Aminet 8/Aminet 8 (1995)(GTI - Schatztruhe)[!][Oct 1995].iso/Aminet/dev/basic/blitz_JunAug95.lha/blitz_jun-aug95

Internet Message Format | 1995-09-04 | 427KB

Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 08:56:40 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: SCALA MM300

Forwarded message:

> From: Brian Skreeg <[e-mail]>

>     They also said SCALA MM300 will be packaged with all Amigas including
> A1200's. Look's like they're really pushing the miggie into the
> serious/multimedia market.
>

Does anyone know what this system can do, and why it will be bundled
with every machine ( I mean what do you think "average user" will do
with it) ? And how could Blitz take advantage of the system... ?

-Mikko


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 16:58:42 +1000 (EST)
From: Brett Johansen <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RI display lib copper commands..



    Could someonre provide me with some examples of using
    these commands :-) (ie RI copper commands)

        I would like to know how to calculate the coplist
    size argument to the initcoplist...


    And a couple of examples that create a snazzzy copper effect.
    or two


                Anyone used these functions...



                    Brett.

    ATOMHEAD:


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 08:47:08 +0100 (BST)
From: Big Will Riker <[e-mail]>
To: paul_burford <@metnet.demon.co.uk:[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Help

On Wed, 31 May 1995, paul_burford wrote:

> <Not sure if this got through before, so here it is again.>
>
> Ive just put a nice ListView gadget into my current program, with " Add "
> "Delete" buttons positioned underneath.
>
> Everthing went well until i came to put in the 'Delete' code.  I realised
> that when you clicked on a ListView gadget the item under the mouse is
> highlight then un-highlighted when you press and release the mouse button.
>
> Is it possible for the item to remain highlighted until the user selects
> another item or clicks again?  This means you can see exactly what item you
> are deleting.

Hi,

Yup,it is possible...you the following before you initialize the GTLISTVIEW
(you need the gadtools include files for this - I have a resident with
all the gadtools stuff in it if you want it)

GTTags #GTLV_ShowSelected,0

or it may be

GTTags #GTLV_ReadOnly,-1

try both and see which work.. :)

Steve.
 ___________________________________________________________________________
/           Amiga Developer          | Current Project : BlitzOS Lib        \
|    [e-mail]   | [####::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] |
\____________________________________|______________________________________/



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 09:24:50 +0100
From: MO Tiffany <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Help

> <Not sure if this got through before, so here it is again.>

it did...

> Everthing went well until i came to put in the 'Delete' code.  I realised
> that when you clicked on a ListView gadget the item under the mouse is
> highlight then un-highlighted when you press and release the mouse button.
>
> Is it possible for the item to remain highlighted until the user selects
> another item or clicks again?  This means you can see exactly what item you
> are deleting.

dont think so.  You could have some cludge to check whether there as a
mouseclick in the area, then check whether there is an item highlighted and
reset it back to the old one.  Or maybe just disable the delete gadget again?

Mark Tiffany

.---------------------------------------------------------------.
|   Mark Tiffany (aka SgtBilko) - VIRTUAL SOFTWARE / NOCTURNE   |
|                          curator of                           |
|  T H E   A M I G A   P R O G R A M M E R S   W E B   S I T E  |
'============== http://sun1.bham.ac.uk/cca93057 ================'



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Thu, 01 Jun 1995 13:04:00 +0100
From: Rupert James Henson <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Dual playfields


In your message of Wed, 31 May 1995 10:33:34 +0000 (GMT) you wrote:

>
>   Hello Blitz people,
>
>      Does anyone know if it's possible to make a dual playfield (or whatever
>   they're called - with a bitmap in the background and foreground) which has
>   two 4-bitplane bitmaps?  I've got it working with two 3-bitplane bitmaps,
>   but when I change to 4 the screen just goes blank and none of the bitmaps
>   are displayed.
>
>   I'm using the Slice command (which may be redundant now but I don't know
>   how to use the new DisplayLib thing).
>
>
>   Thanks,
>
>
>   Matthew.
>
>  ____________________________________________________________________________
> ////////// Matthew O'Donnell |||||||||||||||| [e-mail] \\\\\\\\
>\
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-
>
>
>

I'm pretty certain that you would need to use the Display library in order
to use such AGA specific features: According to my Hardware Reference Manual
the OCS/ECS chipset could only use 3 bitplanes for fore/back grounds, but
from the AGA hardware guide document off Aminet, AGA can use 4 bitplanes
for each.

I can send out my AGA Dual Playfield (4 fore + 4 back bitplanes) Blitz source
code if anyone needs it.

Rupert "HelpApp" Henson
<[e-mail]>



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 11:37:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tom Kruk <[e-mail]>
To: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: SCALA MM300



On Thu, 1 Jun 1995, Mikko Makela wrote:

> Forwarded message:
>
> > From: Brian Skreeg <[e-mail]>
>
> >     They also said SCALA MM300 will be packaged with all Amigas including
> > A1200's. Look's like they're really pushing the miggie into the
> > serious/multimedia market.
> >
>
> Does anyone know what this system can do, and why it will be bundled
> with every machine ( I mean what do you think "average user" will do
> with it) ? And how could Blitz take advantage of the system... ?
>
> -Mikko
>
>
>
Its the BEST multimedia program (for creating multimedia kiosks etc...)
I use it for video titling effects! <sigh>

Tom.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 11:37:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tom Kruk <[e-mail]>
To: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: SCALA MM300



On Thu, 1 Jun 1995, Mikko Makela wrote:

> Forwarded message:
>
> > From: Brian Skreeg <[e-mail]>
>
> >     They also said SCALA MM300 will be packaged with all Amigas including
> > A1200's. Look's like they're really pushing the miggie into the
> > serious/multimedia market.
> >
>
> Does anyone know what this system can do, and why it will be bundled
> with every machine ( I mean what do you think "average user" will do
> with it) ? And how could Blitz take advantage of the system... ?
>
> -Mikko
>
>
>
Its the BEST multimedia program (for creating multimedia kiosks etc...)
I use it for video titling effects! <sigh>

Tom.



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 20:11:16 -0500 (CDT)
From: Maestria en Filosofia <[e-mail]>
To:  <@post.demon.co.uk,@metnet.demon.co.uk:[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: your mail

>
> Its the Open_'s command accessMode parameter that im stuck with.  I assume
> accessMode is either read or write, but is it expecting a number, string
> or what?
>
> Thanx for any help.
 Paul:
#MODE_OLDFILE   =  1005 ;open existing file read/write.
#MODE_NEWFILE   =  1006 ;open freshly created file (delete old
                        ;file) read/write.
#MODE_READWRITE =  1004 ;open old file with shared lock,
                        ;creates file it if doesn't exist.

GREETINGS !!!
  Pedro.



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 20:28:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ralph Barbagallo <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Printing to the Screen

    How do I specify the reigon of the screen that NPRINT prints to?  I
want to print the score in the upper right corner, but I can't do that because
it keeps giving carriage returns.

    So... what's the deal?






From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 03:40:29 +0100 (BST)
From: Ricky Clarke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: Gary O'Brien <[e-mail]>
Subject: My setup (Philipp Lonke)


    Dear Philipp Lonke,

    I'm very sorry about the delay in responding to your query about why my
blitz setup is accepting 'DetachGTList', 'GTFreeGadget' while yours isn't.

    The library which contains the commands I was using is in fact the
'bbgtlib' which should reside in your 'BlitzLibs:Basic' directory. Although I
don't know the version of the library I was using, I can tell you that it is
available from Steve Mc on the blitz-list or by contacting
'[e-mail]'.

    The 'bbgtlib' library update contained the following commands...

        GTButton, GTCheckBox, GTCycle, GTInteger, GTListView, GTMX,
        GTNumber, GTPalette, GTScroller, GTSlider, GTString, GTText,
        AttachGTList,  GTTags, GTGadPtr, GTBevelBox, GTChangeList,
        GTSetAttrs, GTSetString, GTSetInteger, GTGetString,
        GTGetInteger, GTShape, GTGetAttrs, GTEnable, GTDisable,
        GTToggle, GTStatus, GTArrowSize, DetachGTList, GTGimmeCludge,
        GTSetHighlight, GTFreeGadget.

        Should you (Or anybody else for that matter) wish to know more
about my blitz setup (I've got a complete cmmmand list available - directory
structures - lib allocs - etc...) then please feel free to contact me either on
the blitz-list or EMail me directly. I'm not saying that I'll know the answers
to all of your questions, but I'll try my best to help out...

            Good luck with the bbgtlib...

                Ricky J. Clarke


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 95 19:16:01 +1300
From: Brett Cooper <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Dual playfields

Hi Rupert,

> I can send out my AGA Dual Playfield (4 fore + 4 back bitplanes) Blitz source
> code if anyone needs it.

I have been trying to work out how to set the colour palette on a DPfield,
but I have too many other things happening at the present to spare the time
to sort it out..

I would be very pleased to see your DP code posted on the list
to see how it's done.

> Rupert "HelpApp" Henson
> <[e-mail]>

You wrote HalpApp,  I have vversion 1.1 but I does not seem to work on my
2.04 Amiga A2000, problem is the text that's printed into the windows is
not there.  All the gadgets and menus are visible it's just the text.  I
did expirence a simular problem with an early version of Steve's very cool
debugger,  but I not sure what he changed to fix it.  HelpApp looks very
usefull.

Sincerely

Brett


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 12:24:16 +0300
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: BOUNCE [e-mail]: Admin request

>From blitz-list-owner  Fri Jun  2 12:24:14 1995
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From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 11:21:40 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: Ralph Barbagallo <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Printing to the Screen

On Thu, 1 Jun 1995, Ralph Barbagallo wrote:

>     How do I specify the reigon of the screen that NPRINT prints to?  I
> want to print the score in the upper right corner, but I can't do that because
> it keeps giving carriage returns.

The NPrint command prints a carriage return after all of its parameters
have been output.  If you don't want this CR, just use the Print command.


Steve Mc.

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From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 06:35:06 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: Ralph Barbagallo <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Printing to the Screen

On Thu, 1 Jun 1995, Ralph Barbagallo wrote:
>     How do I specify the reigon of the screen that NPRINT prints to?  I
> want to print the score in the upper right corner, but I can't do that because
> it keeps giving carriage returns.

