DOOM Runs on a $30 Electrical Clamp Meter in Latest Remarkable Hardware Port

Developer Artur Bieniek ports DOOM to a $30 FNIRSI DMC-100 electrical clamp meter running doomgeneric on an AT32F415 microcontroller with only 32KB RAM.

The long-running tradition of making DOOM run on increasingly unlikely electronic devices has produced another remarkable achievement. Developer Artur Bieniek has successfully adapted the classic first-person shooter to a FNIRSI DMC-100 electrical clamp meter, an instrument normally used for measuring current and other electrical characteristics. The device costs approximately $30 and contains hardware that was never intended to support sophisticated videogames. Its processor is an Artery AT32F415 microcontroller operating at approximately 150MHz, while available system memory is limited to just 32KB of RAM. Despite those restrictions, Bieniek managed to adapt the doomgeneric engine and run content from Freedoom: Phase 1. The demonstration includes the first nine maps, title screen, menus, intermission screens, finale sequence and four save slots. Graphics appear on the instrument's 320-by-240 display, while the built-in buzzer produces basic sound effects. Controls are provided through a DJI RC-N1 drone controller, an arrangement that makes the project even more unusual. The developer has published technical material and source code documenting the work. This is an experimental hardware adaptation rather than a commercially available gaming accessory. Users should not assume that ordinary clamp meters can run DOOM without modification, and the project is not intended to replace the instrument's original electrical measurement functions. Nevertheless, the achievement is important because it demonstrates how software can be adapted to severe hardware limitations through careful optimisation. DOOM originally required a reasonably capable PC when it launched in 1993. More than three decades later, it can apparently operate on a device intended to measure electrical current. At this point, finding an electronic object that cannot run DOOM may be the more difficult challenge.