# TomHarte/CLK

A latency-hating emulator of: the Acorn Electron, BBC Micro and Archimedes, Amstrad CPC, Apple II/II+/IIe and early Macintosh, Atari 2600 and ST, ColecoVision, Enterprise 64/128, Commodore Vic-20 and Amiga, MSX 1/2, Oric 1/Atmos, early PC compatibles, Sega Master System, Sinclair ZX80/81 and ZX Spectrum, Tandy CoCo and Thomson MO5/6.

Repository: https://github.com/TomHarte/CLK
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/clk
Language: C++
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: emulator, atari2600, vic20, oric, composite-video, acorn-electron, amstrad-cpc, msx, zx81, zx80, colecovision, appleii, apple2, master-system, m68k, atari-st, zx-spectrum, ibmpc, archimedes, riscos
Last push: 2026-07-28T19:09:12+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 94, release rhythm 94, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4066, "days_push": 36, "days_rel": 41, "gap_med": 14, "n_releases_24m": 28}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1135, forks 67 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:43.266375+00:00)

## What it is
Clock Signal (CLK) is a low-latency emulator of many classic 8-bit and 16-bit home computers and consoles, including the ZX Spectrum, Apple II, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, and MSX. It emphasizes single-click loading of software and accurate signal-level reproduction of original video and audio outputs.

## Use cases
- emulate zx spectrum games from rom files
- run apple ii disk images with one click
- play atari 2600 cartridges on my mac
- accurately reproduce composite video output of a vic-20
- load cpc tapes without typing loading commands
- emulate msx software on linux
- run bbc micro software with minimal input latency

## When to choose
- you want to launch classic software as easily as a native app, with no emulator setup
- you care about accurate video/audio signal reproduction and low latency
- you use macOS and want a native Metal-based retro emulator
- you need broad multi-machine emulation in a single program

## When to avoid
- you need emulation of consoles or machines not on the supported list
- you want extensive emulator configuration, save states, or netplay features
- you need a highly polished emulation of the Archimedes, Amiga, or early PCs, which are less complete
- you prefer a plugin-based or multi-core emulator ecosystem like RetroArch

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: simulation, graphics, gui
- domain: gaming-tools, desktop-applications, cross-platform
- platform: cross-platform, cpp
- tags: emulator, retro-computing, composite-video, low-latency, signal-processing, vintage-computers, cocoa, metal, qt, sdl, macos, linux

## Member repositories
- TomHarte/CLK (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:43.266375+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:36:45.702657+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/TomHarte/CLK (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:43.266375+00:00, sha b2e4ce0d59df)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.