the processor to fault when a program writes to protected memory. RPCEmu never did that, which is why ADFFS told people to avoid it from 2013 onwards. It faults correctly here, so those games run.
What was wrong, and how it was fixed →
Applications
Thirty years of software, a click away
The package manager installs software straight onto a machine's disc from the same repositories a real RISC OS machine uses. Over 350 applications, games, fonts and libraries, and it records what it installed so things uninstall cleanly.
About the package manager →
Compatibility
What runs, reported by the people who ran it
457 Acorn and RISC OS titles catalogued from the package repositories and the commercial software of the period. 3 rated so far.
A rating is one person's experience of running the software here, with their name against it and the version they used. Nothing is rated by us unless it says so.
Features
What this fork adds
Everything RPCEmu does, plus these. Each has a page of its own.
The machine
Four processors to choose from, recompiled to run at speed, and the fix that made ADFFS work.
Display
2560 by 1440 from an emulated graphics card, where 2MB of VRAM stops at 800 by 600.
Several machines
A list you choose from, each with its own disc and hardware, running together.
USB
Hand it a device from your own computer and RISC OS enumerates the real thing.
MultiFS
Read the USB stick you already carry: FAT, exFAT and NTFS, as they are. Coming in version 2.
Networking
Access and ShareFS to real hardware, and a shared virtual network to anywhere else.
Community Network
One network everybody can join, so RISC OS machines can find each other again. Coming in version 2.
Developing
Edit on the host, compile in the guest, and debug the emulated processor.
Remote and headless
Use a machine over VNC, or run one with no display at all.
Software
The package manager, and the repositories a real RISC OS machine uses.
Second processor
The slot Acorn built, with seven processors to choose from.
Ports and cards
Podules, a serial port that dials, and printing to paper or PDF.
Getting started walks through it from a download to a RISC OS desktop, and the compatibility list records what people have run and how it went.
Get it
Download
Read from the latest release on GitHub, so it cannot fall out of step.
| Format | For | Size | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | |||
| Debian and Ubuntu package | amd64 | 3.3 MB | rpcemu_1.1.18_amd64.deb |
| Debian and Ubuntu package | arm64 | 3.1 MB | rpcemu_1.1.18_arm64.deb |
| Archive | amd64 | 3.1 MB | rpcemu_1.1.18_linux_amd64.tar.gz |
| Archive | arm64 | 2.9 MB | rpcemu_1.1.18_linux_arm64.tar.gz |
| Windows | |||
| Zip archive | amd64 | 22 MB | rpcemu_1.1.18_windows_amd64.zip |
| Zip archive | arm64 | 18 MB | rpcemu_1.1.18_windows_arm64.zip |
| macOS | |||
| Disk image | Universal | 23 MB | rpcemu_1.1.18_macos_universal.dmg |
| Archive | Universal | 20 MB | rpcemu_1.1.18_macos_universal.tar.gz |
| Also in this release | |||
| Interface documentation | Any | 150 KB | rpcemu-interface-docs-1.1.18.zip |
RISC OS itself is not in these downloads. The emulator will fetch RISC OS 5 and a ready-made hard disc from RISC OS Open when you create your first machine, and will show you their licence terms first. If you have your own ROM image, from RISC OS 3.5 onwards, you can use that instead.
News
What has changed lately
Taken from the repository, refreshed through the day.
Latest commits
- Monitor definition: stop capping it at 2048 pixels wide ad1fba1
- Full screen: the menu bar and tool bar have one owner again 7e9fdd5
- Access relay: choose the interface, and let the user name it 9ea750d
- Screen size: budget a size the user names at 8bpp, not 32 3cb84c5
- Machine editor: a new machine's HostFS is empty, so stop offering to move it 61220f1
- Save Community Network setting b0991b1
- A new machine came up with most of !Boot.Choices.Boot missing a6fd833
- macOS: two reported faults, a trackpad and a shutdown 723661c