# Octo, the CHIP-8 IDE
**URL:** https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/octo-the-chip-8-ide/6116
**Category:** Developers
**Tags:** emulator, fantasy-console
**Created:** [December 12, 2020, 2:30am UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/octo-the-chip-8-ide/6116 "2020-12-12T02:30:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JohnEarnest](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/JohnEarnest)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2020, 2:30am UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/octo-the-chip-8-ide/6116/1 "2020-12-12T02:30:28Z")
CHIP-8 is a virtual game console dating to the late 1970s. Thanks to its simplicity it has become something of a rite of passage for anyone interested in writing emulators. Over the past few years I’ve built a collection of development tools for this platform, and the user community has written [dozens of interesting games and programs](https://github.com/JohnEarnest/chip8Archive).
I recently ported the whole toolbox to C and SDL2, creating the same kind of all-in-one game creation tool as “Fantasy Consoles” like TIC-80 and PICO-8:
I know that Octode runs great on the PocketCHIP, and I imagine that it would be even better on a device like DevTerm! Code for the project is here:
> **[JohnEarnest/c-octo](https://github.com/JohnEarnest/c-octo)**
>
> A C rewrite of the Octo CHIP-8 IDE. Contribute to JohnEarnest/c-octo development by creating an account on GitHub.
Any interest?
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### Author:  [@JohnEarnest](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/JohnEarnest)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2020, 5:10am UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/octo-the-chip-8-ide/6116/2 "2020-12-18T05:10:05Z")
Just in case anyone is curious, I recorded some clips showing how Octode would look given the resolution and aspect ratio of the DevTerm.
At 1x (which may be rather hard to read on a real DevTerm):
And with the UI scaled to 2x (`ui.win_scale=2` in the config file):
As you can see, the user interface is suited fairly well to a wide aspect ratio. It doesn’t hurt that CHIP-8 itself has a rather unusual 2:1 aspect ratio to begin with!
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### Author:  [@pilot](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/pilot)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2020, 5:17pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/octo-the-chip-8-ide/6116/3 "2020-12-18T17:17:50Z")
@JohnEarnest Thanks for links and samples. Welcome to the community!
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### Author:  [@JohnEarnest](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/JohnEarnest)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2021, 4:59am UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/octo-the-chip-8-ide/6116/4 "2021-09-03T04:59:02Z")
Many months later, here it is running on the real hardware, at 2x scale:
The wide format display is a great match for CHIP-8’s 2:1 aspect ratio. Here it’s running [Super Neatboy](https://internet-janitor.itch.io/super-neatboy):
The built-in gamepad worked out of the box. While the mouse is a bit slow to navigate with, everything important has keyboard shortcuts.
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### Author:  [@DustinWoods](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/DustinWoods)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2021, 8:19pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/octo-the-chip-8-ide/6116/5 "2021-09-04T20:19:51Z")
Nice work on this IDE, it’s looks fun!
Is this C-Octo running on the DevTerm or the web version?
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### Author:  [@JohnEarnest](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/JohnEarnest)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2021, 12:19am UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/octo-the-chip-8-ide/6116/6 "2021-09-05T00:19:53Z")
C-Octo runs directly on the device. The [web version](https://octo-ide.com) would probably also work in a browser on the DevTerm, but the UI wouldn’t be as pleasant to use, and performance/battery life would probably suffer. Apart from the “fantasy console” frontend, C-Octo also comes with a command-line frontend called [octo-run](https://github.com/JohnEarnest/c-octo#octo-run) which simply compiles and executes a source file; it combines nicely with anyone’s favorite text editor.
Incidentally, if anyone is interested in a reason to play with Octo, there’s a [CHIP-8 game jam](http://octojam.com) happening in October!