ftp.xmission.com/2014.06.ftp.xmission.com.tar/ftp.xmission.com/pub/lists/fractdev/archive/v01.n043

Internet Message Format | 2001-09-28 | 40KB

From: [e-mail] (fractdev-digest)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: fractdev-digest V1 #43
Reply-To: fractdev-digest
Sender: [e-mail]
Errors-To: [e-mail]
Precedence: bulk


fractdev-digest      Saturday, September 29 2001      Volume 01 : Number 043




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 10:45:29 -0600
From: Rich <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) CVS

In article <3B596303.3154.28E9B9@localhost>,
    Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>  writes:

> > I'm told you'll need to configure your local CVS clients by setting two
> > environment variables:
>
> I tried the Windows client and havn't succeeded yet. I should
> probably try a Linux client.

What windows client are you using?  WinCVS?  I've never had any problems
with it, but I haven't tried to use it with ssh.
- --
Ask me about my upcoming book on Direct3D from Addison-Wesley!
Direct3D Book <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/>
         Home <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/>
    Fractals! <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/fractals/>

- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 13:10:28 -0600
From: Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) CVS

Rich asked:

> What windows client are you using?  WinCVS?

Yes. I have to use ssh because that is how Damien has our
access to fractalus set up. He also uses a non-standard port with
ssh. The prblem may be having WinCVS correctly invoke my ssh
client. I have two - Putty and Teraterm.

I'll try from linux. If that works than I'll know that there's no problem
on Damien's end.

Tim


- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 20:58:12 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (fractdev) Linux kernel rebuild

Tim,

I spent the weekend rebuilding the Linux kernel on my laptop.  Having done
this before, I was amazed when the machine locked up during the first boot
up.  Turns out the Athlon/Duron/K7 configuration option crashes the kernel
on my machine.  Bummer!  Once I straightened that out everything went
smoothly.  It even finds a Syquest Syjet 1.5 GB drive attached to a PCMCIA
SCSI card.

How is the VCS project coming along?  I downloaded WinCVS but haven't done
anything with it.

Jonathan



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 21:21:13 -0600
From: Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Linux kernel rebuild

> How is the VCS project coming along?  I downloaded WinCVS but haven't done
> anything with it.

I haven't figured out how to use WinCVS with fractint.org, but I can
login to fractint.org and run CVS by hand.

I can study the CVS docs on work time, so I will be doing
something with this.

Tim


- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 20:40:39 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (fractdev) Rotate and Skew

Tim,

That's not meant as an insult.  8-))

It appears from a recent FOTD from Jim Muth that the cvtcentermag() routine
(in miscres.c) is not recalculating the same rotation and skew values when
an image is zoomed (without changing the rotation or skew).  There is a
small difference that is noticeable even from the default mandelbrot.  This
problem was also noticed by Lee Skinner some time ago with one of his deep
zoom images.  So this problem occurs with the ap-math as well.

Problems occur when an image is saved because the corner values are saved,
and not the center mag values.  Since the PARs now default to saving the
center mag values, there can be a difference in both rotation and skew
between the PAR and the GIF.

Thoughts?

Jonathan



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 20:30:28 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Rotate and Skew

Tim,

The problem disappears when corners= is used to force the use of the corners
instead of center-mag.

It is possible the problem arises because the rotation and skew values are
being truncated to three significant digits before being put in the PAR.
I'll check.

Jonathan



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 21:07:07 -0600
From: Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Rotate and Skew

> It is possible the problem arises because the rotation and skew values are
> being truncated to three significant digits before being put in the PAR.
> I'll check.

That sounds plausible. The logic that determines how many digits
are written out is in miscovl.c if memory serves.

Rotating and skwing put a lot of stress on the precision because of
dividing by small numbers. It is probably possible to rearrange the
algebra in an alternative way that is more stable.

I can look at it this weekend if it is still needed. My son is visiting
now but is leaving saturday morning.

Tim


- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 18:02:15 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Rotate and Skew

>> It is possible the problem arises because the rotation and skew values
are
>> being truncated to three significant digits before being put in the PAR.
>> I'll check.

