README
¶
chip8
A CHIP-8 emulator written in Go.
Description
CHIP8 is an interpreted programming language designed in the 1970s for writing games. The CHIP-8 programs are run on a virtual machine, which consists of the following components:
- 4 kilobytes of memory
- 16 8-bit general-purpose registers
- A call stack for subroutines
- 64 x 32 pixel monochrome display
- A hexidecimal keypad
- A monotone beeper
- 2 60Hz countdown timers, one for audio and other for instruction delay
For more information on CHIP-8 and how to write programs on it, see the following link: http://devernay.free.fr/hacks/chip8/C8TECH10.HTM.
Setup
This project requires Go 1.18+ and Ebiten. Make sure to install all the system dependencies necessary to run Ebiten.
To build the emulator, run the following:
make build
This will create the executable file chip8 in the root directory of the project.
Usage
The executable takes in the path to a CHIP-8 ROM file.
$ ./chip8 <path to ROM>
For example,
$ ./chip8 roms/Logo.ch8
The executable also takes in a -scale flag for changing the window size of the emulator.
$ ./chip8 -scale=10 roms/Logo.ch8 // Scales the window size by a factor of 10
Key Mapping
The following shows the keys that are virtually mapped to the CHIP-8 keypad:
Key Hex
|1|2|3|4| \ |0|1|2|3|
|Q|W|E|R| ------\ |4|5|6|7|
|A|S|D|F| ------/ |8|9|A|B|
|Z|X|C|V| / |C|D|E|F|
Emulation
The emulator provides a few basic functions for control:
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
[ |
Resume emulation |
] |
Pause emulation |
\ |
Reset emulation |
Esc |
Terminate emulation |
Note: Pausing emulation will only pause the virtual machine. However, it will not pause the timers or keypad.
References
Documentation
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There is no documentation for this package.
Source Files
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