Your Arduino Nano ES32 can run Doom

“However can it run Doom?” is greater than only a joke within the tech world. It is usually a good litmus take a look at for the computing energy of {hardware}. That take a look at isn’t very related for contemporary computer systems, however it’s nonetheless value asking when discussing microcontrollers. Microcontrollers differ in dramatically in processing energy and reminiscence, with fashions to go well with each utility. However when you have an Arduino Nano ESP32 board, you may run Doom as Naveen Kumar has proven.

The Nano ESP32 is a small improvement board for the ESP32-S3 microcontroller. Espressif developed the ESP32 for IoT purposes, so it has onboard Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® adapters. It additionally has a comparatively excessive clock velocity and numerous reminiscence: 240MHz and 512kB SRAM, respectively. That also isn’t sufficient to satisfy the necessities of the unique Doom launch, which wanted much more RAM. However Kumar demonstrates using a microcontroller-friendly port that runs nicely on this extra restricted {hardware}.

To do that your self, you’ll want the Nano ESP32, an Adafruit 2.8″ TFT LCD defend, an M5Stack joystick, a Seeed Studio Grove twin button module, a breadboard, and a few jumper wires. You’ll then must compile and flash the Retro-Go firmware, which was designed particularly for operating video games like Doom on ESP32-based gadgets. You’ll be able to then load the specialised WAD (The place’s All of the Knowledge) recordsdata.

Kumar experiences a mean body price at a 320×240 decision, which could be very playable.