> That sounds plausible. The logic that determines how many digits
> are written out is in miscovl.c if memory serves.

I increased the significant digits to six and the problem went away.  I'll
need to check Lee Skinner's example to see if that is sufficient.

Jonathan



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 04 Aug 2001 10:09:49 -0600
From: Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Rotate and Skew

> I increased the significant digits to six and the problem went away.  I'll
> need to check Lee Skinner's example to see if that is sufficient.

We could simply increase digits across the board, or if that is too
ugly (and unnecessary because the number of digits is carefully
tuned to work right for most circumstances - e.g. normal zoom
boxes) we could detect situtaions when more are needed. A really
simple way would be to have any sort of skewed zoom box causing
more digits too be used.

OTOH if the additional digits in PAR files aren't too annoying, just
do it in all cases.

Tim


- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2001 00:31:35 -0600
From: Rich <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Rotate and Skew

In article <3B6BC9ED.12168.2CB450@localhost>,
    Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>  writes:

>
> OTOH if the additional digits in PAR files aren't too annoying, just
> do it in all cases.

I like this.
- --
Ask me about my upcoming book on Direct3D from Addison-Wesley!
Direct3D Book <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/>
         Home <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/>
    Fractals! <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/fractals/>

- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2001 20:26:36 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Rotate and Skew

Rich,

>> OTOH if the additional digits in PAR files aren't too annoying, just
>> do it in all cases.

> I like this.

That's what I intend to do.  I've changed the values from x.xxx to x.xxxxxx,
but is that enough to cover all cases.  I'm not even sure I know how to test
it.

Jonathan



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2001 20:29:09 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (fractdev) WinCVS

Tim,

I played with WinCVS over the weekend.  It almost works using a local
repository.  I must still be missing something.

Jonathan



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2001 21:56:06 -0600
From: Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) WinCVS

Jonathan wrote:

> I played with WinCVS over the weekend.  It almost works using a local
> repository.  I must still be missing something.

The command line CVS is not that hard to use. I suggest we start
with that. It's available when you ssh into fractint.org. If we ever get
WinCVS working, we can instantly use our work with the command
line version.

One advantage of using the command line version is you get to
understand the concepts. Then WinCVS makes more sense.

Tim


- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2001 22:58:30 -0600
From: Rich <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) WinCVS

In article <001501c11ee0$5d608a00$2c0e270c@laptop20>,
    "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>  writes:

> I played with WinCVS over the weekend.  It almost works using a local
> repository.  I must still be missing something.

What are the things that don't work?  I've never had a problem with
either a local repository or with a unix server repository.  (Apparently
the NT server one is a little flakey last I heard.)
- --
Ask me about my upcoming book on Direct3D from Addison-Wesley!
Direct3D Book <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/>
         Home <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/>
    Fractals! <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/fractals/>

- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 20:38:13 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Rotate and Skew

Tim,

Take the following PAR, start it, zoom all the way out once.  Let the image
generate, save it, and then make a PAR from it.  Run the PAR, set debug=50,
and then reload the saved image.  You should see a pixel pattern that would
indicate that one of the images is shifted.  Rotated at least.  This doesn't
happen if you zoom in.  At least not until you get to the ap-math.

Jonathan

bob_and_weave      { ; ;
                     ;  Jonathan Osuch [e-mail]
                     ;  Aug 08, 2001 at 20:22:50
                     ; Version 2001 Patchlevel 13
  reset=2001 type=mandel
  center-mag=-0.99428940396649250/+0.29970533391439380/1.276515e+011/1/-37\
  .4999/-14.9313 params=0/0 float=y maxiter=1000 inside=0 sound=off
  }




- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 23:12:57 -0600
From: Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>
Subject: (fractdev) C700+MASM

IJonathan,

I'm trying to get C700 and MASM installed on a laptop. I think I
have C700 OK, at least I can do hello world. Do you remember any
special incantations in autoexec.bat or config.sys needed for
MASM under Windows Millenium Edition?

I've gotten it running under Win98 on my regular machine.

I'd much rather have Win98 on the laptop, but WinME is what it
came with.

