Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 11/09/2026BTW I previously tried using the Unicorn engine for embedded dynarec. While this is an awesome piece of software, based on Qemu, it didn't really fit my bare-metal needs. So I started my own dynarec engine, inspired by Bleem, beginning with RV32 then aarch64 then the ultimate monster: x86_64 000
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 11/09/2026Previously experimented with a RISC OS-like WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) desktop environment, but I think a fixed BIOS/UEFI-like GUI is better for managing a virtualization host. Individual guest VMs can provide the desktop apps/environment, routed through the GUI VM, if needed. 000
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 11/09/2026In addition, the hypervisor supports non-native guests seamlessly through dynamic recompilation, starting with 32-bit RISC-V (RV32) guests... github.com/diodesign/di...github.comGitHub - diodesign/diosix at dynarecA lightweight, robust, multiprocessor bare-metal hypervisor written in Zig for RISC-V - diodesign/diosix 200
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 11/09/2026Working on a native BIOS/UEFI-like GUI for the Diosix.org RISC-V hypervisor. Beyond an in-guest CLI and Linux kernel driver, I’m experimenting with a graphical console to configure guest VMs, storage, networking, and more directly on screen-attached RV64 hosts. WIP! github.com/diodesign/di... 151
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 05/07/2026I thought I recognized that name. Nick wrote Director, an add-on for RISC OS that I found indispensable, among other software www.craig-wood.com/nick/riscos/...craig-wood.comDirectorDirector - a general purpose desktop tool 011
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 02/07/2026Working on adding a Unicorn-based emulation layer to my 64-bit RISC-V hypervisor so you can run non-native guests (riscv32, aarch64, x86_64) seamlessly. Below, the green text is console output from an x86 Linux guest amid hypervisor debug traces. Still WIP! More: github.com/diodesign/di... 000
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 18/06/2026It's the hypervisor extension I'm most interested in as I've a bunch of RV systems but they are pre-H-ext and use PMP fallback for virtualization. This will be the first virtualization in silicon test for the hypervisor I'm writing with embedded Unicorn guest emulation github.com/diodesign/di...github.comGitHub - diodesign/diosix at unicornA lightweight, robust, multiprocessor bare-metal hypervisor written in Zig for RISC-V - diodesign/diosix 110
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 18/06/2026Looking forward to developing on this 64-bit RISC-V Spacemit K3 Pico-ITX system: * 8 2.4 GHz RVA23 CPU cores with hypervisor and vector extension * 8 AI accelerator cores * Whole load of IO: USB, 1G Ethernet, 10GbE SFP+, Wi-Fi 6, and more www.spacemit.com/community/do... 150
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 15/06/2026I have no idea. I was drinking martinis in North Beach watching Sweden - Tusnia 000
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 15/06/2026My first proper paid job was reverse-engineering products and firmware for interoperability purposes, so this not only resonates but also is entirely accurate and representative of the kind of work involved in examining these kinds of devices. 000
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 15/06/2026I like this warts-and-all reverse-engineering documentary by David Given of this 6502-based system. From extracting the firmware to figuring out the device architecture, it's a realistic journey for anyone interested in this kind of forensic work www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ0X...youtube.comReverse engineering a 'tony' 6502-based game consoleYouTube video by Poking Technology 184
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 10/06/2026This is part of his Pyromaniac project to run RISC OS on non-Arm systems, such as modern PCs and Macs. More info and an online shell to try out: pyromaniac.riscos.online 020
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 10/06/2026Gerph is working away on a 64-bit version of RISC OS, the original Arm operating system first developed by Acorn in the UK. I think it's a super interesting project. He did a Q&A about this effort here: www.youtube.com/live/Oy_mCJf... His summary here: www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums...youtube.comGerph's live coding - Quick Q & AYouTube video by Gerph 162
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 10/06/2026His Great Escape and Chase H.Q. video-game reverse-engineering projects are cool, too... github.com/dpt/The-Grea... github.com/dpt/ChaseHQgithub.comGitHub - dpt/The-Great-Escape: Classic ZX Spectrum game "The Great Escape" reverse engineeredClassic ZX Spectrum game "The Great Escape" reverse engineered - dpt/The-Great-Escape 010