Use the "Print" command instead of "NPrint."  (Together with the
WLocate/Locate commands) you should have no problem printing scores.

    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 14:58:13 +0100 (BST)
From: Ricky Clarke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: Gary O'Brien <[e-mail]>
Subject: GTList Deallocation


    Fellow blitzers,

    I have a quickish question which has been puzzling me for quite some time now. If anybody can help me out I'll be very grateful.

    The problem is this...
    Using GTList objects I've been performing simple resizing of
interfaces. This involves detaching, remaking and then reattaching the GTLists
to a given window.

    The thing is that I seem to be having memory deallocation
problems. I've used 'MemWatcher' by F.Brandau and it reports that all allocated
memory IS deallocated only upon termination of the program using the
interfaces. Therefore I can only assume (And don't forget I'm only guessing)
that there is a bug in a command somewhere in the code.

        Have a play with the following code and see if you can't get it to work
without deallocation problems (Please)...

    ;
    ; Code starts here...
    ;

    WBStartup : NoCli : CloseEd

    WbToScreen 0
    Window 0,0,0,300,200,$1|$2|$4|$8|$10|$20|$1000,"GTLib memory tester...",2,1

    GTButton 0,0,0,0,InnerWidth,InnerHeight,"Tester button",0
    AttachGTList 0,0

    Repeat
      Select WaitEvent
      Case $2
        DetachGTList 0 : GTFreeGadget 0,0 : Free GTList 0

        InnerCls 0 : RefreshWindowFrame_(Peek.l(Addr Window(0)))

        GTButton 0,0,0,0,InnerWidth,InnerHeight,"Tester",0
        AttachGTList 0,0
      Case $200
        End
      End Select
    Forever

    ;
    ; Code ends here
    ;

      I hope to hear from someone on this rather frustrating matter soon...

              Thanks all,

                     Ricky J. Clarke






From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 17:16:06 +0300
From: "M.Carter" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]

Re : printing to the screen

>On Thu, 1 Jun 1995, Ralph Barbagallo wrote:
>
>>     How do I specify the reigon of the screen that NPRINT prints to?  I
>> want to print the score in the upper right corner, but I can't do
>>that because
>> it keeps giving carriage returns.
>
>The NPrint command prints a carriage return after all of its parameters
>have been output.  If you don't want this CR, just use the Print command.
>
>
>Steve Mc.

I suspect that Ralph was looking to be able to print ANYWHERE on the screen.
I have seen some source in C that implements a window. It might also
help someone who asked the question : how do I open a console if
Blitz Basic doesn't provide me with one?

If anyone is still interested, I'll see if I can convert the C code
to Blitz Basic, so that it could perform the required function.

Mark Carter







From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 95 15:10:46 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: How to read ASCII files into strings?

Hi there,

 What am I doing wrong? I just try to read a ASCII-File into strings
and then to display them in a window. But the ascii-File is never read
in properly :(

The textfile contains special characters because it uses the IBM
graphics font. Is that the cause or my code?


if exists("text:ascpic")
  if readfile(0,"text:ascpic")
    fileinput 0
    while not eof(0)
      t$=inkey$

      if (t$=chr$(10)) or (t$=chr$(13))
        count+1
      else
        a$(count)+t$
      endif

    wend
  endif
  closefile 0
  defaultinput

else

  nprint "Error"
  end

endif

--
Philipp Lonke * [e-mail] * postal adress on demand
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 17:33:39 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: How to read ASCII files into strings?

On Fri, 2 Jun 1995, Philipp Lonke wrote:

>  What am I doing wrong? I just try to read a ASCII-File into strings
> and then to display them in a window. But the ascii-File is never read
> in properly :(
>
> The textfile contains special characters because it uses the IBM
> graphics font. Is that the cause or my code?

First of all, the "if exists()" followed by the "if readfile()" is
redundant.  Readfile will return FALSE if it couldn't open the file for
any reason, including it not existing.

Now then, since Edit$() will terminate on CHR$(10) CHR$(13) or CHR$(0)
when reading from a file, it would be a lot faster to use it in your routine:

Dim a$(32767)    ;Max amt. of items for a BB2 array...
count=0

If ReadFile(0,"text:ascpic")
    FileInput 0
    While Not Eof(0)
        a$(count)=Edit$(1024)
        count+1
    Wend
    CloseFile 0
    DefaultInput
Else
    Nprint "Error #",IOErr_
EndIf




    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 21:55:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ralph Barbagallo <[e-mail]>
To: "M.Carter" <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: your mail

    I do want to print anywhere on the screen, but not necessarily open
a window.  I'd just like to print the score up.  If all else fails, I guess
I'll have to use objects to print the score?


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Sat, 3 Jun 95 21:37:24 +1300
From: Brett Cooper <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Help full Blitz Infomation.


Greetings All,

I have been for a while saveing useful pointers from the blitz list,
I am thinking of editing these and includeing them with the Blitz.guide
file,  kind of like a tutorial on some of the trickey bits and peaces
within blitz.

Some people say "the problem with doing too in-depth of a tutorial is
that it tends to help people who didn't pay for the program, as well as
those who did...."

What is your thoughts on this,  I would like to know before I put too
much work into it.

Have a real good time now you here.

Brett






From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Sat, 3 Jun 95 13:27:58 GMT
From:  <@post.demon.co.uk,@metnet.demon.co.uk:[e-mail]>

Just a quick note to say thanks to a couple of people who helped me with my
GTListView problem.
From: [e-mail]@metnet.demon.co.uk (paul_burford)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: thanks

Mark Tiffany:  Thanks, but i dont think you understood what i was asking.
               (probably my explaination.)

Steve:         Thanks Steve, its the #GTLV_ShowSelected tag that does
               the trick.  I THOUGHT the only list of available tags i
               had was that in the 'Blitz2 Gadtools Documentation'
               (which dosent mention #GTLV_ShowSelected) at all.

               But after you mentioned the gadtools include file, i looked
               through the BUM disks and found (on BUM 7) a lot more tags
               than i new existed.  Arrrrhhh, i had the answer all along!


~Paul~


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Sat, 3 Jun 95 13:29:06 GMT
From:  <@post.demon.co.uk,@metnet.demon.co.uk:[e-mail]>

Reply from Pedro:
From: paul_burford <@metnet.demon.co.uk (paul_burford):[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: more

> #MODE_OLDFILE   =  1005 ;open existing file read/write.
> #MODE_NEWFILE   =  1006 ;open freshly created file (delete old
>                         ;file) read/write.
> #MODE_READWRITE =  1004 ;open old file with shared lock,
>                         ;creates file it if doesn't exist.

Reply from Richard T. Elmore:

> It is a number, here are the values you'll need:

> To do a "ReadFile"     $3ED
> To do a "WriteFile"    $3EE
> To do an "OpenFile"    $3EC



Ta, ill try that later.

Can you recommend a good source of info for this sort of thing?  Perhaps
some sort of guide in the PD.

~Paul~


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
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From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 95 11:05:22 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: ListView

Hi paul_burford, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on May 15:

> Is it possible for the item to remain highlighted until the user selects
> another item or clicks again?  This means you can see exactly what item you
> are deleting.

Now, I also want to make a Listviewgadget which is Read-only. So I set
up my GTList :

        GTButton   ...
        GTButton   ...
        GTTags     #LV_Readonly,True
        GTListview ...

But as soon as the user clicks on the Listview, the blue bar appears -
that's what I wanted to avoid! What am I doing wrong?

Second, when I open a screen with ScreenTags and set #SA_ShowTitle to
True, the Titlebar still appears. Why that?

--
Philipp Lonke * [e-mail] * postal adress on demand
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 95 13:14:03 EST
From: Jeffrey Morgan <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: oh nooooooooo

I would like to publically apologize for what just
happened.

Please forgive me. I am testing a mailing list
program that I wrote and one misplaced quote mark
caused my test file to actually be sent out
on the nets.

Again...please forgive my stupidity!


______________________________________________________________
|Argue your limitations and sure enough,  | Jeffrey S.  &     |
|    they're yours.                       | Kristin E.        |
|                       R. Bach           |         Morgan    |
|_________________________________________|___________________|




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 1995 08:46:19 +0000 (GMT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Selling Blitz games


  Hi All,

        Has anyone got any ideas about where to sell a finished Blitz
  game?  It seems to me that if you've written something which isn't
  good enough to be a commercial sell-in-the-shops-for-twenty-quid sort
  of game, the only other choice is shareware (where your chances of making
  anything are about zero).

  Do magazines still accept games for their cover disks (and pay for them)?
  I know they used to, but nowadays they seem to only use demos of commercial
  games.  I'm not looking to get filthy rich, I just want a few quid for all
  my trouble (in the good old days of 32K computers, you could get games
  printed in magazines and earn about 100 quid pretty easily).


  Any ideas?


  -"Moneygrabber" Matt.

 ______________________________________________________________________
//////// Matthew O'Donnell |||||||||||||| [e-mail] \\\\\\\
------------------------------------------------------------------------



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 1995 09:55:25 +0100 (BST)
From: Andy Pelton <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz-List <[e-mail]>
Subject: What happend?


What happened? to the site at x2ftp.oulu.fi as every time i log on the
all the directories are empty. Any enlightenment would be appreciated.




##############################################################################
#       Andy Pelton       #   Current Project : Turbo Dyna Bomber AGA        #
#   of Binary Illusions      #                                             #
##############################################################################




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 1995 10:05:02 +0100 (BST)
From: Andy Pelton <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz-List <[e-mail]>
Subject: forget : what happened?

I tryed logging on again. and i worked that time for some reason when the
other times i did not logme  on properly.

Also any ideas when BUM is to appear, and are the people who handle blitz
in the UK (i think they are in Doncaster) connected to the net, if dose
any one know there E-mail address.

        Cheers.

##############################################################################
#       Andy Pelton       #   Current Project : Turbo Dyna Bomber AGA        #
#   of Binary Illusions      #                                             #
##############################################################################




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:16 1995
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 1995 10:50:10 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: Ricky Clarke <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail], Gary O'Brien <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: GTList Deallocation

On Fri, 2 Jun 1995, Ricky Clarke wrote:

>     The problem is this...
>     Using GTList objects I've been performing simple resizing of
> interfaces. This involves detaching, remaking and then reattaching the GTLists
> to a given window.
>
>     The thing is that I seem to be having memory deallocation
> problems. I've used 'MemWatcher' by F.Brandau and it reports that all allocated
> memory IS deallocated only upon termination of the program using the
> interfaces. Therefore I can only assume (And don't forget I'm only guessing)
> that there is a bug in a command somewhere in the code.

