[Simh] 8-bit pseudocolor on modern Windows PC?

[Tom Morris]

On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 2:39 PM, Paul Koning <paulkoning at comcast.net> wrote:

>
> > On Jan 27, 2016, at 9:48 AM, Paul Hardy 2 <paulhardy2 at btinternet.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > As a hobbyist, I successfully run VMS on a Simh emulated VAX (actually
> on a Raspberry Pi, but that’s irrelevant). I’m doing some software
> archeology trying to preserve some historic software which produced maps
> and charts on VAXstations and AlphaStations. This used 8-bit pseudocolor
> graphics, manipulating bit planes and colormaps. Variants of the software
> exist for VWS and for DECwindows/Motif.
> >  ...
> > So,
> > a) Does anyone know of an Xserver implementation that runs under Windows
> on a modern PC and supports depth 8 pseudocolor visuals?
> > b) Does anyone know of a SimH implementation of the VCB02/QDSS or SPX
> card?
> > c) any other ideas?
>
> I'm curious what level of 8 bit color support is needed.  There seem to be
> two rather different flavors.
>
> 1. Given a preset 256-entry color map, handle 8 bit indexed color.  This
> would be quite easy.  It's basically what happens when you display a GIF
> file.
>
> 2. Handle 8 bit color, *including* updating the look of the display
> dynamically if entries in the color map are changed.  That would be
> harder.  You'd have to keep a backing store of the 8-bit data, and
> regenerate the truecolor image whenever the color map is changed.  Doable,
> but messy.
>
> Is #2 actually important in practice?
>

Yes.  That's how the X Window System works.  Apps can use the color map for
animation and other effects.

I can't imagine doing SIMH emulation of the QDSS/Drag-on chip would be a
productive use of time.  An implementation of PseudoColor visuals on
TrueColor displays in the XServer would be more widely useful.

There are some hints around the interwebs that VNC may present a path
forward, but I didn't chase down the leads.

Tom
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