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 10/06/2026Super fun logo generator, inspired by the ZX Spectrum's Sinclair branding, by Dave Thomas. Online: dpt.github.io/SinclairLogo/ Info: www.davespace.co.uk/blog/2026060... Code: github.com/dpt/Sinclair... Web plus creative coding times retro computing equals... this 140
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 05/06/2026BTW second place in the wild category: Beyond The Pixels, a Game Boy Advance demo by Otomata Labs: demozoo.org/productions/... First place: READY?, an *oscilloscope* demo, by BUS ERROR Collective: demozoo.org/productions/... Full results (from April): www.pouet.net/party_result...pouet.netRevision 2026 results :: pouët.netpouët.net - your online demoscene resource 010
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 05/06/2026You can watch the demo here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8zK... (It won third place in the Revision 2026 wild competition category.) More info: linusakesson.net/scene/sum-er... and linusakesson.net/scene/sum-er...youtube.comSum Ergo DemonstroYouTube video by lftkryo 110
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 05/06/2026The code and hardware design behind Sum Ergo Demonstro, lft's impressive real-time demoscene creation powered by a dual-core IO-stuffed and overclocked RP2350 RISC-V microcontroller: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_9Y...youtube.comMicrocontroller Magic: Under the Hood of “Sum Ergo Demonstro”YouTube video by lftkryo 120
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 30/05/2026I rewrote my RISC-V hypervisor in Zig and added support for new features like hardware virtualization (H extension). It previously used segmented physical memory for guest isolation, and will fall back to that if H is not present. asciinema.org/a/XbV4OoBD8G... Need to tidy up the codeasciinema.orgFirst RISC-V Linux guest boot of Zig Diosix hypervisorDiosix, rewritten in Zig for 64-bit RISC-V systems, boots a guest virtual machine, and allows console-based interaction with this VM. 030
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 30/04/2026For further proof that OS development is hard: copy.fail A page cache corruption that stays in memory but never hits the disk. Since the disk remains "clean," checksums don’t catch it. It allows unprivileged users to gain root or escape containers by corrupting shared memory of sensitive binaries.copy.failCopy Fail — 732 Bytes to RootCVE-2026-31431. 100% Reliable Linux LPE — no race, no per-distro offsets, page-cache write that bypasses on-disk file-integrity tools and crosses containers. Found by Xint Code. 111
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 30/04/2026Huge props to reassembler who is porting Sonic from the Megadrive/Genesis to the Amiga. Despite both sharing a Motorola 68000-powered base, Sega's tile-based architecture is pretty different to the Amiga's bitplane approach, so my hat's off for getting this far... www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqK...youtube.comSONIC: playable on real Amiga hardware for the first time (somewhat)YouTube video by reassembler 000
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 18/04/2026Developing a Dungeons & Dragons style NES RPG in 6502 assembly must have been tough, even if its programmer thought the job was "pretty simple" due to his experience with the Apple II.* Still, the code was fairly buggy, as illustrated in this cool video below * www.gamesradar.com/games/final-... 010
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 09/03/2026Nice. With apologies to Mike Ginns who wrote this sterling book that taught me Arm assembly language... www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/12421/Ar... ...a future one about RISC-V might look like: 010
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 08/03/2026Ha, yes. If I had time, I would. Read a ton of Usborne books like this growing up 000
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 08/03/2026It's in the Internet Archive, for those who are curious. archive.org/details/mach... 062
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 18/02/2026I remember that article and issue! I thought at the time, wow, that guy has a sweet gig compiling magazine CDs and must have a sweet setup to do so. I spent months roaming those CDs, so thanks! 110
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 09/02/2026Super-in-depth look at the 6502 assembly in a NES game, with lessons for today's code in terms of performance optimization decisions and missteps 030
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 09/02/2026A cool demonstration of Zig as a language IMO: a PlayStation 1 emulator with built-in dissembler and debug. It emulates the 32-bit MIPS 3000A-based CPU core as well as the Sony GPU, GTE, SPU, and more Readable code, too, and links to system reference info github.com/maxpoletaev/...github.comGitHub - maxpoletaev/nupsx: Experimental PlayStation 1 emulatorExperimental PlayStation 1 emulator. Contribute to maxpoletaev/nupsx development by creating an account on GitHub. 022
Reposted by Chris WilliamsChrome for Developers @developer.chrome.com · 08/01/2026New year, new account, same great open source energy. We are ready to see what you ship 🚢 1254
