"Emulators are 99%+ 'the real ones' and - in my opinion - invaluable, I would cry if I had to use a simulator. "

I don't think there can be an argument on the above statement. But part of my hatred was borne out of an EPROM emulator that I had bought and used (or tried to use )a decade back. OK it was a badly desinged one. Those were times when you waited for a UV beam to eat your code and clean up the chip.

Raghu