A bit of background first.  When programming Blitz libraries, Blitz
itself provides access to memory allocation routines to you - the memory
you allocate with these routines is automatically freed up at the end of
the program.  Thus what is most probably happening is that a command in
one of the libs you use if allocating memory and then not freeing it up -
leaving it to Blitz's clean up routine to sort out.

One command that is guilty of this is the WTitle command in the
Windowslib.  This command never freed up the old window and screen titles
after you changed them - I have fixed this command now but there maybe
other commands that mess up in exactly the same way.

You're using Gadtools so it maybe a problem with that.  As far as I know
the latest version that I distributed is perfectly okay - but I did not
have time to test it exhaustively.  Thus there may still be lingering
problems with regards to freeing up gadgets and lists.  I'll try and find
time to have a look at these.

You also use the Screen and Window libs - these too might have problems
as well.  Remember that you'll be getting quite a lot of intuition
messages to your window - so before you try using any memory program make
sure that your program itself has processed all IDCMP messages that come
to its port.

Can you tell me how much memory you loose each time you run?  It'd help
if there was a fixed amount (e.g. previously GTShape gadgets always
caused the lose of 20bytes everytime you freed one of them).


Anyway, if any of this proves to me useful, or you want any more
info/help then just mail back.



Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                 L E A D I N G   E D G E   S O F T W A R E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                Hang                 | Current project :                    +
   [e-mail]     | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 1995 09:51:36 +0000 (GMT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Help full Blitz Infomation.


Brett wrote:

 > I have been for a while saveing useful pointers from the blitz list,
 > I am thinking of editing these and includeing them with the Blitz.guide
 > file,  kind of like a tutorial on some of the trickey bits and peaces
 > within blitz.

 Sounds like a good idea to me.

 > Some people say "the problem with doing too in-depth of a tutorial is
 > that it tends to help people who didn't pay for the program, as well as
 > those who did...."

 I don't see that anyone can really use this as an argument.  And if
 Acid say it, tell them they should have written decent documentation
 in the first place! :)

 > Have a real good time now you here.

 What, at work?  Fat chance...


 -Matthew

 ______________________________________________________________________
//////// Matthew O'Donnell |||||||||||||| [e-mail] \\\\\\\
------------------------------------------------------------------------



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 1995 11:39:18 +0100
From: NIGEL HUGHES <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Acid, Shapes and ShapeZ

In message <[e-mail]>,
    Mikko Makela <[e-mail]> writes:

Sorry for echoing your post to the list Mikko, but I thought it had some
valid points that people would like to discuss.

> Hi Nigel,
> I just wanted to let you to know, that I really liked the helpsystem
> in ShapeZ II. I think it would be ready to show to "larger public".
> In an example program, I would suggest making some changes to
> initialvalues of help though:
>
> -I like the South-East direction the best also, but X could
> be something like 20 so that mousepointer doesn't prevent seeing text.

Yes I use south east, I think I shall knock up a help prefs program to
go in the PREFS draw to show that any Amiga program could use the help
system.

> -Delay time of approx. 30 would give the user time to see where
> he is going to place the pointer - and when "demoing", it's good
> to show this nice feature instantly, don't you think ?

Yes delay 30 is oK but I prefer 25 8) As I said sounds good for the
default settings though.

> And one other thing: when gadget is so near the rigth/bottom line
> of the screen, that helptext doesn't fit to south-east, it would
> be nice, if it would go to north-west instead of being writed
> over the gadget. This is minor disturbance though, and if it's
> hard to do, let it be.

It would not be that hard to try and move it around, I shall give
it a go and see how it goes.

> I also liked ShapeZ. But I found couple of bugs also, and
> couple of times program failed. The last time it failed, os
> gave me this suspend/reboot option, so I suspended it. And
> then I noticed that you have a clever routine finding out,
> that ShapeZ was already "running", so I couldn't start
> it again - so maybe it would be good to give option of having
> several copies of program running at once 8).

Ys I must sort that, it does that because the ShapeZ arex port is taken 8)

> Bugs:
> -In my machine text "Shape:  of   " is displayed slightly over
> "View","Ins" & "Help" gadgets (in control window).

Right I think the problem here is a lack of font sensitivity. I will be
sorting this in the final version. Thanks for pointing it out.

> -When cutting large shapes from picture, program exists, if
> shape is "too large", and I think once gurued after this.

Hum, kind of Acid problem as well, I will knock up a piece of code
for doing this in a more friendly way.

> -When using zoom (-) to make shape smaller in editor window
> (to allow bigger shapes), the editor window just updated the
> part of the window, what was shown before the zoom-operation.

This is very strange, I will have a look to see what is going on.

> There may have been more & I have some features in mind, which
> could be good to have...

Go for it. I think most people on the list have a copy so let's
have an orgy of sugestions please. The next version will probably
be the last, so anything you want to see, let me know, or try and
convince me to carry on with it.

> Later,
> Mikko
>
 Later,

Nigel


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 1995 13:55:54 +0300
From: "M.Carter" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]

>From: Ralph Barbagallo <[e-mail]>

>    I do want to print anywhere on the screen, but not necessarily open
>a window.  I'd just like to print the score up.  If all else fails, I guess
>I'll have to use objects to print the score?

I'm not sure what you want to do. Do you want to be able to write to
a console window (i.e. what you get with a CLI) - or a window
created by Blitz. Are you writing a game? - in which case, you would
open a window and use something like the WLocate command. I don't
think there is a command that will allow you to print literally
anywhere on the screen - you have to set things up first.

Maybe if you could tell me a bit more about what you are trying to do, I
could help






From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 1995 05:55:28 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: Brett Cooper <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Help full Blitz Infomation.


On Sat, 3 Jun 1995, Brett Cooper wrote:

> Some people say "the problem with doing too in-depth of a tutorial is
> that it tends to help people who didn't pay for the program, as well as
> those who did...."

There are a few people out there using the demo or even pirated
versions of Blitz, but IMHO without the manuals and BUMs, even a pointer
here and there isn't going to be of much use to them.  So what if they
figure out an obscure feature of Blitz, they still aren't familiar with
90% of the rest of it.  (Not enough to write anything useful anyway.)
Either they'll buy the full Blitz package and get the manuals etc. or
they won't, but it took me a long time to master Blitz even WITH the
manuals.  I would be very impressed with the individual who can do that
just by pure guesswork and browsing example sourcecode.

In short, I think you've got a good idea, and I reccomend you put it in
the guide file if you think it would be helpful.  The pirates out there
won't be able to make much use of it.

    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+







From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 1995 13:06:07 +0100
From: MO Tiffany <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Selling Blitz games

>  Hi All,
>
>        Has anyone got any ideas about where to sell a finished Blitz
>  game?  It seems to me that if you've written something which isn't
>  good enough to be a commercial sell-in-the-shops-for-twenty-quid sort
>  of game, the only other choice is shareware (where your chances of making
>  anything are about zero).

dont discount shareware.  as long as your product is useful/fun enough, and
there is an incentive to register (ie extra levels - definitely _NOT_ disabling
a feature such as saved hi-scores) then you`ll get something back from it.

My Virtual Worlds has had a number of reistrations, and at 15 squids a time,
it soon adds up.

I know that as soon as my ami is sorted Im going to register Roketz, just
like i registerred Gravity Force, and a coupla other things.

>  Do magazines still accept games for their cover disks (and pay for them)?
>  I know they used to, but nowadays they seem to only use demos of commercial
>  games.  I'm not looking to get filthy rich, I just want a few quid for all
>  my trouble (in the good old days of 32K computers, you could get games
>  printed in magazines and earn about 100 quid pretty easily).

They dont advertise the fact any more, but if its good enough then they may
consider it - either they pay you lots for the full game or maybe just stick
a demo on.  If you get a demo on a coverdisk then you`ll (apparently) get loads
of registyrations - That Charlie Chimp game on Amiga Power had _lots_ of regos
apparently - and that was pretty crap really!

Mark Tiffany

.---------------------------------------------------------------.
|   Mark Tiffany (aka SgtBilko) - VIRTUAL SOFTWARE / NOCTURNE   |
|                          curator of                           |
|  T H E   A M I G A   P R O G R A M M E R S   W E B   S I T E  |
'============== http://sun1.bham.ac.uk/cca93057 ================'




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 1995 10:52:33 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Selling Blitz games



On Mon, 5 Jun 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

>         Has anyone got any ideas about where to sell a finished Blitz
>   game?  It seems to me that if you've written something which isn't
>   good enough to be a commercial sell-in-the-shops-for-twenty-quid sort
>   of game, the only other choice is shareware (where your chances of making
>   anything are about zero).

Yup this is a BIG problem. I think also you would be suprised how little
even the 20 quid games make for their developers.

Acid (us) have stuffed a lot of people around cos we wanted to publish
their games (bbombers, cascade, tennis etc.) but the market is just not
there at present. If escom does roll out Amiga's at least 3 months before
christmas I still want to follow up the partypack idea where we publish 3
games at a time for the same price as 1 full price game. The magazines
are right behind us on this one but even some of them look as though they
are not going to be around for too much longer without some strong market
leadership by escom....

Simon


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 95 00:16:18 GMT
From: Chi Wai Lee <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RICompactDisk.lib

Has anyone else tried this library.  Seems to be *PRETTY* unstable???

While on this subject, has anyone got docs on programming the cd.device.



--
+===========================================================================+
|                                                                           |
|      Chi Wai Lee - [e-mail] (Spiral Vortex Productions)       |
|                                                                           |
+===========================================================================+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 1995 08:00:42 -47900
From: The Crow <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RE:Where to sell games



>
> On Mon, 5 Jun 1995 [e-mail] wrote:
>
> >
> >   Hi All,
> >
> >         Has anyone got any ideas about where to sell a finished Blitz
> >   game?  It seems to me that if you've written something which isn't
> >   good enough to be a commercial sell-in-the-shops-for-twenty-quid sort
> >   of game, the only other choice is shareware (where your chances of making
> >   anything are about zero).
> >
> >   Do magazines still accept games for their cover disks (and pay for them)?
> >   I know they used to, but nowadays they seem to only use demos of commercial
> >   games.  I'm not looking to get filthy rich, I just want a few quid for all
> >   my trouble (in the good old days of 32K computers, you could get games
> >   printed in magazines and earn about 100 quid pretty easily).
> >
> >
> >   Any ideas?
> >
 Not really sure, but....

