[Simh] Extended SimH on BeagleBone controls real blinkenlight panels

[Armistead, Jason]

Why not go all the way and record video of each type of old hardware in action ?  Obviously this makes no sense for blinkenlights, but it might be fun to watch tape drives spinning back and forth (a series of short sequences of video for each operation), or maybe someone opening up a disk pack and installing platters.  Of course, this would require yet another interface from SIMH to the video playback system.

It would remind me of those old movies where the computer rooms always had rows and rows of lights, and tapes running, together with the sounds of teletype printers spewing data out ...

Now, if we could just "skin" our favorite terminal emulator with a VT-220 case around the window area, we'd be all set in our virtual retro-computing world !

Wait, did I mention using 3-D glasses ??? LOL !!!


-----Original Message-----
From: simh-bounces at trailing-edge.com [mailto:simh-bounces at trailing-edge.com] On Behalf Of dott.Piergiorgio d' Errico
Sent: Thursday, 19 April 2012 12:24 PM
To: simh at trailing-edge.com
Subject: Re: [Simh] Extended SimH on BeagleBone controls real blinkenlight panels

Il 19/04/2012 15:21, Bucher, Andreas (Andreas)** CTR ** ha scritto:
> Hi,
>
>> I just finished another "Blinkenlight" project: An extended SimH runs 
>> on a BeagleBone (credit card sized Linux platform) and controls real 
>> console panels of historical computers, or simulations of those 
>> panels. So the project is named "BlinkenBone".
>>
>> First implementation is re-animation of a PDP-11/40 console (KY11-D), 
>> others will follow. See documentation here:
>> www.retrocmp.com/projects/blinkenbone
>>
>> I think there are a few? a lot? other "SimH-blinkenlight" projects 
>> out there. Perhaps it is time to define the definitive "SimH - 
>> Blinkenlight" interface, so there's a standard for future work. My 
>> proposal is 
>> http://www.retrocmp.com/projects/blinkenbone/169-blinkenbone-a
> rchitecture-overview
>>
>> If you like to build this too, we will support you ... but it won't 
>> be cheap. And code deployment isn't organized yet, contact me on 
>> demand.
>
>
>
> Hi,
>
> that's waaay cool ! Not really useful for practical computing, but 
> absolutely mandatory for the genuine look-and-feel of some ancient 
> "big iron" :-)
>
> I like your modular approach - it allows people NOT owning true 
> hardware blinkenlights to replace them with some software simulated 
> frontend instead ! Would be cool to have SIMH equipped with all kind 
> of genuine virtual (or real, for the purists) designs of the systems 
> it emulates ! Have a look for PINMAME, the pinball emulator software, 
> and you know what I mean :-) (weeeell, yes, a pinball machine's main 
> item IS the hardware you see, and the CPU is only some aid in behind, 
> while our emulated data processing systems are vice-versa - but anyway 
> ...)
>
> And - finally ... that's what I already suggested years ago (and only 
> got startled looks): Equip SIMH with some standard interface to 
> optionally drive "real" hardware components of the systems it 
> emulates, like console panels and stuff. I even went as far as to 
> suggest incorporating all other kind of events from inside the system 
> beeing signalled out - this could be used to generate sound events as 
> well !

Perhaps the startled looks came from people whose main interest is keeping running legacy software, an important thing in se, but driving real (reconstructed) hardware is equally important, if not for the recovering & preservation of software & source codes on DECtapes, tapes, removable platters &c....

On the blinkenlighten project, I have indeed suggested (ands ends
rejected...) that ex and de command accept (and outputs) binary digits and space, (e.g. de 000 100 111 ) whose IMVHO is not only a convenient means when dealing with old big iron software, but also a convenient protocol (being *both* human and machine readable/writable) for a "blinkenlighten" protocol.

Seems that there's a consensus in starting working on graphics emulation after 3.9.0 release and the sort of "retirement" (If I have understand
well...) of bob from the active development of SIMH.

I reckon that my perspective (of Historian of technology and "random hacking when the mood is in") differ from the other member of this fair ML, but it's my perspective (for the record my lack of frequent contribuition is because of the extreme dispersiveness in dealing with project (I suspect that my WIP list is in high 10s or low 100s, but I have never done a census of it...)

> Think about your DECbox emitting true 11/750 noises, perhaps with some 
> TE16 tape in the background, hehe :-)
>
> So, you better go ahead and digitize not only the Front Panels, but 
> also the sound of the remaining hardware that is alive, or sythesize 
> the sound of dead hardware and have it "proof-listened" by the few 
> people knowing the hardware that still are alive as well ...

I'm deaf and not much interested in that "ambient sound emulation" idea, but ISTR to have pointed to bob in a PM the group whose mantain and keep running the lone working LGP-30 (whose emulation, last time I checked, seems to have some issues)

Best regards from Italy, hoping that my suggestion will be understand

(looks like that lately I have some issues in writing understandable
English)

Dott. Piergiorgio.
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