A virtual computer that runs on a fantasy console. I find this very interesting, so I've made it work for now.

 

chipeight

by sugarflower

Cart #chipeight-2 | 2025-10-15 | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

8

Key assignments

[1][2][3][4]
[q][w][e][r]
[a][s][d][f]
[z][x][c][v]

These can also be changed in key.lua if necessary.

0.0.2b

• We now support binary files with the "ch8" extension, which can be directly loaded using drag and drop to load rom data without creating pod data. (Pods can still be used as before.)
• The screen size has been reduced. (Change zoom = 2 to 3 in screen.lua to return to the previous size.)

0.0.1b

• Minor bug fixes
• Modified to load ROMs as external pod files by drag and drop (Thank you pancelor!)
• Change display from full screen to windowed (to drop the ROM)

How to create a "rom" pod.

store(filepath, userdata("u8", bytelength, romdata))

Specifically, it looks like this.

store("/logo.pod", userdata("u8", 132, "00e0a22a600c6108d01f7009a239d01fa2487008d01f7004a257d01f7008a266d01f7008a275d01f1228ff00ff003c003c003c003c00ff00ffff00ff0038003f003f003800ff00ff8000e000e00080008000e000e00080f800fc003e003f003b003900f800f8030007000f00bf00fb00f300e30043e505e2008507810180028007e106e7"))

hey, this is cool! I made a CHIP-8 game and its fun to see it running here :)

Here's a test suite that was incredibly helpful while I was making an emulator, it turned up all sorts of tiny edge cases I wasn't handling quite right. you should check it out: https://github.com/Timendus/chip8-test-suite

also, if you'd like to support drag-and-drop to load ROMs, something like this should work:

on_event("drop_items",function(msg)
	local item = msg.items[1]
	if item and item.pod_type=="file_reference" then
		local str = fetch(item.fullpath)
		local romdata = userdata("u8",#str/2,str)
		-- todo load romdata somehow
	end
end)

Thanks for your comments and the info on fixing the bug.
And now I can drop and load ROMs.
This is my first time using it and it's great!

The test suite also passed.

Does anyone else think a fully featured Atari-2600 emulator is possible in Picotron? (Neat meta-fantasy console btw.)

I think it is possible to emulate the CPU.Rather, I think the part that reproduces the blurring on the screen is impressive.
I have never used the Atari 2600, so I can't say for sure, but it's possible. I think.
Very interesting.