 If you think you have a good game, what does it hurt to send a DEMO version
 to numerous magazines for potential review.  You could also mention you are
 looking for someone to distribute (if that is what you want to do) your game.
 If it makes it in a magazine and gets a good review, potential distributors
 may come knocking at your door.  And if you have the resourses to ditribute
 yourself, and you passed this information on to the magazines, hopefully
 people will send directly to you.

 If you have addresses for known game developing houses, you could also
 send demos directly to them.  What could it hurt?

 Hope this helps.

 Sincerely

 Tom Stone (the guy who wrote Fantasy Quest for the Mac and then made it
            shareware to only get about 10 people actualy send in a shareware
            fee.  I will never go shareware again!)



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 1995 10:27:14 +0200
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: various

  On 2 June Ralph Barbagallo asked about printing to a screen with no window.
The OS likes to have at least a backdrop window.  I get the impression
from the RKM that there is no point opening a screen without one, but that
the overhead is small in any case.
  On 5 June Matthew O'Donnell asked about money from games.
My advice is, if circulating shareware, make sure it is well crippled or
cut down.  My game Spelltris (full version released) spread to a lot of
libraries, so somebody must like it.. but I've had zero registrations.
  Maybe in a few years there will be a system where people download stuff
and pay maybe ten pence to the author, but that is some time away.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 1995 18:00:23 +0100 (BST)
From: Andy Pelton <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz-List <[e-mail]>
Subject: Leading Edge & Acid


LEADING EDGE

Hi there where can i get a copy of the LEShapes.lib from as it is not in
the LESdebugger, RILibs4_1 or the ShapezII file that you put in the
list.

     Cheers.

ACID

Is B.U.M.8 going to be released in the UK within the next month and what
will the ABC upgrade cost in pounds sterling.


    Cheers.


##############################################################################
#       Andy Pelton       #   Current Project : Turbo Dyna Bomber AGA        #
#   of Binary Illusions      #                                            #
##############################################################################




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 95 18:54:53 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Selling Blitz games

Hi Simon, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Jun 6:

> there at present. If escom does roll out Amiga's at least 3 months before
> christmas I still want to follow up the partypack idea where we publish 3
> games at a time for the same price as 1 full price game. The magazines

You at ACID should first publish the next BUM and an update to
BlitzBasic getting rid of this f*** editor TED.... :) instead of
publishing games...

--
Philipp Lonke * [e-mail] * postal adress on demand
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 1995 19:02:57 +0000
From: Tony Byrne <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Blitz II Multitasking :-(

Hi all,

I appologise if this is a FAQ, but I've only just started reading
this list.

I have noticed that when I try to run more than one instance of a
compiled Blitz Basic programme or if I try to run more than one
compiled Blitz Basic executable, either my own code or the supplied
demo GUI proggys, simultaneously then one of them will crash the Amiga
with the dreaded Guru/Software Failure.  I have checked my code
carefully and can see no reason for the crashes.  I have tested this
with code which merely opens a window on the workbench screen and
wait for it to be closed by the user.  When two instances of this
executable are run, closing one of them will crash the computer.  If
I run the executable only once, then closing the window will do as
expected, ie terminate the programme and free the resources.

I am running Blitz Basic II, version 1.90 on an Amiga 1200 and on an
Amiga 4000-030 both with the same results.

I am currently developing some specialist Database Management software
(for a book library) and it requires that I be able to write the
software in module form each module must be able two co exist with
one or more instances of itself on the one machine.  The crashing software
doesn't help in this respect :-)

Has anyone else come across this problem?

Any pointers as to the probable cause of my problem would be
appreciated.

=============================================================================
Tony Byrne, Swords, County Dublin, Ireland.     <[e-mail]>
=============================================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 1995 19:28:53 -0000
From: Clive Thomas <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz list <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Leading Edge & Acid

Hi Andy,
    You wrote this about Leading Edge & Acid:

: ACID
:
: Is B.U.M.8 going to be released in the UK within the next month and what
: will the ABC upgrade cost in pounds sterling.

    Dunno  about  bum8, but check Amiga Format on Thursday (I think ;),
Blitz  will be on the cover-disc, so presumably the upgrade details will be
inside.

BFN,Clive

--
 +-- [e-mail] ------------------------------------------+
 | Get it from:   ftp.demon.co.uk:pub/amiga/info/AmosaicFAQ_v1.02.lha |
 |          or    aminet: docs/misc/AmosaicFAQ.lha                    |
 +----------------------------------------- dam fine cup of coffee ---+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 95 20:36:10 CET
From: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Quicksort?

Hi,

are there any sort commands for Blitz2 based on quicksort?

bye,

Falk


--  _                                    _
 _ // [e-mail] _ //or: [e-mail]
 \X/  BlitzBasic Distribution Germany \X/ German BB2-BBS: [phone]

Haben Sie Joghurt? - Ja, hier. - Wieso erzählt denn dieser Joghurt Geschichten
über die Beatles? - Das ist ein Elmi-Ghurt! (Frei nach Feinkost-Zip)


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 10:10:54 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz II Multitasking :-(



On Tue, 6 Jun 1995, Tony Byrne wrote:

> wait for it to be closed by the user.  When two instances of this
> executable are run, closing one of them will crash the computer.  If
> I run the executable only once, then closing the window will do as
> expected, ie terminate the programme and free the resources.
>

I'd say this is a problem with one of the libraries in Blitz not sharing
some resource properly or using an absolute address in memory by mistake.

Q. Are you using any third party libraries or straight acid ones only?

Q. Do you have access to snoopdos and maybe enforcer to help give a better
   error report

Q. DO you have runtime errors enabled, I think If you do blitz programs
will not multitask as they will clober the traps in an unsharing way.

Simon

p.s. that last one re runtime errors I think is the one?


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 95 01:07:48 CET
From: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Does anyone want GoldED?

Hi,

I'm  in  contact with the author of GoldEd (available on aminet, text/edit,
V3.0x), the ultimative ED for the Amiga.  Why re-invent the wheel?  We want
to  kick  TED  away  and  replace  it  with  GoldED  (special  version  for
BlitzBasic).

The  only  problem  is  (as  usual...)  Acid Software.  We won't be able to
manage things until we know how the compiler sticks to TED.  Simon promised
some  weeks  ago  to send us the sourcecodes (or even a shell compiler with
command  line  options)  for  us  to build in our own TED, but since then I
haven't heared anything from him?!

Perhaps somebody can visit him in his pub, drink his beer and kick him back
to his computer :-)


grumbling...

Falk


--  _                                    _
 _ // [e-mail] _ //or: [e-mail]
 \X/  BlitzBasic Distribution Germany \X/ German BB2-BBS: [phone]

FATAL ERROR 302: INTEL INSIDE


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 12:37:04 +0300
From: "M.Carter" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: *Ware


I was interested to hear the discussion on shareware in the Blitz
list. It makes a change from all the technical questions that are
asked on the list - not that I am complaining - I have asked many
such questions myself.

What I would be interested to hear from is of anyone's experience
of releasing Freeware. I have put a few bits and pieces in both
PD libraries and on the Aminet. I have never heard any response
from anyone. It makes me wonder whether anyone looks at my stuff,
hates it, or is just plain indifferent. It seems to me that the
only people making money out of programs are the PD companies.
Some of them charge upwards of 3 quid. Considering a floppy
costs 50p to buy - any slightly less if you buy them in bulk - it
seems difficult to believe that they are being sold on a
not-for-profit basis. I wonder how much money the owners of
the libraries take out as salary.

Perhaps a good way of releasing software is to adopt the
philosophy of GNU - provide all the code, and make it free. That
way, at least you have the chance that someone could improve
your code and add new features - so as an author who uses
the product that you create - you get someone else who increases
the usefulness of the product to you. Admittedly, this is more
directed to utility programs rather than games; and it
probably means that the code would be better if written in C
rather than a Basic (to increase the base of people who can
code in it).

And on the subject of comparing C with Blitz Basic - I recently
looked at the C code for the program emacs. A line count revealed
that over 9000 lines of code were present. That's one hell of
a line count! I couldn't help thinking that if it was written in
Basic, the line count would be a lot lower. What I would like
to see in Blitz Basic, though, would be the following :
   o better structuring - being able to pass functions and
arrays as parameter arguments
   o better control for larger projects. The INCLUDE statement
in BB2 is good - but if an INCLUDEd module contains an error,
you're in trouble, beacause BB2 doesn't tell you what and where it's wrong.



Anyway, that's enough chat from me.
I look forward to your responses.

Mark Carter.
[e-mail]
7 June 1995


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 1995 10:01:57 +0000 (GMT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Compressing a shape file


  Hi All,

        Sorry if this has been covered before - I'm writing a game which
   loads in a shapes file of about 150K length.  I was wondering if there's
   any way I can compress the shape file somehow, load it into Blitz and then
   uncompress it in memory (I'm trying to save some space on the disk).

   Is there an easy way to do this?


   Thanks,


   Matthew

 ______________________________________________________________________
//////// Matthew O'Donnell |||||||||||||| [e-mail] \\\\\\\
------------------------------------------------------------------------



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 1995 12:06:41 +0200
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Shareware - reply to Mark Tiffany

>> Shareware without an incentive to register is pointless (or something)

  Yes I agree, and that is why I offered other software for those who
registered my game, but I still had no luck.  Okay, maybe it just wasn't good
enough.

  I think we could get hung up on semantics talking about different definitions

of "crippled".  My understanding of the word would include an adventure creator

that couldn't produce distributable games.

  Basically, what I was trying to say was that if there is to be any chance of
getting money from shareware, the incentive better be fairly massive.  I don't
think a few Arexx utilities will do it.  For games, I'd say a short demo rather

than a long one.  And when it comes to utilities, I'd suggest that using them
should be quite limited if you haven't registered.

  And of course, they have to be pretty good!

  Anyway, thats how I see it.  For now I will stick with the day job...



