Yet Another CHIP-8 Emulator

Another implementation of a CHIP-8 emulator, written in C with SDL2 for graphics and audio. So far I have confirmed that it builds. I cannot speak to the performance yet.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Prerequisites
  • Installing SDL2
• Building the Emulator
• Running the Emulator
• Controls
• Logging
• Resources
• License

Features

• CPU Emulation: All 35 instructions - see ISA.md for details. Implemented in chip8.c
• Graphics: Renders display with SDL2 - see src/graphics.c
• Input Handling: 16 key input
• Audio: Buzzer is emulated by generating a square wave - again with SDL2 - see src/audio.c .
• Logging: For debugging purposes. See src/logger.c

Prerequisites

To build and run the emulator, you need:

• C Compiler: GCC or any standard-compliant C compiler.
• Make: To use the provided Makefile.
• SDL2: Simple DirectMedia Layer library for cross-platform development.

Installing SDL2

Linux

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libsdl2-dev

Building the Emulator

1. Clone or Download the Repository:

   git clone https://github.com/columbladee/yac8emu.git
   cd yac8emu

2. Ensure the Logs Directory Exists:

   The emulator logs information to a logs directory. Create it if it doesn't exist:

   mkdir -p logs

3. Build Using Make:

   make

   This will compile the source files and produce an executable named chip8_emulator.

4. Clean Build Artifacts (Optional):

   To clean up object files and the executable:

   make clean

Running the Emulator

./chip8_emulator path/to/your/rom.ch8

• Replace path/to/your/rom.ch8 with the actual path to the CHIP-8 ROM file you want to run.
• Ensure that the ROM file exists and is accessible.

Example:

./chip8_emulator roms/PONG.ch8

Controls

The CHIP-8 emulator maps the original hexadecimal keypad to your keyboard as follows:

+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |       
| 0x1 | 0x2 | 0x3 | 0xC |       
+-----+-----+-----+-----+      
|  Q  |  W  |  E  |  R  |       
| 0x4 | 0x5 | 0x6 | 0xD |   
+-----+-----+-----+-----+  
|  A  |  S  |  D  |  F  |      
| 0x7 | 0x8 | 0x9 | 0xE |       
+-----+-----+-----+-----+      
|  Z  |  X  |  C  |  V  |    
| 0xA | 0x0 | 0xB | 0xF |       
+-----+-----+-----+-----+        

• Exit Emulator: Press ESCAPE or close the window.

Logging

• The emulator generates logs in the logs/chip8_emulator.log file.

Resources

• CHIP-8 Instruction Set Reference: Cowgod's CHIP-8 Technical Reference
• CHIP-8 Design Specification: Columbia University Embededded Systems 4840 CHIP-8 Design Specification
• CHIP-8 Hardware Emulator:CSEE 4840 Embedded Systems: CHIP-8 Hardware Emulator
• CHIP-8 Wiki: mattmikolay's Github Wiki page
• ROMs: Search online lol
• SDL2 Documentation: SDL2 Wiki
• Misc. Audio information: BasicSynth
• Misc: Textbook/Notes I found: Under the Covers : The Secret Life of Software - Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences Textbook
• Misc: Textbook/Notes I found: Under the Covers : The Secret Life of Software - Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences Lecture Notes

License

This project is licensed under the GPL-3 License.