Most existing educational tools for RISC-V focus on either hardware or software development, rarely both. PicoNut is an open, synthesizable RISC-V processor and system platform designed for academic education and rapid prototyping. By using SystemC-RTL as the main hardware modeling language, modules can be arbitrarily replaced by C/C++ software implementations. This allows to build full RTL as well as software based simulators for highly efficient and cycle-accurate simulations of complete systems. Even emulations of external hardware are possible, for example, by implementing screen hardware with a Qt-based GUI. To any system simulator, GDB can be attached for software debugging.

To demonstrate the platforms capabilities, students implemented a retro game console featuring custom peripherals and several ports of classic games. Through hands-on engagement with real hardware and software challenges, PicoNut empowers students to develop a comprehensive understanding of digital design, computer architecture, hardware-software codesign, and embedded systems development.