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 1995 11:15:56 +0100
From: MICHAEL RICHARDS <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: *Ware


> What I would be interested to hear from is of anyone's experience
> of releasing Freeware. I have put a few bits and pieces in both
> PD libraries and on the Aminet. I have never heard any response
> from anyone. It makes me wonder whether anyone looks at my stuff,
> hates it, or is just plain indifferent. It seems to me that the
> only people making money out of programs are the PD companies.
> Some of them charge upwards of 3 quid. Considering a floppy
> costs 50p to buy - any slightly less if you buy them in bulk - it
> seems difficult to believe that they are being sold on a
> not-for-profit basis. I wonder how much money the owners of
> the libraries take out as salary.

    There is the alternative approach of `Licenseware' which is
run in the UK by F1 Software, a PD house in Exeter. They usually
advertise in Amiga Format and the like. The software costs slightly
more than the usual PD disk, but a good share (25 %) I think goes
straight to the author on every disk sold. The title is licensed to F1
so it can't be sold by other PD houses, which may be a drawback if you
want very wide distribution of your title. Has anyone used this method
of selling software and does it work ?
                    Mike.
Mike Richards - BOOST / SCORE Project          /@\            \|/
   [e-mail]     - email                 `-\ \  ______  - 0 -
   [phone] - voice                    \ \/ ` /  \  /|\ _
   or : c/o Dept. Computer Science, UW, Penglais, \_i / \  |\____//
        ABERYSTWYTH, Dyfed. SY23 3DB. UK.           | |==| |=----/
Why not drop me a line ...? ------------------------hn/--hn/-----------


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 11:25:52 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Compressing a shape file

On Wed, 7 Jun 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

>         Sorry if this has been covered before - I'm writing a game which
>    loads in a shapes file of about 150K length.  I was wondering if there's
>    any way I can compress the shape file somehow, load it into Blitz and then
>    uncompress it in memory (I'm trying to save some space on the disk).

Our new shapeslib can pack shapes using a simple byterun algorithm, it
can also grab these shapes from memory.  If you used this alongside a
more comprehensive packer,like Stone Cracker or Crunchmania, you can get
your shape files down to a very small size.

There are userlibs available for blitz forboth stonecracker and
crunchmania so you shouldn't have any problems using them.


Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                 L E A D I N G   E D G E   S O F T W A R E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                Hang                 | Current project :                    +
   [e-mail]     | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 14:00:12 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Shareware in future


Couple of things which came to my mind about shareware:

- Yes, programs must be good if one wants to get more than
 a few to register them. Close to commercial quality.

- In future, when there will be opportunity for everyone to
 charge for downloads from one's www-page etc. , many will
 quite surely do just that with their programs. Good about
 this is, that it's so easy, that more people will surely
 pay something for software that way. Not so good thing
 will ofcourse be, that many programs which would
 previously be released as PD in aminet will maybe take this
 path. I'm kind of waiting for this though...


-Mikko


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 1995 13:01:24 +0100
From: NIGEL HUGHES <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Leading Edge & Acid

In message <Pine.ULT.3.91.950606175237.26651A-100000@rowan>,
    Andy Pelton <[e-mail]> writes:
>
> LEADING EDGE
>
> Hi there where can i get a copy of the LEShapes.lib from as it is not in
> the LESdebugger, RILibs4_1 or the ShapezII file that you put in the
> list.
>
>      Cheers.

The LESHapesLib is in the libraries directory of the ShapeZII archive,
along with the new RIPAck library which is required for LEShapes to
work.

> ACID
>
> Is B.U.M.8 going to be released in the UK within the next month and what
> will the ABC upgrade cost in pounds sterling.
>
>
>     Cheers.
>
>
> #############################################################################
> #
> #       Andy Pelton       #   Current Project : Turbo Dyna Bomber AGA        #
> #   of Binary Illusions      #
>          #
> #############################################################################
> #
>
>
>
>


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 1995 13:03:48 +0100
From: NIGEL HUGHES <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Compressing a shape file

In message <[e-mail]>,
    [e-mail] writes:
>
>   Hi All,
>
>         Sorry if this has been covered before - I'm writing a game which
>    loads in a shapes file of about 150K length.  I was wondering if there's
>    any way I can compress the shape file somehow, load it into Blitz and then
>    uncompress it in memory (I'm trying to save some space on the disk).
>
>    Is there an easy way to do this?

Use the LEShapes library which allows shapes to be saved and loaded
in compressed formats. It is in the SHapeZII archive which is
on the blitz ftp site.

>    Thanks,
>
>
>    Matthew
>
>  ______________________________________________________________________
> //////// Matthew O'Donnell |||||||||||||| [e-mail] \\\\\\\
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:17 1995
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 14:05:49 +0100
From: The Post Office <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: The Post Office <[e-mail]>
Subject: Unresolvable mail address

A copy of your message is being returned to you because one or more of
the addresses you specified could not be recognized as addresses that are
understood by, or reachable from, this system.


error: unresolvable: [e-mail]

------- Original Message follows -------
external
origin external
rcvdfrom kantti.helsinki.fi ([128.214.4.16])
with SMTP
from <[e-mail]>
to <[e-mail]>
Received: (majordom@localhost) by kantti.helsinki.fi (8.6.12+Emil1.1/8.6.5) id NAA28267 for blitz-list-outgoing; Wed, 7 Jun 1995 13:27:43 +0300
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    id AA28434; Wed, 7 Jun 95 11:25:53 BST
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 11:25:52 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
X-Sender: sis3149@anubis
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Compressing a shape file
In-Reply-To: <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <Pine.SUN.3.90.950607112356.28337A-100000@anubis>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Sender: [e-mail]
Precedence: bulk

On Wed, 7 Jun 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

>         Sorry if this has been covered before - I'm writing a game which
>    loads in a shapes file of about 150K length.  I was wondering if there's
>    any way I can compress the shape file somehow, load it into Blitz and then
>    uncompress it in memory (I'm trying to save some space on the disk).

Our new shapeslib can pack shapes using a simple byterun algorithm, it
can also grab these shapes from memory.  If you used this alongside a
more comprehensive packer,like Stone Cracker or Crunchmania, you can get
your shape files down to a very small size.

There are userlibs available for blitz forboth stonecracker and
crunchmania so you shouldn't have any problems using them.


Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                 L E A D I N G   E D G E   S O F T W A R E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                Hang                 | Current project :                    +
   [e-mail]     | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 16:34:37 +0300
From: "M.Carter" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]


On Wed 7 June, Mikko wrote

>Couple of things which came to my mind about shareware:

...

> In future, when there will be opportunity for everyone to
> charge for downloads from one's www-page etc. , many will
> quite surely do just that with their programs. Good about
> this is, that it's so easy, that more people will surely
> pay something for software that way. Not so good thing
> will ofcourse be, that many programs which would
> previously be released as PD in aminet will maybe take this
> path. I'm kind of waiting for this though...


I don't think many programmers are looking to make a fortune out
of their efforts. I know it is not the case for me. Some kind
of feedback from people would be nice, though. Whether the www
is a good idea or not depends on the price people charge for their
software. I think people would be very wary about buying an
unknown program for 5 pounds. Maybe charge them a nominal fee in
return for a highly crippled program. Then if they like the
software, they can ask the author for the full version at the
5 pounds level. Of course, you would be justified in saying that
this represents little change from the current setup. However,
there is one important difference - contact has to be made with
the author. With PD libraries and Aminet, the author is remote, and
somehow out of the equation. I would say that there would be a much
greater level of registration if potential users dealt with the
author directly. On the other hand, I could be completely wrong,
and it would just be business as usual. But sometimes subtle
shifts in emphasis can bring about large changes in results.

What I think would be great is a much better degree of co-operation
between authors. You can see, for instance, that on the Aminet there
are many text editors, all doing pretty much the same thing. But
each one has it's own foibles and strengths, and it would be nice
to see one good text editor that satisfied everyone, than lots
of text editors that had niggling deficiencies. Again, I say, I
am becoming more enamoured of the idea of free software that
everyone tries to improve. It is a good way of starting off from
a fairly rough product, and refining it into a killer program.

Mikko mentioned that shareware would receive lots of registrations
if it was close to commercial quality. The problem here is that
software of very high quality is very difficult to write. If I
had written something that was THAT good, I would probably try
to sell it commercially - rather than rely on the vagaries of
shareware registration.







From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 14:55:13 +0100 (BST)
From: Andy Pelton <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz-List <[e-mail]>
Subject: A plasmized last lap


Hi i was wondering if any one out there has an algorithm for a plasma effect.
and also does any one know if any amiga ftp sites have the game Last-lap
on them.
        Cheers.

##############################################################################
#       Andy Pelton       #   Current Project : Turbo Dyna Bomber AGA        #
#   of Binary Illusions      #                                             #
##############################################################################




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 95 16:41:47 GMT
From: Brian Skreeg <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Leading Edge & Acid

Hiho Clive,

> Hi Andy,
>     You wrote this about Leading Edge & Acid:
>
> : ACID
> :
> : Is B.U.M.8 going to be released in the UK within the next month and what
> : will the ABC upgrade cost in pounds sterling.
>
>     Dunno  about  bum8, but check Amiga Format on Thursday (I think ;),
> Blitz  will be on the cover-disc, so presumably the upgrade details will be
> inside.

It's not. I just got it through the door.


    _  __  __
   / \/  \/  \
  /   \/ /\/ / |-Brian Skreeg-------------IRC:_Ozzy-|
 /  / /  \/  \ |-Lead Guitarist--Widdles on Request-|
 \___/\__/\__/ |-I don't look like two Zombies------|


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 95 13:43:27 EDT
From: Lynn Jennings <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RE: Print w/o Window


In theory it _is_ possible to print directly to the screen's bitmap (i.e.
without a window).

Just use a BitmapOutput command first.

However, I don't recommend this.

Instead, use a window that is backdroped and without borders or system
gadgets.

Christopher Jennings


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 95 13:51:38 EDT
From: Lynn Jennings <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RE: Amiga Crashes w/ 2 BB2 progs


Before you try running enforcer etc. you should make sure that your code
contains the command:

WBStartUp

If you know about this it will seem like a dumb statement (but you still may
have forgotten); if you don't know about it then it may make all the
difference in the world.

If the programs that crashed were started from the workbench, and if you don't
get the same problem when you run them from two shells, I can pretty much
guarantee this is it.

If you don't know why you need to do this, first understand that programs are
run from the WB or CLI in different ways.

