RISC-V Console

Abstract

The rapid transition to online education due to the COVID-19 pandemic left many instructors needing to redesign their course projects as students no longer had access to physical hardware. This paper describes the development of an open-source containerized RISC-V based game console emulator that replaced physical hardware for use in course projects. The tool was initially designed and used in a graduate operating systems course and then subsequently used in a lower division computer organization and machine-dependent programming course. The container provides a full toolchain with gcc compiler, RISC-V game console emulator with integrated debugger, example program, and input recording/auto-run tool designed for auto-grading. The use of a container reduced the barrier to entry for the students allowing them to get up and running in a relatively short period of time. Given the successful deployment of the tool in the previous courses, the tool was used both again in the lower division course and in the upper division undergraduate operating systems course this past fall.