The one I got is a bit old, but if you van get a newer model and install a lightweight operating system on it I'm sure it can handle emulators just fine. I'm going to try out some emulators on dos myself.

I recently picked up two thinclients to mess around with. I installed freedos on one of them and it works quite nicely. I installed drivers so I can go online with it. These things can run small linux distro's even with gui. These older thinclients can be bought for a very low price second hand. The older ones have many useful interfaces for hardware hackers such as rs232 serial and printer ports!


This is one of the thinclients I got. The other one is missing the case. I will post a pic of it in a bit.

These things are designed to be low power, so don't expect amazing performance from these.

Specs of the Netvoyager Thin Client LX-1020 :
Cpu: 533MHz x86
Ram: 128MB (can be expanded to 512MB using regular laptop ram)
Harddisk: 128MB compact flash card (I think it will take larger cards too, but this came with it. Dos takes just 6MB, so it's fine)
Has an IDE interface, but did not come with a harddisk.
Max resolution : 1600 x 1200 x 32 - bit colour
Interfaces: 4xUSB, 10/100M ethernet, printer/parallel, rs232 serial
Soundcard and built in speakers
Power :
12V 3.5A (label)
Off : 9W Running : 23W
Dimensions H x W x D (mm) : 173 x 237 x 37

It is expandable with laptop card thingies (no idea what the interface is called)

Let it dry and hope for the best. Otherwise: keyboards are cheap if you know where to look. I get mechanical keyboards for €5 in thriftshops. I have about 3 in stock so I never run out

gamemaker

No need to throw away all of that processing power though

This is all original and not a cover. You can use it as long as you mention me


It can be looped. That's what I do

Gamemaker is great for getting you started. Most of the tools it comes with are kind of crappy though. After you tinkered around with it for a couple of years should start piecing together your own toolset.

You will need:
A programming language you like to work with.
This can be lua, C, C++, java, whatever you want. Just don't care about what people say about these languages. It only matters if you can do something in it.
A GOOD editor!
The editor that comes with gamemaker is terrible. Use notepad++, sublime, kate or equivalent editors. It sucks to work with a text editor that makes the indentation jump all over the place. It also helps if you can install plugins and customize every little detail including the tab width and color scheme.
Set up your compiler/whatever your language requires to be converted into an executable.
If you use C/C++ you want to use either gcc/g++ or anything that will do the job. It's usually a good idea to select the compiler that is closest to the standards of the language.


As for graphics, sound etc.
Famitracker is great for creating NES style music. It is free and open-source.
Renoise is a tracker for mod-style music. It is a more modern tracker with all the features you would expect from an industry standard music editor. Best part is: there is a free version that includes all essential features. More features than you'll ever use!


Graphics gale is great for making animated pixelart. There is a free licence.


As for map editors:
Any text editor will do in most cases.
If you need a graphical map editor I'd suggest either making one yourself specific for the game or using someone elses. It's not weird to make your own tools. I make a lot of my own tools for converting and editing files. Most people suggest using a scripting language to make tools because it's easier to work with.


So there you have it

I don't expect anyone to read all of it. Just read the bits you're interested in. Hence the bold text

I have Solstice in my collection! The title music is so awesome!