chip8sys

This crate contains the CHIP-8 emulator core. It handles CPU state, timers, keypad input, and framebuffer output without any UI dependencies.

Repository: https://github.com/nebulous-code/chip-8

Install (crates.io)

cargo add chip8sys

Quick Start

use chip8sys::chip8::Chip8Sys;

fn main() {
    let mut emulator = Chip8Sys::new_chip_8();
    let rom_bytes = std::fs::read("roms/1-chip8-logo.ch8")
        .expect("ROM should load");

    emulator.load_rom_bytes(&rom_bytes);
    emulator.tick(10).expect("tick should succeed");
    emulator.tick_timers(1);

    let framebuffer = emulator.framebuffer_packed();
    println!("Framebuffer bytes: {}", framebuffer.len());
}

Integration Flow

Typical embedding loop:

1. Load ROM bytes and call load_rom_bytes.
2. Update keypad state via set_keys or set_keys_mask.
3. Advance CPU cycles using tick.
4. Advance timers using tick_timers.
5. Render the framebuffer output.

Quirks and Configuration

Quirk flags are available through Chip8Quirks, and can be applied by calling set_quirks. Timer behavior can be configured via set_timer_mode.

Related Crates

• chip8wasm: A wasm-bindgen wrapper around chip8sys for browser use.

Contributing

Fork the repository and open a pull request with the changes.