Gearlynx

Gearlynx is a very accurate cross-platform Atari Lynx emulator written in C++ that runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD and RetroArch, with an embedded MCP server for debugging and tooling.

This is an open source project with its ongoing development made possible thanks to the support by these awesome backers. If you find it useful, please consider sponsoring.

Don't hesitate to report bugs or ask for new features by opening an issue.

Downloads

Platform	Architecture	Download Link
Windows	Desktop x64	Gearlynx-1.2.1-desktop-windows-x64.zip
	Desktop ARM64	Gearlynx-1.2.1-desktop-windows-arm64.zip
	MCPB x64	Gearlynx-1.2.1-mcpb-windows-x64.mcpb
	MCPB ARM64	Gearlynx-1.2.1-mcpb-windows-arm64.mcpb
macOS	Homebrew	brew install --cask drhelius/geardome/gearlynx
	Desktop Apple Silicon	Gearlynx-1.2.1-desktop-macos-arm64.zip
	Desktop Intel	Gearlynx-1.2.1-desktop-macos-intel.zip
	MCPB x64	Gearlynx-1.2.1-mcpb-macos-x64.mcpb
	MCPB ARM64	Gearlynx-1.2.1-mcpb-macos-arm64.mcpb
Linux	Desktop Ubuntu 24.04 x64	Gearlynx-1.2.1-desktop-ubuntu24.04-x64.zip
	Desktop Ubuntu 22.04 x64	Gearlynx-1.2.1-desktop-ubuntu22.04-x64.zip
	Desktop Ubuntu 24.04 ARM64	Gearlynx-1.2.1-desktop-ubuntu24.04-arm64.zip
	MCPB x64	Gearlynx-1.2.1-mcpb-linux-x64.mcpb
	MCPB ARM64	Gearlynx-1.2.1-mcpb-linux-arm64.mcpb
RetroArch	All platforms	Libretro core documentation
Dev Builds	All platforms	GitHub Actions

Notes:

• Windows: May need Visual C++ Redistributable and OpenGL Compatibility Pack
• Linux: May need libsdl3

Features

• Very accurate emulation supporting the entire commercial Atari Lynx catalog and most homebrew and demos.
• User selectable Lynx I or Lynx II emulation.
• Compressed and hombrew rom support (lnx, lyx, o, and zip).
• Save states with preview.
• Very accurate audio emulation with configurable low-pass filter (mimics original Lynx audio hardware).
• VGM recorder.
• Internal database for automatic rom detection and hardware selection if Auto options are selected.
• Bank switching (BANK1 + AUDIN) and EEPROM.
• Save files (EEPROM and NVRAM).
• Supported platforms (standalone): Windows, Linux, BSD and macOS.
• Supported platforms (libretro): Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, Android, iOS, tvOS, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo WiiU, Nintendo Switch, Emscripten, Classic Mini systems (NES, SNES, C64, ...), OpenDingux, RetroFW and QNX.
• Full debugger with just-in-time run-ahead disassembler that can handle self-modifying code, CPU and memory breakpoints, code navigation (goto address, JP JR and JSR double clicking), debug symbols, automatic labels, memory editor, memory search, Suzy and Mikey register viewer, audio channels, UART, cartridge and video inspector.
• MCP server for AI-assisted debugging with GitHub Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT and similar, exposing tools for execution control, memory inspection, hardware status, and more.
• Windows and Linux Portable Mode.
• ROM loading from the command line by adding the ROM path as an argument.
• ROM loading using drag & drop.
• Support for modern game controllers through gamecontrollerdb.txt file located in the same directory as the application binary.

Tips

Basic Usage

• BIOS: Gearlynx requires a BIOS to work. It is possible to load any BIOS but the original with md5 fcd403db69f54290b51035d82f835e7b is recommended.
• Mouse Cursor: Automatically hides when hovering over the main output window or when Main Menu is disabled.
• Portable Mode: Create an empty file named portable.ini in the same directory as the application binary to enable portable mode.