Reposted by Chris WilliamsGoogle Open Source @opensource.google · 06/01/2026New year's resolution, engage with open source developers on our new Bluesky account. ✨ 2828829
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 02/01/2026This is going to date me, but in college I studied 90 to 45nm processes for my EE degree. I asked a professor about sub-45 and his response was: "oh, that's just dark magic." I dunno how he'd describe sub-10nm. Anyway, if you don't know how modern chips are made, check this out 020
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 31/12/2025More detailed obit: computerchronicles.blog/post/stewart...computerchronicles.blogStewart Douglas Cheifet (1938 - 2025) - Computer Chronicles RevisitedComputer Chronicles Revisited pays tribute to the creator, executive producer, and host of 010
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 31/12/2025RIP Stewart Cheifet. who died December 28. He was 87. I have no doubt his work creating and hosting the Computer Chronicles from 1984 to 2002 inspired many future journalists and engineers. Certainly was for me. obits.goldsteinsfuneral.com/stewart-chei... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compute... 130
Reposted by Chris WilliamsLiam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 23/12/2025UNIX V4 tape successfully recovered: First ever version of UNIX written in C is running again www.theregister.com/2025/12/23/u... Crucial early evolutionary step found, imaged, and ... amazingly ... works <- by me on @theregister.comtheregister.comUNIX V4 tape successfully recovered: Crucial early evolutionary step found, imaged, and ... amazingly ... works 3237
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 12/11/2025This was pretty interesting, hearing how the small team behind the 8-bit BBC Acorn computer went from specifying ULA chip designs to designing the early Arm CPU series from scratch using BBC BASIC www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2yD...youtube.comFrom Acorn to ARM with Professor Steve Furber MBEYouTube video by The Retro Collective 042
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 22/09/2025And on to another week. Grateful for everything, especially these views from the weekend. 040
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 22/09/2025To build and run on Linux: 1. Make sure you've installed: * clang * lld * Qemu with the 32-bit RISC-V system emulator 2. Clone the repo from GitHub and edit its run-dot-sh file so: CC=clang OBJCOPY=llvm-objcopy 3. Run in a terminal: ./run.sh 000
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 22/09/2025It has: * Basic process multi-tasking * Paging * An exception and system call handler * A virtio-blk device driver to read and write a disk * Simple command-line shell An MIT-licensed starting point for folks. For more info, see: seiya.me/blog/operati... 100
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 22/09/2025If you want to get started writing your own kernel for 32-bit RISC-V from scratch, here's how seiya.me did it in 1,000 lines of cleanly written C. There's documentation to go with it. Pretty cool IMHO! github.com/nuta/operati... 130
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 12/09/2025This is partially why I wanted to move from media to tech. After 20 years of publishing, from London riots to cyber-attacks, I no longer wanted to be so immersed in it. 040
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 25/08/2025A 1956 general-purpose digital computer, the Bendix G-15, plus an algorithm from the modern-day CERN ATLAS experiment equals... this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y0D... What takes under a microsecond on hardware today takes about 15 minutes on this vacuum-tube machineyoutube.comCERN Topoclustering on the Bendix G-15!YouTube video by Usagi Electric 021
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 17/08/2025Wonderfully detailed per-frame performance analysis of NES Metroid, and why it lags at certain points. It's super interesting to see the software engineering decisions taken back in the day. As always, a great video by @displacedgamers.bsky.social IMO www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G6v... 030
Reposted by Chris WilliamsSteve Klabnik @steveklabnik.com · 10/08/2025#ziglang ’s Lovely Syntax matklad.github.io/2025/08/09/z...matklad.github.ioZig's Lovely SyntaxIt's a bit of a silly post, because syntax is the least interesting detail about the language, but, still, I can't stop thinking how Zig gets this detail just right for the class of curly-braced langu... 97812
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 10/08/2025Also not quite Times Square, but Manchester Piccadilly Station in the UK was hard to miss 040
Chris Williams @diodesign.org · 10/08/2025Does a roller coaster count? www.theregister.com/2020/02/25/b...theregister.comJust the place you'd want to spot a BSOD: While waiting in line for a roller coaster that lifts you up 124ftThis bodes well 120