[Simh] An idea for graphics support in SIMH

[Sergiusz Jarczyk]

2010/7/7 Michael Kerpan <mjkerpan at kerpan.com>:
> One thing that's always bugged me was the fact that SIMH has no real
> support for graphics. Some up the supported platforms (such as the
> PDP-1) are widely recognized as important because of there graphical
> display abilities. Others, such as the VAX were often sold with a
> framebuffer installed for use as workstations. The general problem
> with graphics, however, has always been that they make things less
> cross-platform. Having a lot of free time over the summer to think
> about such things, I recently hit upon an idea: why not implement
> graphics systems via the RFB/VNC protocol?  That way, any people could
> simply attach the "framebuffer" or "vector display" to a TCP/IP port
> and connect with any number of free clients. Do people think that
> something like this would be workable? It seems like a crazy idea, but
> then again, it also seems in keeping with other things that SIMH does,
> such as implement terminal multiplexers over TELNET...
>

Working with emulated VAX, with which many has replaced systems
running both OVMS old and new desktops, and considering the problems
with remote X servers, and, more annoying, problems with X-Window MIT
ACLs, I was wondered about this too... As I'm Linux user, I'd opted
for a clean Xt-based emulator, but for a sake of portability, RDB can
be considered too. The problem is, we'd need to access FB
software/firmware, which is not as trivial as graphics controllers for
Alpha systems...

Sergiusz