>From WB, your program is launched (i.e. becomes its own process) and is sent a
WBStartup message which it must return before it ends.

>From CLI, your prgram runs using the CLI's process, and it is not sent any
messages.

The command WBStartup tells BB2 that your program might be run from WB, so it
adds extra code to detect this so that it sends back the WB's message when
your program ends.

If you are started from the WB and you don't return your message when you
exit, differnt things may happen depending on certain factors, but the
situation you describe is one of them.

If it doesn't help you, it will no doubt help someone else.

Christopher Jennings


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 18:30:17 +0000
From: Tony Byrne <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Mail Delivery Failure.

> > wait for it to be closed by the user.  When two instances of this
> > executable are run, closing one of them will crash the computer.  If
> > I run the executable only once, then closing the window will do as
> > expected, ie terminate the programme and free the resources.
> >
>
> I'd say this is a problem with one of the libraries in Blitz not sharing
> some resource properly or using an absolute address in memory by mistake.
>
> Q. Are you using any third party libraries or straight acid ones only?
>
> Q. Do you have access to snoopdos and maybe enforcer to help give a better
>    error report
>
> Q. DO you have runtime errors enabled, I think If you do blitz programs
> will not multitask as they will clober the traps in an unsharing way.
>
> Simon
>
> p.s. that last one re runtime errors I think is the one?

Well I don't use any third party libraries just those supplied with
blitz II and any upgrades from the BUM disks.  What is really bugging
me is that the problem arises no matter how simple I make the code,
it requires no fancy or of the wall programming to cause the crash.
As I mentioned earlier standard Intuition Windows etc. via Blitz's built
in commands is enough.

Hmm. The last one would be the most likely cause of the problem alright, the
only questions are:

Does the runtime error trapping apply to Amiga built executables as well as code
compiled and run from within the Blitz environment?

Would you not need to generate an error for the crash to occur or
would merely enabling the error checking be enough to cause a crash?


=============================================================================
Tony Byrne, Swords, County Dublin, Ireland.     <[e-mail]>
=============================================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 09:10:24 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shareware - reply to Mark Tiffany



On Wed, 7 Jun 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> >> Shareware without an incentive to register is pointless (or something)
>
>   Yes I agree, and that is why I offered other software for those who
> registered my game, but I still had no luck.  Okay, maybe it just wasn't good
> enough.

If you take a look at ALL the stuff each month that comes out on cover
disks and all the other stuff that doesn't (hmm thats pretty clever) my
guess is the standard is pretty darn high.

I'd like to hear how roketz did, one of the more impressive Blitz ps
releases this year I think.

Vision Software who were in the same office as us for quite a while use
to get more enjoyment from the letters people would send them rather than
the money which I think is a big thing, gratification for your work rather
than payment is just/more important for some...


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 09:17:21 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: commercial www saves the day?

On Wed, 7 Jun 1995, Mikko Makela wrote:

> - In future, when there will be opportunity for everyone to
>  charge for downloads from one's www-page etc. , many will
>  quite surely do just that with their programs. Good about
>  this is, that it's so easy, that more people will surely
>  pay something for software that way. Not so good thing
>  will ofcourse be, that many programs which would
>  previously be released as PD in aminet will maybe take this
>  path. I'm kind of waiting for this though...

This is definately the big one for us also. However my biggest fear is
that Amiga can not cut it on the net. AMosaic is just SO far behind
netscape, or maybe i've just got a really old version. AmiTCP is complete
overkill for homeusers wanting to use their Amiga for a dialup connection...

Something HAS to be done!

Well, me and Mark did get the IP checksum happening last night and he's
got slip working from bb, hopefully ppp is not too far behind and then a
nice bb socket library....



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 09:21:54 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
To: Tony Byrne <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Mail Delivery Failure.



On Wed, 7 Jun 1995, Tony Byrne wrote:

> Would you not need to generate an error for the crash to occur or
> would merely enabling the error checking be enough to cause a crash?

Hmmm, this should have come up b4 but I can't remember...

Runtime errors is for development, in my view if you want clean
multitasking well behaved executables you must not enable runtime errors.
It is up to you to check for filenotfound etc. errors... With runtime
errors disabled I'm pretty sure:

SetErr:End:End SetErr

will help in a lot of situations...

Simon


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 11:05:30 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
Cc: Blitz-List <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: A plasmized last lap



On Wed, 7 Jun 1995, Andy Pelton wrote:

>
> Hi i was wondering if any one out there has an algorithm for a plasma effect.
> and also does any one know if any amiga ftp sites have the game Last-lap
> on them.
>         Cheers.

Here's one that someone just sent me today...
xm.w=320:ym.w=256 :im=1
cl=5:mnc=16:mxc=23

Screen 0,0,0,xm,ym,cl,$00,"",0,1
Window 0,0,0,xm,ym,$1800,"",0,0
ScreensBitMap 0,0
mc=2^cl
For t=0 To mc-1
v=t*256/mc
AGARGB t,0,v,0
Next

nnx:

Dim c.w(xm,ym)
For x=0 To xm Step 64
For y=0 To ym Step 64
c=Rnd(mxc-mnc)+mnc

c(x,y)=c :If im=1 Then Plot x,y,c
Next
Next

For p=6 To 1 Step -1
s=2^p:h=s/2

For y=0 To ym-s Step s
For x=0 To xm-s Step s

c1=c(x,y)
c2=c(x,y+s)
c3=c(x+s,y)
c4=c(x+s,y+s)

mx=c1:mn=c1
If c2<mn Then mn=c2
If c3<mn Then mn=c3
If c4<mn Then mn=c4

If c2>mx Then mx=c2
If c3>mx Then mx=c3
If c4>mx Then mx=c4

mn=mn-h/2
mx=mx+h/2

If mx>mxc Then mx=mxc
If mn<mnc Then mn=mnc



If x=0 Then c=Rnd(mx-mn)+mn :c(x,y+h)=c :If im=1 Then Plot x,y+h,c
If y=0 Then c=Rnd(mx-mn)+mn :c(x+h,y)=c :If im=1 Then Plot x+h,y,c

c=Rnd(mx-mn)+mn :c(x+h,y+h)=c :If im=1 Then Plot x+h,y+h,c
c=Rnd(mx-mn)+mn :c(x+h,y+s)=c :If im=1 Then Plot x+h,y+s,c
c=Rnd(mx-mn)+mn :c(x+s,y+h)=c :If im=1 Then Plot x+s,y+h,c

Next
Next
Next

For y=0 To ym
For x=0 To xm

Plot x,y,c(x,y)
Next
Next



SaveScreen 0,"ram:plsbrt"
BRA     nnx



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 11:39:29 +1000 (EST)
From: Dave Cole <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz <[e-mail]>
Subject: SuperSkidmarks (on CD32)

G'day All,
  I just purchased Super Skidmarks for the cd32 yesterday, and am
very impressed.

  I'm glad to see that the keyboard routine was changed (allowing
cd32's to use it), but am suprised that the tracks are only the
normal ECS ones.  Where are the AGA tracks (similar to the one
found on the old cover diski from AmigaCD (from about a year ago)??

  What I'd like to know (this is the Blitz part), is was this due
to a technical reason??  ie, was it too hard (in terms of speed),
to be able to have both an AGA track, as well as controlling the 8
cars and scrolling the screen, or, was it they just weren't
included??  Also, how much of the game was written in assembler,
and how much blitz??

  Were there any extra libs written for the game??  If so, what did
they do, and will they be available in ABC??

  Also, how was the hires mode done??? It appears as though the
screen has been put into hires de-interlaced (ie, half of an
interlaced screen - every 3nd line has been removed).


  Just as a side note, where the hell is the car converter??  It
doesn't appear to have been included on the CD.  Will I get this
when I send off the registration??

Thanks for any info (and sorry if this isn't related to blitz
enough to appear in the list).

Dave
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Cole  |  [e-mail]  | Please contact for info
           |                                  | about
           |  [e-mail]   | The Warhammer Compendium


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 08 Jun 1995 10:04:25 +0200
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: blitz v1.9

   Lately I got a multiscan monitor, so I upgraded to Blitz 1.9 (on
BUM7) which can deal with DBLPal screens (if they are not overscanned).
That is, the debugger works again.

   I recompiled some old programs which load in gfx files from the
same directory as the Blitz program.  They worked fine when running
under the Blitz environment.

   But the standalone compiled versions failed to load the gfx, because
instead of starting from the directory the program was in, they
looked in SYS: for the files.

   I could solve it with pathnames or assigns, I suppose, but I'd like
to have things as simple as with Blitz1.7.  Does anybody know how to
fix this, or at least to learn the current directory of a started-up
blitz executable?  I need something that is Wb1.3 compatible.


   Thanks...



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 08 Jun 1995 09:53:07 +0100
From: NIGEL HUGHES <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shareware


 In message <[e-mail]>,
     Simon <[e-mail]> writes:
 >
 >
 > On Wed, 7 Jun 1995 [e-mail] wrote:
 >
 > > >> Shareware without an incentive to register is pointless (or something)
 > >
 > >   Yes I agree, and that is why I offered other software for those who
 > > registered my game, but I still had no luck.  Okay, maybe it just wasn't go
 > od
 > > enough.
 >
 > If you take a look at ALL the stuff each month that comes out on cover
 > disks and all the other stuff that doesn't (hmm thats pretty clever) my
 > guess is the standard is pretty darn high.

 Your quite right Simon, the standard of amiga pd/sw software is getting
 very high indeed. I think you will find it is largely due to Blitz Basic
 and other less capable languages (ahem).

 > I'd like to hear how roketz did, one of the more impressive Blitz ps
 > releases this year I think.

 From what I hear it is doing very well indeed.

 > Vision Software who were in the same office as us for quite a while use
 > to get more enjoyment from the letters people would send them rather than
 > the money which I think is a big thing, gratification for your work rather
 > than payment is just/more important for some...

 Nail on the head. There is nothing like receiving a letter from someone
 somewhere in teh world saying "thanks for a great game". Tetris Duel
 AGA, which I released as s/w, got 3 registrations and a truck load of
 thankyou mail. I even got one letter from a Polish Sailor who apologised
 for not being able to pay the reg fee! So I sent him a free copy, 1 month
 later and another letter from him. This is what it is all about. I'm not
 saying I would not have liked more money BUT in the end it's just
 great to kow your stuff is out there and being enjoyed.

