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chromehearts
This is so cool & I'm really amazed by it but I couldn't help laugh at the readme

> We strongly recommend contributing with Claude Code or similar AI coding tools. [...] Of course, coding by hand is also welcome.

Funny time we live in lol

lqs_
Ha — even the README itself was written by AI, including that very sentence. Funny times indeed.
b3lvedere
Aww. The FreeCell cheats don't work, except for -1 and -2 :)
lqs_
Just added keyboard shortcut support. Ctrl+Shift+F10 should work now!
LinusU
This is super cool!

Checkout retrowin32 for something similar but written in Rust and not specifically targeting the web: https://github.com/evmar/retrowin32

lqs_
Thanks! I'm actually familiar with retrowin32. I even contributed a few commits to get Solitaire running in it. But Rust has a steep learning curve for me.
Dwedit
Not enough Shell32 to run Winfile or Notepad.

Also the command prompt won't list directories for some reason.

TechSquidTV
Please let me plan Sim Theme Park. I can't seem to run it on Crossover on my mac.
Tepix
Tried it with REVERSI.EXE from Windows 3.0 from https://winworldpc.com/download/c2bbc28f-177a-c2b2-5311-c3a4... DISK02.IMG

(you have to first uncompress it, for example with 7zip).

    $ sha256sum REVERSI.EXE
    a9e319c8f479d1568beec03858fdbb27c71747b2bbed6cd7c9f5e2daa23b40e9  REVERSI.EXE
Result:

The game starts, it begins rendering the board, but then hangs.

lqs_
It is fixed and fully playable now! Board rendering, mouse input, and the About dialog all work.
Tepix
Ah, cool. There are still some bugs:

- when you finish the game, the final score appears, then disappears

- when you set the skill to master and start a game, the game still hangs after your first move.

haonnoah
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?
ale42
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
butokai
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 done with an LLM agent, and here we have the answer

lqs_
Hidden feature: right-click any executable and select "View Resources" to browse its embedded resources like icons, bitmaps, dialogs, and version info. It even supports viewing Delphi forms (though Delphi programs can't actually run yet). Think of it as a browser-based Resource Hacker or eXeScope.
stuaxo
Not 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.

em3rgent0rdr
Impressive. Noting however that double-clicking is not working in Minesweeper. :)
itintheory
Seems like the .scr files trigger CrowdStrike Falcon. Not clear where the executables run here come from...
hard_times
I wonder if this is the future of "I need to run my legacy Windows enterprise app on modern hardware"?

I suppose we're also not limited to WinNT look and feel, and can render dialogs, buttons, windows with any CSS framework?

Although, as the cost of building software is tumbling down, it will make more sense to re-build from scratch, targeting whatever runtime or platform you need.

theragra
Ive found that app my student team created for load testing of hammer drills for local factory is still ticking!

We created it around 2004, for Windows XP. Used Borland C++ and Windows driver for LPT port. Driver was written in asm, just for fun.

Since then, factory changed hands two times, and relocated from EU to China. 20 years, and Windows app still is working. I think they ran it on even on windows 98 at first.

tty456
Winamp 2.x would be great to add if allowed!
KellyCriterion
they even have SSMAZE.SCR, that 2.5D rendering screensaver! :D
maniazi83
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 access? Are those fully stubbed/mocked, or mapped to some in-browser virtual layer?

Also curious how you’re handling performance for heavier binaries — interpreted JS/WASM core?

lqs_
Right now, the file system and the registry are virtual. They are stored in the browser using IndexedDB. When a program reads or writes files or registry data, it goes to this virtual storage, not the real system.

For performance, the CPU is fully emulated in plain TypeScript. It does not use WASM or JIT yet. It is still fast enough to run simple programs from about 30 years ago. In the future, JIT optimization may be added to improve speed.

realityfactchex
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: MSVBVM60.DLL..."

* My old QuickBASIC .exe apps fail in various other ways ("Illegal function call", etc.).

Keep on hacking.

pathartl
I had a not-really-similar idea of hooking Windows GUI APIs and exposing them over websockets to create a psuedo-RDP and rendering the UI in the browser. My purpose was to provide a remote interface for old dedicated game servers that can only be controlled via a GUI.
ddgflorida
Nice. QBASIC FOR i = 1 to 5: PRINT i: NEXT hung up after 4. The shift key didn't work in the Qbasic Editor.
lqs_
Fixed. It now runs correctly and the Shift key works.
smusamashah
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 is awesome.