[Simh] SIMH and physical hardware

[J. David Bryan]

On Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 21:41, Zachary Kline wrote:

> The worst thing about emulation is that the "feel," of the original
> hardware doesn´t seem to be there. Simh can emulate tons of hardware
> from different manufacturers, but none of that will tell me what it was
> like to actually use the devices in a physical sense. As a blind user,
> I´m doubly interested in this kind of physicality because I experience
> the world through touch and sound. 

The HP 9810, 9820, and 9830 simulators here:

  http://sourceforge.net/projects/hp9800e/

...are interesting in that user interaction is performed by clicking on the 
buttons, knobs, and switches in photographs of the actual hardware, and the 
accompanying sounds (e.g., a cassette tape door opening and closing), 
recorded from the hardware, are keyed to the actions.  The cooling fans 
provide the background noise.

I used an HP 9830 some forty years ago, and I found the simulator's sounds, 
in particular, to be strikingly evocative.

                                      -- Dave