 There is a flip side. Amiga owners (in general) are begining to get on
 my nerves (not you guys at all, read c.s.a.games). They whinge and
 want everything for no effort. I have to admit I have just bought a high
 spec PC for games coding, and although missing blitz I have found the
 PC community very friendly. It took me 2 weeks to work out why. Many
 of them used to be Amiga coders.

 If it had not been for the support of the people on the Blitz list I
 would have stopped releasing stuff on the Amiga last year (I will never
 stop writing stuff for it, just releasing) so a big thanks to everyone
 espicially Mikko, Marky Tiff, Brett Cooper and all the others.

 Sorry for the delay with the next ShapeZ, but there are some BIG changes
 going on under the bonnet which will allow you all to make ShapeZ jump
 through hoops 8)

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                 L E A D I N G   E D G E   S O F T W A R E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
            FUNdamental              | Current project : Understanding PC's +
          [e-mail]           | [*************:::::::::::::::::::::] +
  http://www.dcs.aber.ac.uk/~ngh94/  | 0%                100%+
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+



- ------- End of Unsent Draft

------- End of Forwarded Message



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 14:20:08 +0300 (EETDST)
From: "Ott M. Aaloe" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shareware - Roketz

> If you take a look at ALL the stuff each month that comes out on cover
> disks and all the other stuff that doesn't (hmm thats pretty clever) my
> guess is the standard is pretty darn high.
>
> I'd like to hear how roketz did, one of the more impressive Blitz ps
> releases this year I think.

Well...the Roketz did pretty good for 'pocket money' but that's about
it...i.e. it would be ok if it was written by one dude...to be
honest we thought it'll be more successful...at the
moment it's good if we get 1 (one) registerer per week (hmm there was
3 weeks quiet now and yesterday there were 2 new lucky Roketz
owners ;) Hmm...perhaps there wasn't enough adds for it...on the other
hand it should be included on every biggest PD library out there...
I think there's about 200 official registered users world wide now
and I think it's not that much or is it?
One thing of course is that the game is AGA only...we're working
on ECS version now so perhaps it even gets released ;)

And for now it has only been on 1 coverdis (Amiga Power) which
said the game sucked - obviously it didn't ;) - it's just that
the reviewer dude just didn't like gravity games 8)
AmigaFormat somehow refused although they seem SO friendly on
their coverdisk submissions i.e. just send it to us and we'll take
care of it...well it ain't like that - we bombed Stephen Bradley
(some important dude in AF) with phonecalls for a month or so
and finaly we just gave up...

> Vision Software who were in the same office as us for quite a while use
> to get more enjoyment from the letters people would send them rather than
> the money which I think is a big thing, gratification for your work rather
> than payment is just/more important for some...

Yes... 'thank you' letters are also cool - it's also good to know
what people think of you/your product.

One thing is sure - you won't get rich on Amiga Shareware scene though
you might get famous (at least a bit ;)


                                Ott M. Aaloe
                                [e-mail]
                                ** The Farm **


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 13:49:27 +0100 (BST)
From: Andy Pelton <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz-List <[e-mail]>
Subject: URGENT (well some if it is)


Hi there. I have a few questions.

1) What is my registration number and where do i find it out. The reason
i am asking is Yesterday I rang Acid Distribution UK to notify them of my
change of address and they asked me for my identification number which i
do not have and never had. Also I asked if they had sent out BUM 8. There
reply was no we are still waiting for it.

2) Is Rocketz on the aminet

3) Does any one on the list know if i have to contact power computing for
a software upgrade to the XL 1.76M Disk drive, as I have a V1.2 of the patch
and would like to get hold of 1.3 or higher as 1.2 is a bit buggy, or is
it on the aminet as well

4) Where can i get hold for the lastest version of the BBGTLIB the one
with GTGimmieCludge and GTdeallocate (i dont know if my version has these
commands).

1 and 3 are the most urgent as i finshes at uni for the year and consequently
lose access to e-mail.

Thanks Rupet and simon for the AGA DPF and Plasma code.

Cheers


##############################################################################
#       Andy Pelton       #   Current Project : Turbo Dyna Bomber AGA        #
#   of Binary Illusions      #                                             #
##############################################################################





From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 95 13:55:07 GMT
From:  <@post.demon.co.uk,@metnet.demon.co.uk:[e-mail]>

On 7 June 1995 Mark Carter wrote.
From: [e-mail]@metnet.demon.co.uk (paul_burford)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: INCLUDE

> better control for larger projects. The INCLUDE statement
> in BB2 is good - but if an INCLUDEd module contains an error,
> you're in trouble, beacause BB2 doesn't tell you what and where it's wrong.

I cant agree more with that.  When i moved from AMOS Professional to BB,
one of the two things i missed, was AMOS's abillity to 'Fold' procedures
down to a single line, just at the hit of an F-Key. This meant that all
code was in the editor at all times (so when an error occured you were
taken straight to it) but all procedures were only visably one line big.
This made the code appear a lot shorter so finding your way round a large
program was childsplay.
I would really love to see this in blitz.  Possibly do the same to GoSub
routines as well. In other words this;

  .subroutine_name
    .
    ..
    lots of lovely code :-)
    ..
    .
  Return

Could be turned into this;

  .subroutine_name


What do people think?  Any likely-hood of this becoming reality?

PS. In case anyones interested, the second thing i really miss is AMOS
    Pro's FULL help system.

~Paul~


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 95 13:56:16 GMT
From:  <@post.demon.co.uk,@metnet.demon.co.uk:[e-mail]>

Philipp Lonke wrote:
From: paul_burford <@metnet.demon.co.uk (paul_burford):[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Sorry,

> Hi paul_burford, you wrote in <[e-mail]=
> n.co.uk> on May 15:
>
> > Is it possible for the item to remain highlighted until the=
> > user selects
> > another item or clicks again?  This means you can see exact=
> > ly what item you
> > are deleting.
>
> Now, I also want to make a Listviewgadget which is Read-only.

I wasnt trying to create a read-only listview gadget, i was trying to
get the highlight bar to stay there after a user had selected something,
which i have now done thanks to the guys on this list.

> So I set up my GTList :
>
>        GTButton   ...
>        GTButton   ...
>        GTTags     #LV_Readonly,True
>        GTListview ...
>
> But as soon as the user clicks on the Listview, the blue bar appears -
> that's what I wanted to avoid! What am I doing wrong?
>
> Second, when I open a screen with ScreenTags and set #SA_ShowTitle to
> True, the Titlebar still appears. Why that?

Was you asking me in particular these questions, or just saying hi?
If you were asking me im afraid i cant help, ive never got the #LV_Readonly
tag to do anything, and ive never had any need to open a screen using
ScreenTags.  Sorry.

Still, someone else will probably help with these.  Byee.


~Paul~


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 11:55:44 -0500 (CDT)
From: Joe Bott <[e-mail]>
To: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Quicksort?

On Tue, 6 Jun 1995, Falk Nieder wrote:

> Hi,
>
> are there any sort commands for Blitz2 based on quicksort?

I dont know of an actuall command, but I've written a quicksort
subroutine for my database... If you want I'll send you a copy, its
fairly easy to use....

Joe



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 08 Jun 1995 18:23:50 +0000
From: Jurgen Valks <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Simon...

#> The  only  problem  is  (as  usual...)  Acid Software.  We won't be able to
#> manage things until we know how the compiler sticks to TED.  Simon promised
#> some  weeks  ago  to send us the sourcecodes (or even a shell compiler with
#> command  line  options)  for  us  to build in our own TED, but since then I
#> haven't heared anything from him?!
#>

Get use to it! He (Simon) promissed me everything but nothing realy
happend...That sux!


Greetings from:

+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Jurgen Valks, Blitz User Group Nederland (BUG N.L.)        |
| Kerkeind 8a, 5293 AB, Gemonde                              |
| Tel: [phone]/14347 (home)  [phone] (work) |
| Member of SToopID [demo/game coder]                        |
+------------------------------------------------------------+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 18:32:10 +0000
From: Tony Byrne <[e-mail]>
To: Simon <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz Multitasking

> Date:          Thu, 8 Jun 1995 09:21:54 +1200 (NZST)
> From:          Simon <[e-mail]>
> To:            Tony Byrne <[e-mail]>
> Cc:            [e-mail]
> Subject:       Re: Mail Delivery Failure.

>
>
> On Wed, 7 Jun 1995, Tony Byrne wrote:
>
> > Would you not need to generate an error for the crash to occur or
> > would merely enabling the error checking be enough to cause a crash?
>
> Hmmm, this should have come up b4 but I can't remember...
>
> Runtime errors is for development, in my view if you want clean
> multitasking well behaved executables you must not enable runtime errors.
> It is up to you to check for filenotfound etc. errors... With runtime
> errors disabled I'm pretty sure:
>
> SetErr:End:End SetErr
>
> will help in a lot of situations...
>
> Simon

I tried as you suggested and disabled the runtime error checking
before building my executable and guess what?  It worked :-)  No
crashes so far, so I assume that the Blitz error checking was causing
the original problem.

This man is a genius :-) Thanks for the help.

=============================================================================
Tony Byrne, Swords, County Dublin, Ireland.     <[e-mail]>
=============================================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 18:34:49 +0000
From: Tony Byrne <[e-mail]>
To: Simon <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shareware - reply to Mark Tiffany

> Vision Software who were in the same office as us for quite a while use
> to get more enjoyment from the letters people would send them rather than
> the money which I think is a big thing, gratification for your work rather
> than payment is just/more important for some...

Mind you, eating is not bad either :-)   I'd rather have the money.


=============================================================================
Tony Byrne, Swords, County Dublin, Ireland.     <[e-mail]>
=============================================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995 09:22:36 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shareware



On Thu, 8 Jun 1995, NIGEL HUGHES wrote:

>  There is a flip side. Amiga owners (in general) are begining to get on
>  my nerves (not you guys at all, read c.s.a.games). They whinge and
>  want everything for no effort. I have to admit I have just bought a high
>  spec PC for games coding, and although missing blitz I have found the
>  PC community very friendly. It took me 2 weeks to work out why. Many
>  of them used to be Amiga coders.
>
I wouldn't go near an Amiga usenet group with an Axe in my head, that
side of the Amiga community is definately a little self opinionated to
say the least... As for PC, I don't see what the big drama is all about,
a computer is a computer, the amount of enjoyment I've got from learning
3 other assembly languages and 2 other operating systems this year has
been much more eye openning now I've shrugged off any ami-phobic problems...



