{"slug": "retrowin32", "name": "retrowin32", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.848, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2026-01-23", "latest": "2026-04-21", "why": "I wondered how much of this could be done with an LLM agent", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I wondered how much of this could be done with an LLM agent", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/evmar/retrowin32", "official_url": "https://github.com/evmar/retrowin32", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["retrowin32"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 765666224, "item_id": 47854139, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47854139", "by": "pema99", "date": "2026-04-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "See also the authors previous project retrowin32", "excerpt": "See also the authors previous project retrowin32 https://github.com/evmar/retrowin32", "context": "", "use_case": "Win32 emulation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Theseus, a Static Windows Emulator"}, {"id": 754912928, "item_id": 47182058, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47182058", "by": "butokai", "date": "2026-02-27", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I wondered how much of this could be done with an LLM agent", "excerpt": "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", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: RetroTick \u2013 Run classic Windows EXEs in the browser"}, {"id": 754891953, "item_id": 47180747, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47180747", "by": "LinusU", "date": "2026-02-27", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Checkout retrowin32 for something similar", "excerpt": "This is super cool! Checkout retrowin32 for something similar but written in Rust and not specifically targeting the web: https://github.com/evmar/retrowin32", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: RetroTick \u2013 Run classic Windows EXEs in the browser"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["win32 emulation"], "compared": [], "makers": [{"id": 765693744, "item_id": 47855859, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47855859", "by": "evmar", "date": "2026-04-21", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I went down some similar paths in retrowin32", "excerpt": "[post author] I went down some similar paths in retrowin32, though 32-bit x86 is likely easier. I was also surprised by how much goop there is between startup and main. In retrowin32 I just implemented it all, though I wonder how much I could get away with not running it in the Theseus replace-some-parts model. I mostly relied on my own x86 emulator, but I also implemented the thunking between 64-bit and 32-bit mode ", "context": "post author", "use_case": "Windows emulation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Theseus, a Static Windows Emulator"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47830332", "title": "Theseus, a Static Windows Emulator", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47180083", "title": "Show HN: RetroTick \u2013 Run classic Windows EXEs in the browser", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46716469", "title": "30 Years of ReactOS", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "quotes": [{"id": 765666224, "item_id": 47854139, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47854139", "by": "pema99", "date": "2026-04-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "See also the authors previous project retrowin32", "excerpt": "See also the authors previous project retrowin32 https://github.com/evmar/retrowin32", "context": "", "use_case": "Win32 emulation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Theseus, a Static Windows Emulator"}, {"id": 754912928, "item_id": 47182058, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47182058", "by": "butokai", "date": "2026-02-27", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I wondered how much of this could be done with an LLM agent", "excerpt": "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", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: RetroTick \u2013 Run classic Windows EXEs in the browser"}, {"id": 754891953, "item_id": 47180747, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47180747", "by": "LinusU", "date": "2026-02-27", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Checkout retrowin32 for something similar", "excerpt": "This is super cool! Checkout retrowin32 for something similar but written in Rust and not specifically targeting the web: https://github.com/evmar/retrowin32", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: RetroTick \u2013 Run classic Windows EXEs in the browser"}, {"id": 747685442, "item_id": 46730340, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46730340", "by": "cachius", "date": "2026-01-23", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "There's also another partial Win32 reimplementation in retrowin32", "excerpt": "There's also another partial Win32 reimplementation in retrowin32, with the different goal of being a Windows emulator for the web, not for Linux or as alternate OS, at https://evmar.github.io/retrowin32/ It thus has an even more sparse path/fileapi.h implementation [2] than WINE and ReactOS. Written in Rust. [2] https://github.com/evmar/retrowin32/blob/main/win32/dll/kernel32/src/file/path.rs", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "30 Years of ReactOS"}]}