This project is a fully-functional interpreter for the CHIP-8 programming language, written in x64 Linux NASM assembly and using Raylib to render the CHIP-8's screen. CHIP-8, originally designed in the 1970s, is a simple, "low-level" programming language used for creating games on early computer systems.

This interpreter is based on well-documented references, such as Cowgod's Chip-8 Technical Reference and Mastering CHIP-8. For testing, several test files have been created for the basic functionality of the iterpreter and the opcodes. In addition, we have run and passed all the tests of the chip8-test-suite, which do a more exhaustive testing of the opcodes. Also, a few enhancements have been made to provide a better experience:

• Timing: Raylib has been configured to aim for 200 FPS, which means that 200 instructions are executed per second, but also managing to update timers update at their correct frequency (60Hz). This is done with the intention of providing a smoother user experience.

• Sound: This interpreter has sound support for programs that use the delay timer to play the CHIP-8 beep sound. This sound has been generated thanks to onlinetonegenerator.com using a 440Hz frequency and a square wave.

In order to run a ROM file that contains a CHIP-8 program, you need the chip8asm executable to run it. You can obtain it via compiling the project and installing it, or from any of the releases at the releases page. After that, you can run CHIP-8 compatible ROMs using this interpreter. Some sources for ROMs are: kripod/chip8-roms, pdroms, chipo and johnearnest/chip8Archive

To run a ROM, use the following command, where the parameter is the path to the ROM file:

./chip8asm some/path/to/rom # Relative path (not installed)
chip8asm some/path/to/rom   # Global path (installed)

Ensure you have raylib and nasm installed on your system, either statically or dynamically (the last one requires manual configuration). To compile the interpreter, follow the commands below:

git clone https://github.com/dpv927/chip8asm.git
cd chip8asm/src/
make target

If you compiled the project, now you just have to run one command:

sudo make install

If you downloaded the interpreter from some of the releases, you just need to move the necessary files to the system path (This assumes that you are inside of the downloaded release folder):

sudo cp -f chip8asm /usr/local/bin
sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/chip8asm
sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/chip8asm
sudo cp -f resources/beep.wav /usr/share/chip8asm

Of course, you can remove the project from the system path. Just undo the steps from the installation guide:

sudo rm /local/bin/chip8asm
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/chip8asm

See the TODO file which contans the current tasks and maybe future features. The symbol 'x' at the beggining of a line means that a task is finished. '(A)', '(B)',... means the priority of the task (in alphabetical order), and '@' gives a hint about the task's topic.

Chip8asm is free and distributed under the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPL v3). Essentially, this means you are free to do almost exactly what you want with the program, including distributing it among your friends, making it available for download from your website, selling it (either by itself or as part of some bigger software package), or using it as the starting point for a software project of your own.

The only real limitation is that whenever you distribute Chip8asm in some way, you MUST always include the license and the full source code (or a pointer to where the source code can be found) to generate the exact binary you are distributing. If you make any changes to the source code, these changes must also be made available under GPL v3.