Debugging Features

• Docking Windows: In debug mode, you can dock windows together by pressing SHIFT and dragging a window onto another.
• Multi-viewport: In Windows or macOS, you can enable "multi-viewport" in the debug menu. You must restart the emulator for the change to take effect. Once enabled, you can drag debugger windows outside the main window.
• Single Instance: You can enable "Single Instance" in the Emulator menu. When enabled, opening a ROM while another instance is running will send the ROM to the running instance instead of starting a new one.
• Debug Symbols: The emulator automatically tries to load a symbol file when loading a ROM. For example, for path_to_rom_file.rom it tries to load path_to_rom_file.sym, path_to_rom_file.lbl and path_to_rom_file.noi. You can also load symbol files using the GUI or the CLI. It supports cc65 (VICE label file), lyxass (EQU) and mads (lab and hea) file formats.

Command Line Usage

gearlynx [options] [game_file] [symbol_file]

Arguments:
  [game_file]              Game file: accepts ROMs (.pce, .sgx, .hes), CUE (.cue) or ZIP (.zip)
  [symbol_file]            Optional symbol file for debugging

Options:
  -f, --fullscreen         Start in fullscreen mode
  -w, --windowed           Start in windowed mode with menu visible
      --mcp-stdio          Auto-start MCP server with stdio transport
      --mcp-http           Auto-start MCP server with HTTP transport
      --mcp-http-port N    HTTP port for MCP server (default: 7777)
  -v, --version            Display version information
  -h, --help               Display this help message

MCP Server

Gearlynx includes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI-assisted debugging through AI agents like GitHub Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT and similar. The server provides tools for execution control, memory inspection, breakpoints, disassembly, hardware status, sprite viewing, and more.

For complete setup instructions and tool documentation, see MCP_README.md.

Hardware Tests

• Atari Lynx Hardware Test ROMs: https://github.com/drhelius/lynx-tests.

Build Instructions

Windows

• Install Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022 or later.
• Download the latest SDL3 VC development libraries from SDL3 Releases (the file named SDL3-devel-x.y.z-VC.zip).
• Extract the archive and rename the resulting folder (e.g. SDL3-x.y.z) to SDL3.
• Place the SDL3 folder inside platforms/windows/dependencies/ so that the include path is platforms/windows/dependencies/SDL3/include/SDL3/.
• Open the Gearlynx Visual Studio solution platforms/windows/Gearlynx.sln and build.

macOS

• Install Xcode and run xcode-select --install in the terminal for the compiler to be available on the command line.
• Run these commands to generate a Mac app bundle:

brew install sdl3
cd platforms/macos
make dist

Linux

• Ubuntu / Debian / Raspberry Pi (Raspbian):

If you are using Ubuntu 25.04 or later, you can install SDL3 directly. Use the following commands to build:

sudo apt install build-essential libsdl3-dev libgtk-3-dev
cd platforms/linux
make

For older Ubuntu versions (22.04, 24.04), you need to build SDL3 from source first. Use the following commands to build both SDL3 and Gearlynx:

sudo apt install build-essential cmake libgtk-3-dev \
  libx11-dev libxext-dev libxrandr-dev libxcursor-dev libxfixes-dev \
  libxi-dev libxss-dev libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev libdecor-0-dev \
  libdrm-dev libgbm-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libegl1-mesa-dev libdbus-1-dev libudev-dev
SDL3_TAG=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/libsdl-org/SDL/releases/latest | jq -r '.tag_name')
git clone --depth 1 --branch "$SDL3_TAG" https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL.git /tmp/SDL3
cmake -S /tmp/SDL3 -B /tmp/SDL3/build -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DSDL_TESTS=OFF -DSDL_EXAMPLES=OFF
cmake --build /tmp/SDL3/build -j$(nproc)
sudo cmake --install /tmp/SDL3/build
cd platforms/linux
make

• Fedora:

sudo dnf install @development-tools gcc-c++ SDL3-devel gtk3-devel
cd platforms/linux
make

• Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S base-devel sdl3 gtk3
cd platforms/linux
make

BSD

• FreeBSD:

su root -c "pkg install -y git gmake pkgconf SDL3 lang/gcc gtk3"
cd platforms/bsd
gmake

• NetBSD:

su root -c "pkgin install gmake pkgconf SDL3 lang/gcc gtk3"
cd platforms/bsd
gmake

Libretro

• Ubuntu / Debian / Raspberry Pi (Raspbian):

sudo apt install build-essential
cd platforms/libretro
make

• Fedora:

sudo dnf install @development-tools gcc-c++
cd platforms/libretro
make

Contributors

Thank you to all the people who have already contributed to Gearlynx!

License

Gearlynx is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 License, see LICENSE for more information.