Introduction

Who Should Use the Simulator

The simulator is intended for any student studying low level programming, control or machine architecture for the first time.

The simulator can be used by students aged 14 to 16 to solve less complex problems such as controlling the traffic lights and snake.

More advanced students typically 16 or older can solve quite complex low level programming problems involving conditional jumps, procedures, software and hardware interrupts and Boolean logic. Although programs will be small, there is good scope for modular design and separation of code and data tables.

The simulator is suitable for courses such as

BTEC National Diploma for IT Practitioners (Computer Systems and Control Technology)
AS and A2 Computing (Low Level Programming)
Electronics Courses.
Courses involving microcontrollers.
Courses involving control systems.

Description of the Simulator

The simulator includes a small sub-set of the full instruction set normally found with this style of processor. It includes advanced instructions such as CALL, RET, INT and IRET. There is a hardware timer interrupt simulation too.

This simulator emulates an eight bit CPU that is similar to the low eight bits of the 80x86 family of chips. 256 bytes of RAM are simulated. It is surprising how much can be done with only 256 bytes or RAM.

The simulator is licensed under GNU / GPL making it freely available for use by students and educational institutions at zero cost.

Features

8 bit CPU
16 Input Output ports. Not all are used.
Simulated peripherals on ports 0 to 5.
An assembler.
On-line help.
Single step through programs.
Continuously run programs.
Interrupt 02 triggered by a hardware timer (simulated).
CPU Clock Speed can be altered.

Peripherals	Example Programs
Keyboard Input	99keyb.asm
Traffic Lights	99tlight.asm
Seven Segment Display	99sevseg.asm
Heater and Thermostat	99hon.asm and 99hoff.asm
Snake and Maze	99snake.asm
Stepper Motor	99step.asm
Memory Mapped VDU	99keyb.asm

Documentation

On-line hypertext help is stored in a Website. It is possible to copy from the help pages and paste into a word processor or text editor programs. Registered users have permission to modify help files for use by students and to print and or make multiple photocopies.

Disclaimer

This simulation software is not guaranteed in any way. It may differ from reality. It might not even work at all. Try it out and if you like it, please register.

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