Geesh this development environment seems 1000 years old, and it
only dates to about 1992!

Tim

- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 19:31:12 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) C700+MASM

Tim,

> I'm trying to get C700 and MASM installed on a laptop. I think I
> have C700 OK, at least I can do hello world. Do you remember any
> special incantations in autoexec.bat or config.sys needed for
> MASM under Windows Millenium Edition?

I didn't have to do anything special.  My autoexec.bat contains the
following lines:

SET
PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\UTILITY;C:\SPRINT;C:\DJGPP\BIN;C:\C700
\BIN;C:\MASM\BIN;C:\MASM\BINB;C:\TCL\BIN
SET LIB=C:\C700\LIB;C:\C700\MFC\LIB
SET INCLUDE=C:\C700\INCLUDE;C:\C700\MFC\INCLUDE;C:\MASM\INCLUDE
SET HELPFILES=C:\C700\HELP\*.HLP;C:\MASM\HELP\*.HLP
SET INIT=C:\C700\INIT;C:\MASM\INIT

I copied them from the autoexec.bat on the old laptop before I had to
destroy all the data on it to get Win98 to work again after removing the
Linux partition.  I would guess that only the path and include entries are
necessary.

Yes, the environment is ancient.  But, changing involves a major effort.

Jonathan





- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 16:06:58 -0600
From: Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) C700+MASM

Jonathan wrote:

> I didn't have to do anything special.  My autoexec.bat contains the
> following lines:

I got it working. I had to rediscover a copy of points:

1. We're using a different version of nmake
2. For some reason loading dosxnt.386 was left out of
\windows\system.ini

For future reference, copying \c700\bin is actually a good idea
(picks up the right nmake). Then if autoexec.bat, config.sys, and
windows.ini have the right magic, all is well.

I'm off to dive into rush hour to catch my plane. Will wave when I go
over Iowa :-)

Tim


- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 21:12:53 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (fractdev) Autologmap bug

Tim,

Did you ever notice that the autologmap routine misses color #2?  This
problem goes back to the changes I did for calculating the logmap on the fly
(version 19.2).

Jonathan



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2001 04:12:00 -0600
From: "Lee H. Skinner" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Autologmap bug

>> Did you ever notice that the autologmap routine misses color #2?  This
problem goes back to the changes I did for calculating the logmap on the
fly
(version 19.2). <<

Yes.  When I do an autologmap, I always subtract 2 from the auto result
to get a better looking image!

- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2001 21:18:54 -0600
From: Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Rotate and Skew

A while ago Jonathan wrote:

> Take the following PAR, start it, zoom all the way out once.  Let the image
> generate, save it, and then make a PAR from it.  Run the PAR, set debug=50,
> and then reload the saved image.  You should see a pixel pattern that would
> indicate that one of the images is shifted.  Rotated at least.  This doesn't
> happen if you zoom in.  At least not until you get to the ap-math.
>
> Jonathan
>
> bob_and_weave      { ; ;
>                      ;  Jonathan Osuch [e-mail]
>                      ;  Aug 08, 2001 at 20:22:50
>                      ; Version 2001 Patchlevel 13
>   reset=2001 type=mandel
>   center-mag=-0.99428940396649250/+0.29970533391439380/1.276515e+011/1/-37\
>   .4999/-14.9313 params=0/0 float=y maxiter=1000 inside=0 sound=off
>   }

I tried this on Susan's laptop as I was flying over Iowa last
weekend. I couldn't quite see the problem. If you are still worried
about this, let me know. I am missing something in your
instructions.

Tim

- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 19:26:08 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Rotate and Skew

Tim,

> I tried this on Susan's laptop as I was flying over Iowa last
> weekend. I couldn't quite see the problem. If you are still worried
> about this, let me know. I am missing something in your
> instructions.

The problem is that the PAR doesn't generate an exact duplicate of the
image.  The PAR image is rotated from the original.  I'll look at it closer
to see if I can tell what is happening.

BTW, with the fix to the logmap routine so that color #2 is displayed, I'll
need to increment the version number for backwards compatibility.

