@thinkulator/handyarm

ARM Thumb Emulator for Browser-Based Computer Systems

A JavaScript-based computer emulator focusing on ARM Thumb instruction set implementation. This project provides core components (CPU, RAM, ROM, DMA, UART) for building hardware emulators in the browser.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Architecture Overview

Introduction

This emulator provides a foundation for building ARM Thumb-based computer systems in the browser. The core components are designed to work together via a common bus interface, allowing flexible hardware configurations.

Key features:

• Bus-based architecture connects all peripherals and CPUs
• Implements RAM and ROM storage
• Includes DMA controller for memory management
• Supports serial communication (UART)
• Designed for ARM Thumb instruction set emulation

Architecture Overview

The system is built around several core components:

1. The Bus

• Handles address decoding and device discovery
• Routes read/write operations to the appropriate peripherals
• Core.js/src/bus.js

2. Memory Components

• RAM: Dynamic memory with bounds checking (src/ram.js)
• ROM: Read-only storage with validation (src/rom.js)

3. Usage

• Examples of C code used to interact with the block_input/block_output operations is available in usage_examples/