So I bought an SIO2PC cord ages ago and was using it happily until I replaced that computer and got one of these new fangled devices that didn't have a serial port. I bought a usb serial converter but never could get to work so an old laptop that had serial port became my official disk emulator until my daughter used it as a Frisbee. Three moves later I'm setting up my man cave and decided to tackle that usb serial converter, instead of buying one of the newer cords, and after much head banging I finally got it to work. Unfortunately my PC gives COM1 priority to something I can't identify and every time I reboot I have to uninstall what is on COM1, reinstall the usb converter drivers, plug in the converter, move it to COM1, repeat the whole process five times, then it'll work.
Anyway, that has nothing to do with my question, just venting. I'll probably spring for a new setup when I have the change. It looks like there's some cool options since I made my initial investment.
So, question regarding running disk images. I keep running across things that I can run fine on an emulator but will not run on my hardware. Examples would be Cycle Knight, Hacker, and Electrician. All three of which I know ran on the hardware I had back when they were new'ish. In most cases the software will load but then will lock up at some point, never get past the splash graphic, or the graphics will be so garbled you can't play it. Is this something I can address?