Jonathan



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 20:55:49 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Rotate and Skew

Tim,

> I am missing something in your instructions.

I've found the problem with the zoom-out.  I was missing a place where the
precision was getting set in the PAR.  But, even with the increased
precision, if you zoom in twice to get to the arbitrary precision
calculations the problem recurs.

Zoom in twice.  Make a GIF of the completed image.  Then make a PAR (you
could make the PAR at any time after the two zooms).  Run the PAR.  Compare
the image generated from the PAR to the image made immediately after zooming
in (debug=50).  You should see a bunch of pixels left on the screen because
the two images don't line up.

Jonathan



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 12:13:52 -0500
From: "Scott D. Boyd" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (fractdev) Speed of Xfractint vs Fractint

Jonathan and/or Tim,

I don't know if you are aware of this, but there is a HUGE speed diff=
erence=20
between Xfractint and Fractint when calculating floating-point fracta=
ls.=20
(Probably any fractals, for that matter, since Xfractint is always in=
=20
floating-point mode.)

I hadnoticed a speed differnce for quite some time when generating Ji=
m Muth's=20
FOTD images. I had thought for quite awhile that it was because of my=
 450Mhz=20
AMD K6-2 CPU, which I hear is a real slacker on floating-point calcul=
ations.=20
So, I recently bought a 900Mhz Athlon CPU, and ran Jim's FOTD of 9-1-=
01 for a=20
comparison of the "speed improvement".=20

Paul N. Lee had posted an email on Sept. 2 with some comparison times=
 for=20
that fractal:

=A0 =A0 Jim's P200 at SF5 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A001:45:19.72=20
=A0 =A0 Scott's machine at SF5 =A0 03:53:39.68  (this was with my 450=
 Mhz K6-2)
=A0 =A0 Paul's old P700 at SF5 =A0 =A0 =A0 00:32:20.19=20

(Keep in mind that both Jim and Paul use Fractint, I'm of course usin=
g=20
Xfractint.)

When I generated the fractal on my 900 MhzAthlon, the time decreased =
to=20
approx.  1 hr - 23 mins. I thought "this is terrible! It's *still slo=
wer*=20
than Paul's P700!". When I exited to the Linux command-line, and gene=
rated=20
the fractal using the "-disk" option, it only saved a couple of minut=
es. Then=20
I swapped in a Win95 HD to my Athlon box, booted to the DOS prompt, a=
nd=20
generated the fractal using Fractint v20.0. The generation time dropp=
ed to a=20
mere 19 minutes, 54.30 seconds!! That's an almost 80% decrease in=
=20
generation-time!

I'm not expecting this to be fixed, as I imagine the problem probably=
 lies in=20
the algorithms used in Xfractint. I don't know - the math used in cre=
ating=20
fractals is *way* beyond me... I just wanted ya'll to be aware of it.

Until later,
Scott


- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 17:40:40 -0600
From: Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Speed of Xfractint vs Fractint

Scott wrote:

> I don't know if you are aware of this, but there is a HUGE speed > > difference
> between Xfractint and Fractint when calculating floating-point fractals.
> (Probably any fractals, for that matter, since Xfractint is always in
> floating-point mode.)

It makes a big difference what fractal type is being used. Quite a number of the built-in fractal
types have dedicated hand-optimized assembler code. This is not used in Xfractint.

The debugflag=90 switch forces fractint to use the C rather than the assembler. A fairer
comparison between Fractint and Xfractint would be to generate the fractal using fractint with the
debugflag=90 switch.

It might not be too bad to incorporate some assembler into the intel Linux version, but so far no
one has taken up that project. Whoever did this who need to know how tro migrate medium
memory model assembler to a flat memory model.

Jonathan knows more about this since he wrote some of the assembler speedups.


> I'm not expecting this to be fixed, as I imagine the problem probably lies in
> the algorithms used in Xfractint. I don't know - the math used in creating
> fractals is *way* beyond me... I just wanted ya'll to be aware of it.

It's not really the algorithms, but C vs assembler.

