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Top 23 C++ X86 Projects
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x64dbg
An open-source user mode debugger for Windows. Optimized for reverse engineering and malware analysis.
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Project mention: FEX: A fast usermode x86 and x86-64 emulator for ARM64 Linux | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-11-21
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Project mention: Can a Computer Science Student Be Taught to Design Hardware? | news.ycombinator.com | 2026-02-17
As a Software Engineer, i had long thought about learning (and possibly moving into) Hardware Chip Design and/or its ancillary support domains i.e. what you have listed.
I understand that learning FPGA programming (Verilog/VHDL/etc.) is a first-step in that journey. Is it still true? Have you looked at books like FPGAs for Software Programmers? - https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-26408-0
For each of the domains you have listed, would you mind sharing books/tools/sites etc.?
For example, While researching the above long ago, i had come across the following;
C++ Modelling of SoC Systems Part 1: Processor Elements - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/c-modelling-soc-systems-part-...
C++ Modelling of SoC Systems Part 2 : Infrastructure - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/c-modelling-soc-systems-part-...
gem5 Simulator - https://www.gem5.org/
Verilator Simulator - https://www.veripool.org/verilator/
Maybe you can provide a step-by-step roadmap on how a software guy can move on to hardware chip design?
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keystone
Keystone assembler framework: Core (Arm, Arm64, Hexagon, Mips, PowerPC, Sparc, SystemZ & X86) + bindings (by keystone-engine)
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dosbox-staging
DOSBox Staging is a modern continuation of DOSBox with advanced features and current development practices.
>install DOSBox for Mac
Mind you there are countless DOSBox forks out there and the vanilla original one is probably the least interesting one.
Nowadays the three most popular one would be DOSBox-X, DOSBox Pure, and DOSBox Staging
https://dosbox-x.com/
https://schelling.itch.io/dosbox-pure
https://www.dosbox-staging.org/
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Every port I've done to a new hardware or software platform has shaken loose at least a handful of bugs or assumptions that are well worth ironing out. And in the case of a port to Apple Silicon, you get a very fast development environment at the end of it. This library also helped with 90% of the work:
https://github.com/DLTcollab/sse2neon
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Project mention: FEX-emu – run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux devices | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-11-21
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Project mention: Destroying x86_64 instruction decoders with differential fuzzing | news.ycombinator.com | 2026-01-01
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x86RetSpoof
Invoke functions with a spoofed return address. For 32-bit Windows binaries. Supports __fastcall, __thiscall, __stdcall and __cdecl calling conventions. Written in C++17.
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wibo
A minimal, low-fuss wrapper that can run simple command-line 32-bit Windows binaries on Linux and macOS.
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Project mention: GentleOS – Classic operating system with a lovely retro GUI | news.ycombinator.com | 2026-06-09
I'm curious what model of PS/1? My first PC was a PS/1 model 2011, with a 286@10Mhz.
Also, there's an emulator for PS/1 machines at https://www.ibmulator.org/
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NOTE:
The open source projects on this list are ordered by number of github stars.
The number of mentions indicates repo mentiontions in the last 12 Months or
since we started tracking (Dec 2020).
C++ X86 discussion
C++ X86 related posts
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Destroying x86_64 instruction decoders with differential fuzzing
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FEX: A fast usermode x86 and x86-64 emulator for ARM64 Linux
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Steam Frame
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FEX: Emulate x86 Programs on ARM64
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Let's Learn x86-64 Assembly Part 0 – Setup and First Steps
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Asmjit
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AsmJit: Lightweight C++ library for low-latency machine code generation
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A note from our sponsor - SaaSHub
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Index
What are some of the best open-source X86 projects in C++? This list will help you:
| # | Project | Stars |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | x64dbg | 48,564 |
| 2 | FEX | 7,551 |
| 3 | asmjit | 4,520 |
| 4 | edb-debugger | 2,920 |
| 5 | gem5 | 2,638 |
| 6 | keystone | 2,567 |
| 7 | OpenHD | 2,368 |
| 8 | remill | 1,728 |
| 9 | dosbox-staging | 1,719 |
| 10 | sse2neon | 1,514 |
| 11 | x86-simd-sort | 1,012 |
| 12 | felix86 | 634 |
| 13 | XOpcodeCalc | 409 |
| 14 | boomerang | 401 |
| 15 | tscns | 365 |
| 16 | mishegos | 268 |
| 17 | hhuOS | 225 |
| 18 | xray-15 | 181 |
| 19 | x86RetSpoof | 179 |
| 20 | wibo | 143 |
| 21 | exectos | 136 |
| 22 | IBMulator | 128 |
| 23 | l4re-core | 104 |
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