Simulatron Repository

The Simulatron project consists of a CPU architecture definition, a virtual machine emulating this architecture, and a compilation toolchain for this architecture. Its purpose is to aid understanding of hardware and low-level software, and to be fun to play around with.

This is the root repository for Simulatron and its associated tools. This project currently consists of the following packages:

simulatron-vm - the virtual machine itself.
simulatron-salt - an assembler for Simulatron.
simulatron-silk - a linker for Simulatron.
simulatron-utils - utilities that are shared or don't fit anywhere else.

General documentation can be found in Documentation. Package-specific information can be found in each package's README.md.

Features

32-bit architecture.
Memory management and virtual-to-physical address translation.
User/Kernel modes.
Integer and floating point computation.
Built-in peripherals: console, keyboard, and two removable disks.
Assembly language and object code format specification, with an assembler and linker.
Cross-platform support: Simulatron runs on Linux and Windows, and should run on Mac too (although this is untested).

Getting Started

See the examples.

Project State

The project is currently paused.

The VM, linker, and assembler are feature-complete. The next goal is to create a simple operating system that can run on Simulatron, but I don't fancy doing that in assembly. I intend to make a higher-level language first.

History

Simulatron V1 was a similar project smaller in scope, with a 16-bit CPU design that lacked memory management or privilege modes. It was never made open-source. Simulatron V2 is a from-scratch redesign and rewrite, designed to be more powerful, more performant, and capable of supporting an operating system. Indeed, the long-term goal is to create an operating system that runs on Simulatron.

Contributing