The parser in Fractint also has been written fairly efficiently, so formula fractals are also faster
under Fractint than Xfractint. This is one of the reasons we have held onto the DOS version of
Fractint for so long.

maybe we should make a fractint-optimized MSDOS floppy boot image. Then Fractint could live
forever :-)

Does anybody know if Fractint runs under Windows XP? I expect it does, but with some video
limitations. I am not planning to "upgrade".

Tim


- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 18:35:55 -0500
From: "Paul N. Lee" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Speed of Xfractint vs Fractint

Tim Wegner wrote:
>
> Does anybody know if Fractint runs
> under Windows XP?  I expect it does...

According to an article yesterday from AnchorDesk, Mark Croft (lead
product manager for the Windows XP group at Microsoft) says the
following concerning DOS apps running under XP:

     "Several improvements to the DOS virtual machine were
      made in Windows XP to ensure broader compatibility
      with many popular DOS titles--specifically, new
      SoundBlaster 16 support and a number of quality fixes.
      We tested a number of popular DOS titles to ensure
      improved compatibility over Windows 2000 and NT4"

And concerning drivers:

     "Microsoft is providing a tool--Upgrade Advisor (UA)--
      which users can run on their machines prior to
      installing Windows XP to determine how compatible
      their systems will be with Windows XP.  This tool
      can be updated dynamically via a Web connection and
      provides an easy way to check a whole PC.  The data
      on this is identical to the data used by Windows Setup
      during an upgrade."

Sincerely,
P.N.L.
- --------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.fractalus.com/cgi-bin/theway?ring=fractals&id=43&go

- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 18:05:50 -0600
From: Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>
Subject: (fractdev) (Fwd) bug in fractint 20.1.13?

I received this email today:

Hi,

here is my bug report:

In formula interpreter, rand/srand does not work as it apparently
should. This applies to Fractint 20.0 under DOS, under Linux, and
20.1.13 under Linux. -- First, the formula translator generates a
segfault when compiling a formula with no parameters.  Serge Then
consider the following two formulae: test1 generates the correct
picture, while test2 does not. The difference between test1 and test2 is
only in the implementation of rand and srand(): in test1 we have our own
implementation, and in test2 we use rand and srand(). Apart from the
visual difference, it seems that test2 does not zoom correctly while
test1 does. This seems to indicate that srand() and rand are somewhat
broken. I could not determine where the bug is in the code, but, apart
from that, it does seem likely that the rand routine is not a very high
quality random number generator. The one I used below is also not very
good, it is just something that is quick to implement.

Best regards,

- --
    Serge

test1 { ; srand doesn't seem to work as expected, so we make our own rand
; build a random fractal pattern of squares
        z=0, p = pixel/32, v=real(p1)+15887, A=real(32767), B=137, C=2997 :
        p = p*2, p = p - floor(p)  ; blowup, now both re and im(p) are between 0 and 1
        ; now we need to generate the random number for this quadrant
        v=v*B+C, v=v-A*floor(v/A)
        IF( (real(p)<0.5) && (imag(p)<0.5) )
                v=v*B+C, v=v-A*floor(v/A), ENDIF
        IF((v/A)<0.5+imag(p1)), z=z+1, ELSE, z=z-0.001, ENDIF ; exit with fixed probability
        real(z) <= 5 }

test2 { ; srand doesn't seem to work as expected
; build a random fractal pattern of squares
        z=0, p = pixel/32, srand(real(p1)) :
        p = p*2, p = p - floor(p)  ; blowup, now both re and im(p) are between 0 and 1
        ; now we need to generate the random number for this quadrant
        v=rand
        IF( (real(p)<0.5) && (imag(p)<0.5) )
                v=rand, ENDIF
        IF(v<0.5+imag(p1)), z=z+1, ELSE, z=z-0.001, ENDIF ; exit with fixed probability
        real(z) <= 5
}

- ------- End of forwarded message -------

- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 20:25:04 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) (Fwd) bug in fractint 20.1.13?

Tim,

> In formula interpreter, rand/srand does not work as it apparently
> should.

That doesn't surprise me.  I think we truncate the random numbers so that
floating point images look the same as integer images (when random numbers
are used).

Any takers on looking into this?

