# otya128/winevdm

16-bit Windows (Windows 1.x, 2.x, 3.0, 3.1, etc.) on 64-bit Windows

Repository: https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/winevdm
Language: C
License: GPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: win16
Last push: 2026-08-20T13:49:14+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 67/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3998, "days_push": 13, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3390, forks 199 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:58.979746+00:00)

## What it is
winevdm (otvdm) is a 16-bit Windows application emulator that lets Win16 executables (Windows 1.x through 3.1) run on 64-bit Windows. It combines a CPU emulator with Wine-derived Win16-to-Win32 API translation and DOS emulation.

## Use cases
- run 16-bit Windows programs on 64-bit Windows
- open old Win16 executables that Windows 10/11 can't run
- launch legacy Windows 3.1 applications
- run Win16 installers directly by double-clicking
- emulate 16-bit x86 code on modern Windows

## When to choose
- you need to run Win16 executables on 64-bit Windows without a full VM
- you want 16-bit apps to launch directly from Explorer
- you need lightweight legacy compatibility rather than a whole virtual machine

## When to avoid
- you mainly need to run DOS programs - DOSBox or MS-DOS Player are more complete
- you need to run 32-bit or 64-bit legacy software
- you require perfect fidelity for complex Win16 apps, since emulation is not fully complete

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: interpreter, simulation, gui
- domain: operating-systems, cross-platform, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cpp, c
- tags: win16, 16-bit-emulation, wine, legacy-software, compatibility-layer, dos-emulation

## Member repositories
- otya128/winevdm (main) score 67

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:58.979746+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 2026-08-29T18:39:01.178858+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/otya128/winevdm (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:58.979746+00:00, sha ce9b89d7cb00)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.