CHIP-8 emulator

Build and run a ROM

Stack: OpenGL talks to the GPU to draw the framebuffer. GLFW opens the window and reads input. GLAD loads OpenGL 3.3 Core entry points at runtime.

Dependencies:

• CMake 3.16+
• C++17 compiler
• GLFW 3
• OpenGL dev libraries (headers + GL link library). On Linux this usually comes from the Mesa stack; GPU vendors ship their own drivers, but you still need a dev install that satisfies the build.
• GLAD for OpenGL 3.3 Core (C loader)

If src/glad.c or include/glad/ is missing after clone, regenerate GLAD (3.3 Core), put glad.c in src/, and put the glad and KHR trees under include/. KHR is Khronos-supplied glue (e.g. khrplatform.h) that GLAD’s headers include.

Install toolchain and libs (Debian / Ubuntu example):

sudo apt install build-essential cmake libglfw3-dev libgl1-mesa-dev

Adjust package names if you use another distro.

Configure and build:

From the repository root:

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build

• -S . — project root (where CMakeLists.txt lives).
• -B build — out-of-tree build directory.
• -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release — optimized build (for single-config generators like Make/Ninja). For a debug build, use Debug instead.

Reconfigure after changing CMakeLists.txt by running the first cmake line again (or delete build/ and start over).

Run:

Binary: build/chip8. Pass the ROM path (and optional flags such as -b breakpoints.txt). After a breakpoint (or if you use Pause in the F1 panels), the CPU is paused: Space runs one instruction, N steps over (for CALL, runs until the matching RET; otherwise same as one step), and Enter resumes timer-driven execution. Close the window to quit.

./build/chip8 roms/test3

Quick smoke test (process should stay up; exit code 124 means timeout stopped it after 3 seconds):

timeout 3 ./build/chip8 roms/test3