[Simh] Multiple sim_video windows?

[Mark Pizzolato]

On Friday, March 15, 2019 at 11:04 AM, Lars Brinkhoff wrote:
> Mark Pizzolato wrote:
> > Well, if there really were configurations which had software support
> > that can still be found today that actually drove multiple display
> > devices simultaneously
> 
> I wouldn't be raising the issue if there weren't.  The MIT AI Lab PDP-10
> had both a 340 display, and the color scope attached.  There is plenty
> of software for the 340, and I recently found one program using the
> color scope.  Being a timesharing system, there's nothing to preclude
> both displays from being in use at once.

Given the physical limits of the system hardware at the time, there 
might be memory or other system limitations which really were 
limitations of these systems.

In any case, if you're interested, then go ahead.

> > Adding multiple video display window support is a project unto itself
> > and dragging the display layer along with it is added complexity.  If
> > you want to do that, feel free and I'll help when needed, but since
> > your project is driving the need I'm not sure we'll be getting a long
> > list of folks willing to jump in as well...
> 
> I wouldn't expect anyone else to do it.  I'm glad it's open for
> discussion.
> 
> Being a full RGB color device, maybe the XY display layer isn't
> appropriate for the color scope.  I asked Phil Budne about it, and he
> suggested going another route.

I would expect that the existing aging pixel paradigm of the display 
library is certainly not be a good one for a standard RGB interface.

The original devices which used sim_video were monochrome 
video devices (QVSS).   At the time, there was not a need for a 
more general purpose RGB solution, but I certainly expect that 
would be added if someone ever came along and wanted to 
implement a color or greyscale device.

> > It certainly is beyond the scope of the current sim_video which covers
> > display graphics and Human Interface details (mouse, keyboard, tablet,
> > etc..).
> 
> Oh, there's support for tablets?  I'll look into that!

Well, it depends on what you mean by tablets.  The touch screen events
on my laptop and tablet are certainly available via libSDL mostly as 
some type of mouse events.  Likewise, the input on the touch pad on the 
laptop is also available.  Maybe all of these aren't currently passed through 
sim_video, but adding them would seem to be pretty easy.

- Mark