Jonathan



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 20:31:10 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Speed of Xfractint vs Fractint

> It might not be too bad to incorporate some assembler into the intel Linux
version, but so far no
> one has taken up that project. Whoever did this who need to know how tro
migrate medium
> memory model assembler to a flat memory model.

> Jonathan knows more about this since he wrote some of the assembler
speedups.

I've looked briefly into this.  One of the problems is the syntax of the
commands is reversed so that each line of code will have to be changed.

I doubt the formula parser will get translated due to its extensive use of
macros.  The mandelbrot code could be changed in a reasonable amount of
time.  I've been wanting to do a major change to the periodicity checking
code to check the magnitude instead of X and Y.  Although this seems like
rambling, the periodicity checking code is part of the assembly code that
will need to be converted.

The major problems are too much to do and not enough time.  Being tired all
the time doesn't help either.

I need to finish up my latest patch, which will appear as version 20.2 for
backwards compatibility reasons.  Maybe this coming weekend.

Jonathan




- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 20:20:54 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) (Fwd) bug in fractint 20.1.13?

Tim,

> In formula interpreter, rand/srand does not work as it apparently should.

I've looked at this and there are several points of note.  He is assuming
that every time you make an assignment from the rand variable its value has
changed.  This is false.  The only time rand gets changed is when srand() is
called.

It appears that the string of psuedo-random numbers he is using starts over
at the start of the calculation for each pixel.  Our psuedo-random string
should do this also if the initial srand call is srand(seed) and any
subsequent calls are srand(rand).  After rearranging his second formula, it
still doesn't work like his first one.

The srand() routine depends on the integer math argument variables getting
set.  Since we have to use the floating point math so that the if-then logic
will work, the integer values may not be getting set.

Jonathan



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 20:28:00 -0500
From: "Jonathan Osuch" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (fractdev) Latest patch

Tim,

I uploaded patch 2002p00.zip to the fractint directory.  Please take a look
at it.  Specifically, see if you want to change any of the words in the doc
file concerning the move from CompuServe to the web.  Thanks.

I'll supply a source sync once this patch is official.

Jonathan



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 21:28:13 -0600
From: Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Latest patch

> I uploaded patch 2002p00.zip to the fractint directory.  Please
> take a look at it.  Specifically, see if you want to change any of > the words in the doc file
concerning the move from CompuServe to
> the web.  Thanks.

Will look at it on Saturday (going out Friday night). Thanks!

Sheesh - Compuserve - ancient history :-)

Tim


- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:56:38 -0600
From: Tim Wegner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Latest patch

>
> I uploaded patch 2002p00.zip to the fractint directory.  Please take a look
> at it.  Specifically, see if you want to change any of the words in the doc
> file concerning the move from CompuServe to the web.  Thanks.

Your edits are a big improvement over that horribly obsolete language that was there before.
Thanks! Let's make your patch official.

I'll look to see if more updating can be done, but there is no reason to delay your patch.

Tim


- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 12:54:51 -0400
From: "Damien M. Jones" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (fractdev) Latest patch

Hey gang,

As you probably noticed, my server went offline Thursday for several hours.
I was moving it to its new host... finally. And because this new host isn't
paranoid about network security (they're a co-location service provider,
their attitude is that the security of my box is my business, not theirs)
I'll be able to re-activate some things that had been disabled. Things like
anonymous FTP, and moving SSH back to its normal port. Right now I'm trying
to catch up on all the stuff that hasn't been done over the past few weeks,
but I wanted to let you know that I'm not dropping off the face of the
earth (and neither is the server).

Damien M. Jones   \\
[e-mail]  \\  Fractalus Galleries & Info:
                    \\  http://www.fractalus.com/

Please do not post my e-mail address on a web site or
in a newsgroup.  Thank you.


- --------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for using Fractdev, The Fractint Developer's Discussion List
Post Message:   [e-mail]
Get Commands:   [e-mail] "help"
Administrator:  [e-mail]
Unsubscribe:    [e-mail] "unsubscribe fractdev"

------------------------------

End of fractdev-digest V1 #43
*****************************