Holani

What Holani is

Holani is a free, open-source Atari Lynx emulator for Linux and Windows. Its CPU emulation steps through the 65C02S cycle by cycle, with an approach initially based on the design of chips’ 6502. The project offers Holani as a library for other frontends, alongside several ways to use or work with it. Holani-retro is a libretro implementation that works with libretro frontends such as RetroArch; it supports save and load states and RetroArch cheats. Holani-gtk provides a GTK4 interface for loading a cartridge and overriding its ROM. Holani-min runs from the command line and includes options for button mapping, display filtering, mute, and Comlynx. Its README says multiple instances can connect through Comlynx. The project also lists holani-debug, an Atari Lynx debugger built around Holani.

Holani embeds the Free Lynx Boot ROM and BLL uLoader binary blobs, and a BIOS is not required. The repository identifies the license as GPL-3.0 and links to a libretro core for playing official games and homebrews. Building the GTK frontend requires Rust, Cargo, and GTK4. On Windows, the libretro README specifies the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable as a requirement.

Who it suits

Holani suits Atari Lynx players using Linux or Windows who want a free, open-source emulator with multiple frontend options. Developers can also use it as a library or work with its debugger, while command-line users can access button mapping, display filtering, mute, and Comlynx options.

Getting started

1. Open the Holani project website on GitHub.
2. Choose a frontend: libretro, GTK4, or command line.
3. For the GTK frontend, prepare Rust, Cargo, and GTK4 for the build.
4. On Windows, install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable for the libretro implementation.
5. Use a libretro frontend such as RetroArch with Holani-retro, or use the frontend you selected.

Verdict

Choose Holani for Atari Lynx emulation on Linux or Windows, especially if you want libretro, GTK, or command-line options. Look elsewhere if you need a different system emulator or cannot meet the listed build or Windows runtime requirements.