Overview

MB8 is an 8-bit microcomputer in the spirit of the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, initially inspired by CHIP-8. It ships with a tiny CP/M-like operating system layer and a minimal assembly-first toolchain.

What’s inside

• 8-bit CPU with a compact ISA and pseudo-instructions for convenience.
• Memory-mapped devices (RAM, ROM, GPU TTY, keyboard, disk) wired through a simple bus.
• A small kernel plus user-space programs, all written in assembly.

Running the project

1. Build all assembly artifacts (kernel, user programs, tests):

make all

2. Run the VM, passing the kernel entrypoint first and then any user-space programs:

cargo run -- run ./kernel/main.bin ./user/sh.bin ./user/hw.bin ./user/ls.bin ./user/exit.bin ./user/help.bin

The kernel image is loaded at 0xE000, user programs are passed as extra binaries, and the OS provides basic CP/M-like services via syscalls.