[Simh] An idea for graphics support in SIMH

[Sergiusz Jarczyk]

Hi
Sorry for my ignorance in the emulation field - I'm coming form
applications development world. I like the ideas I see in this thread,
and I'd like to share with you some ideas. First, the most valuable
for me would be an emulator for DEC-produced systems' graphics
controllers (PDP-11 and VAX). I understand SimH simulates much more
platforms, and that's why the concept of generic virtual framebuffer
for SimH is IMHO the best starting point. Looking at the sources of
QEMU and VirtualBox OSE, it would be possible to:
1. Rewrite simh_console code to make it looks like VirtualBox/VMWare
console, with all video parameters defined BEFORE running the
simulation (with Qt or GTK, we could still maintain portability). It
can be enabled/disabled by additional switch, added to final
executive, or during compilation.
2. Create additional device driver, which can be enabled with the
'set' command, that opens second window, much like Hercules emulator.
3. Variation of above, where we can issue set command, followed by
parameters needed for connecting to VNC server.
Options 2 and 3 don't touch base SimH, so these would have no impact
on other simulators. I like 2, but 3 is also OK - as someone said,
it's better to have something than nothing... :-)

Sergiusz