Emulation

(See Native)

Refers to the ability of a program or device to imitate another program or device. Many printers, for example, are designed to emulate Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printers because so much software is written for HP printers. By emulating an HP printer, a printer can work with any software written for a real HP printer. Emulation tricks the software into believing that a device is really some other device.Communications software packages often include terminal emulation drivers. This enables your PC to emulate a particular type of terminal so that you can log on to a mainframe.It is also possible for a computer to emulate another type of computer. For example, there are programs that enable an Apple Macintosh to emulate a PC.