NITPIC(1)

📦 version 0.1, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 NAME 💖

okay so bestie, <pink>nitpic</pink> is a Microchip PIC simulator ✨ like, a whole simulator, fr fr.

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

nitpic is an X Window System-based simulator for the Microchip PIC series of microcontrollers. it's giving "tiny chip, big dreams" 💅

rn it only supports the PIC16C84 — that's it, that's the whole roster 😭 — but apparently it should be trivial to add support for the rest of the PIC family, and pretty easy even for unrelated CPUs. so like, the potential is there, she's just got one outfit rn 🎀

🙈 KNOWN SHORTCOMINGS 🙈

ngl there's a list. she's iconic but she's got lore 💀

  • the 16C84 EEPROM data memory is not implemented. like, at all. not me forgetting the whole EEPROM 😭
  • writing PCL doesn't cause a jump. the jump is simply not jumping 🫶
  • interrupts, including RTCC rollover, don't work. not a single interrupt interrupting, bestie 💀
  • the "File" button doesn't let you load a new object file. she's decorative, she's for the aesthetic ✨
  • no warning on stack overflow. it'll just happen. silently. main character energy but make it ominous 🎀
  • the I/O ports aren't handled properly — there's apparently something screwy about read/modify/write instructions that the author doesn't understand yet 🙈 (yes, they said that themselves, we're just reporting it)
  • they're also not sure the ADD and SUB instructions set C and DC properly. so, you know. vibes 🦋

💀 BUGS 💀

  • sometimes the instruction pointer gets screwed up. graphics only though — the simulator keeps working, so like, breathe, it's fine, she's still standing 💅
lowkey important: the IP chaos is visual only. the simulation itself doesn't quit on you. no cap.

👑 AUTHOR 👑

dave madden <dhm@vheissu.net.dcl.co.jp> — the actual legend behind this whole thing 🌸

this manual page was written by Colin Watson for Debian because the original program doesn't have a manual page at all 🙈 it's a simple translation of parts of nitpic's README into manual page format — so if you want more, go read that file, bestie, it's right there 🎀

and that's the whole nitpic(1) page, bestie!! 💖✨ that's the footer energy right there — you made it to the end of NITPIC(1) and honestly? slay. periodt. 🫶🦋

📦 where this page comes from