KEMU

Welcome to KEMU, an experimental, lightweight virtual machine written in C. This project aims to simulate a simple 16-bit virtual machine with fundamental memory management, CPU emulation, and custom assembly instructions. Inspired by classic systems like the 386, KEMU provides a foundation for learning about computer architecture, CPU registers, stack management, and basic machine instructions.

Project Goals

1. Learn and Experiment: This VM project was started as a hands-on experiment to learn how virtual machines work by building one from scratch.
2. Build a Functional 16-bit VM: The initial goal is to create a 16-bit CPU with basic memory and CPU functionality.
3. Introduce a Simple Instruction Set: Implement a custom assembly language and interpreter to process VM instructions.

Features

• 16-bit CPU: KEMU includes a CPU structure with general-purpose registers (A, B, C, X), a stack pointer, and an instruction pointer.
• Memory Management: 65 KB of memory is accessible, modeled after classic systems.
• Custom Instruction Set: A simple set of opcodes enables basic operations, allowing for straightforward computation and memory handling.
• Modular Design: CPU, memory, and program components are modular, making it easy to extend with additional functionality.

Project Structure

• KEMU.c – Main implementation file with entry-level setup and initialization of VM structures.
• KEMU.h – Header file defining data structures such as CPU, memory, and opcodes.
• Makefile – Script to compile KEMU with virtual tools and dependencies.
• program.c – Contains the sequence of instructions (custom opcodes) for KEMU to execute.

Getting Started

1. Clone the project repository.
2. Install dependencies:

   sudo apt-get install gcc make

3. Build the project:

   make

4. Build and Install Utils(you must check utils source code yourself):

   cd utils
   ./build.sh

5. Run KEMU:

   cd src
   make
   ./KEMU

Contributing

Suggestions and improvements are welcome! To contribute:

1. Fork the project.
2. Create a branch.
3. Make your changes.
4. Submit a pull request.

Notes

• This project is experimental and may not yet handle all edge cases.
• Community Feedback: Feedback on the data structure, register naming, and memory management is highly encouraged.
• Future Enhancements: Adding disk emulation, serial I/O, and expanding the instruction set.

Thank you for exploring KEMU!