TinyCircuits Forum

TinyCircuits Products => Thumby => Topic started by: Timendus on January 23, 2022, 04:18:07 PM

Title: Beta release: Silicon8, a CHIP-8 interpreter
Post by: Timendus on January 23, 2022, 04:18:07 PM

I posted this on Discord a couple of weeks ago, but the forum had some issues for me. Let's see if things work today  ;D

I've ported my CHIP-8 / SCHIP / XO-CHIP interpreter to MicroPython for Thumby. It seems to work pretty reliably with every ROM file I throw at it. Once I have a physical Thumby to test with, I'll go and tweak a couple of things and see if I can squeeze out a couple of additional features.

If you didn't know, CHIP-8 and friends are an interpreted programming language, going back to the '70s, with a huge assortment of very simple games. I thought this is a great fit for the Thumby, and also a testament of how far computing has come. What was once the pinnacle of computer gaming for hobbyists now runs on a cheap keychain, with pixels and memory to spare  ;D


See my Github repository for more background information and how to run the thing:

https://github.com/Timendus/thumby-silicon8 (https://github.com/Timendus/thumby-silicon8)

Title: Re: Beta release: Silicon8, a CHIP-8 interpreter
Post by: Timendus on January 23, 2022, 04:19:32 PM

A few screenshots:

(https://github.com/Timendus/thumby-silicon8/raw/main/pictures/emu-splash.png)

(https://github.com/Timendus/thumby-silicon8/raw/main/pictures/emu-menu.png)

(https://github.com/Timendus/thumby-silicon8/raw/main/pictures/emu-details.png)

(https://github.com/Timendus/thumby-silicon8/raw/main/pictures/emu-pong.png)

(https://github.com/Timendus/thumby-silicon8/raw/main/pictures/emu-space.png)

A short (and slightly stuttery) video of the thing in action:

(https://github.com/Timendus/thumby-silicon8/raw/main/pictures/emu-video.gif)

Title: Re: Beta release: Silicon8, a CHIP-8 interpreter
Post by: calvinthedestroyer on January 23, 2022, 07:39:58 PM

Kool!

Title: Re: Beta release: Silicon8, a CHIP-8 interpreter
Post by: Timendus on February 02, 2022, 06:17:56 AM

Thanks!  ;D

Title: Re: Beta release: Silicon8, a CHIP-8 interpreter
Post by: Timendus on April 25, 2022, 05:10:02 AM

Like I posted in Discord yesterday evening: I finally received my Thumbies, and managed to fix the bug in my CHIP-8 interpreter. It's spinning like a kitten now with all fifteen supplied games.

If you're feeling adventurous, instructions to install are here: https://github.com/Timendus/thumby-silicon8

(https://github.com/Timendus/thumby-silicon8/raw/main/pictures/hardware-3d-vipr-maze.jpg)