COSMAC Elf Simulator

Back in the day, one of the computers I always intended to build, and had even accumulated the parts for, was the 1802-based COSMAC Elf.  For whatever reason, I never got around to actually building one, but I did write a simulator, complete with reasonably-decent graphics.  My friend Chris Radek helped me get the graphics connected to the emulator I'd written and get the whole thing running under Windows.  It even has options to load from and save to disk, which the original never had, so you can save your code to your PC's local drive.  It includes the 1861 graphics chip, and a virtual TV display.  We started adding a Teletype interface, but I can't remember where we got to, so it may or may not work; it's been a long time.  There are several demo programs you can select from the menu, as well as options for single-stepping and core dumps; things the original never had.

COSMAC ELF Simulator Files.ZIP

Just download the file linked above, expand it into a convenient folder, and run COSMAC1_1b.EXE in Windows (or using WINE under Linux variants).  The "Help" menu includes quite a bit of useful information about the ELF and about how the simulator works.  

 

This article was updated on October 12, 2026