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995 08:44:03 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: Tony Byrne <[e-mail]>
Cc: Simon <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shareware - reply to Mark Tiffany

On Thu, 8 Jun 1995, Tony Byrne wrote:

> > Vision Software who were in the same office as us for quite a while use
> > to get more enjoyment from the letters people would send them rather than
> > the money which I think is a big thing, gratification for your work rather
> > than payment is just/more important for some...
>
> Mind you, eating is not bad either :-)   I'd rather have the money.

I prefer people mailing and saying what they like/dislike about any
software - there's nothing like being egotripped about something you've
written.  As for money, well I'll be programming for a living soon at
which time I'll earn money - I wouldn't expect to get much out of shareware.

Although it would have been nice if ***someone*** mailed me about my nice
map editor...  It's still a shame since the registered version is soooo
cute :)


Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                          L E A D I N G   E D G E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+               Hang                 | Current project :                    +
+      [e-mail]        | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995 08:53:46 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: "Ott M. Aaloe" <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shareware - Roketz

On Thu, 8 Jun 1995, Ott M. Aaloe wrote:

> Well...the Roketz did pretty good for 'pocket money' but that's about
> it...i.e. it would be ok if it was written by one dude...to be
> honest we thought it'll be more successful...at the
> moment it's good if we get 1 (one) registerer per week (hmm there was
> 3 weeks quiet now and yesterday there were 2 new lucky Roketz
> owners ;) Hmm...perhaps there wasn't enough adds for it...on the other
> hand it should be included on every biggest PD library out there...
> I think there's about 200 official registered users world wide now
> and I think it's not that much or is it?
> One thing of course is that the game is AGA only...we're working
> on ECS version now so perhaps it even gets released ;)

Noone is ever likely to get much out of shareware unless the program is
mindbogglingly brilliant, or can't live without fantastic.  200 people
registered doesn't sound like a lot in real terms but its still a fair
number - not enough to live on though...

Its a shame that people seem to associate shareware with free software (I
do it myself half the time).  I would assume that its a fact of life that
shareware will not earn money, especially in a relatively small market
as the Amiga.  On the PC its slightly different in that you have such a
massive user base that you'd make a killing even if a relatively small
percentage of people actually registered.  I think if people intend to
make money out of their computer, but remain as hobbyists, they most
probably will have to write on a machine with a massive user base.

> And for now it has only been on 1 coverdis (Amiga Power) which
> said the game sucked - obviously it didn't ;) - it's just that
> the reviewer dude just didn't like gravity games 8)
> AmigaFormat somehow refused although they seem SO friendly on
> their coverdisk submissions i.e. just send it to us and we'll take
> care of it...well it ain't like that - we bombed Stephen Bradley
> (some important dude in AF) with phonecalls for a month or so
> and finaly we just gave up...

Know how you feel about AP - they slated our BlitzBombers game next time
and stated incorrectly that a software house had bought the rights to it
and were 'fixing all the wrongs'.  I think that mag has a serious ego
problem.  And its a bit shit :).

Roketz on a coverdisk would be bloody brilliant - give it the coverage it
requires to make some money and the coverage it deserves for being so
good.  The mags though might be worried about size (how much space does
Roketz take up?) and the fact that loads of people with PD library
access/Aminet access will have already seen it.

> One thing is sure - you won't get rich on Amiga Shareware scene though
> you might get famous (at least a bit ;)

Fame is why we started....  Oh and to win that bloody Amiga Format Blitz
competition (clowns.....................) :)


Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                          L E A D I N G   E D G E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+               Hang                 | Current project :                    +
+      [e-mail]        | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995 08:55:36 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: blitz v1.9

On Thu, 8 Jun 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

>    But the standalone compiled versions failed to load the gfx, because
> instead of starting from the directory the program was in, they
> looked in SYS: for the files.
>
>    I could solve it with pathnames or assigns, I suppose, but I'd like
> to have things as simple as with Blitz1.7.  Does anybody know how to
> fix this, or at least to learn the current directory of a started-up
> blitz executable?  I need something that is Wb1.3 compatible.

Whakt you need is a replacement acid library that fixes some quirks
introduced into Blitz2 in BUM7.  I think the library is the cliargs lib,
although I could be wrong.


Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                          L E A D I N G   E D G E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+               Hang                 | Current project :                    +
+      [e-mail]        | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995 08:57:36 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: Blitzlist <[e-mail]>
Subject: GTMenuLib users...

I found some nasty little quirks in the library - which have hopefully
now been completely killed off.

Bugs involved the freeing of gtmenulists before a program exited (bug in
library finit routine).  There was also a problem of the menustrips not
being freed up when the program ends.

Drop us a line for a fresh version...


Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                          L E A D I N G   E D G E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+               Hang                 | Current project :                    +
+      [e-mail]        | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:18 1995
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995 11:22:21 +0100 (BST)
From: Andy Pelton <[e-mail]>
To: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
Cc: Blitzlist <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: GTMenuLib users...

On Fri, 9 Jun 1995, Stephen McNamara wrote:

> I found some nasty little quirks in the library - which have hopefully
> now been completely killed off.
>
> Bugs involved the freeing of gtmenulists before a program exited (bug in
> library finit routine).  There was also a problem of the menustrips not
> being freed up when the program ends.
>
> Drop us a line for a fresh version...
>
>
> Steve Mc.
>
> +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>                           L E A D I N G   E D G E
> +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
> +               Hang                 | Current project :                    +
> +      [e-mail]        | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
> +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>
>
>
Hi Steve. Could you please send me a copy of the new gtMenulib as well as
a copy of the new? bbgtlib.
    Also do you (or anyone else) have a The Power XL HD 1.76M
Diskdrive as I would like to get hold of a later version of the patch
software
        Cheers

##############################################################################
#       Andy Pelton       #   Current Project : Turbo Dyna Bomber AGA        #
#   of Binary Illusions      #                                             #
##############################################################################




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: 09 Jun 95 16:16:26 -0100
From: Chris Feringa <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Does anyone want GoldED?


Hi Falk,

In a message of 07 Jun 95 Falk Nieder wrote to All:

 FN> I'm  in  contact with the author of GoldEd (available on aminet,
 FN> text/edit, V3.0x), the ultimative ED for the Amiga.  Why re-invent the
 FN> wheel?  We want to  kick  TED  away  and  replace  it  with  GoldED
 FN> (special  version  for BlitzBasic).

Thats the best idea I have heard in ages. GO FOR IT!!!!

 FN> The  only  problem  is  (as  usual...)  Acid Software.  We won't be
 FN> able to manage things until we know how the compiler sticks to TED.
 FN> Simon promised some  weeks  ago  to send us the sourcecodes (or even a
 FN> shell compiler with command  line  options)  for  us  to build in our
 FN> own TED, but since then I haven't heared anything from him?!

Maybe he is just like you :-) I have been trying to contact you twice via
e-mail but you did not reply.

 FN> Perhaps somebody can visit him in his pub, drink his beer and kick him
 FN> back to his computer :-)

Not to hard, he must be able to sitdown :-)

                  \|/
Chris Feringa     @ @     [e-mail]
+-------------oOO-(_)-OOo-------------------+
|                                           |
|       *PGP Public key available*          |
|                                           |
+-------------------------------------------+





From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 11:26:06 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: Blitzlist <[e-mail]>
Subject: GTMenuLib: end error

   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
421 Host te.xs4all.nl not found for mailer ddn.
550 <[e-mail]>... Host unknown

I sent a copy of the lib out to a list of people but the address above
came back with an error.  Chris Feringa: is this the correct address for
you, if yes then can you ask one of the other people I sent the lib to to
forward you a copy of it.

Lib was sent to the following addresses:

To:     ? <[e-mail]>,
        Dave Cole <[e-mail]>,
        Chris Feringa <[e-mail]>,
        MO Tiffany <[e-mail]>,
        James Savage <[e-mail]>

If any of you don't receive the lib through mail soon they just drop
another line, slagging off Portsmouth university and asking for a fresh
version.

Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                          L E A D I N G   E D G E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+               Hang                 | Current project :                    +
+      [e-mail]        | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 11:46:56 +0100 (BST)
From: Andy Pelton <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz-List <[e-mail]>
Subject: Disk Protection

Hi how do you protect a disk from being copied, i not sure how the
trackdisk device works as I don`t have the RKMs.

There was a message on the list a bout a week ago from someone who
said they have got B.U.M 8. has any one else got there`s as I havn`t yet.

Finally UK users do any of you have a registration number, if so were is
it printed and where did you get it from.

some one wanted the address of ACID SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION so here it is.

ACID SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION CENTER
UNIT 15
GUILDHALL INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
KIRK SANDALL, DONCASTER
DN3 1QR

TEL: [phone] FAX: [phone]

##############################################################################
#       Andy Pelton       #   Current Project : Turbo Dyna Bomber AGA        #
#   of Binary Illusions      #                                             #
##############################################################################




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 10:51:48 +0000 (GMT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Loading GIF into bitmap


  Hi All,

        Bit of a long shot this...  Does anyone have any code which will
  load a GIF file into a bitmap?


      Thanks,

      Matt.

 /||------------------------------------------------------------------||\
 |||      Matthew O'Donnell       :       [e-mail]      |||
 ||| >->->->->->->->->->>>>>  projects  <<<<<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-< |||
 |||   Pingwynne                         [Complete - on aminet]       |||
 |||   Slaughter in fluffy bunny forest  [20% complete]               |||
 \||------------------------------------------------------------------||/



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 13:32:25 +0100
From: MO Tiffany <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: AmigaGuide

Anyone out there got any ideas on how to call up stuff from the amigaguide
library?  I would rather call it up myself within the new version of
Virtual Worlds than execute amigaguide with document references.

(I know what all the commands are, ie OpenAmigaGuideA_ etc, but dont know
what to do with them!)

Anyone???

Mark Tiffany

.---------------------------------------------------------------.
|   Mark Tiffany (aka SgtBilko) - VIRTUAL SOFTWARE / NOCTURNE   |
|                          curator of                           |
|  T H E   A M I G A   P R O G R A M M E R S   W E B   S I T E  |
'============== http://sun1.bham.ac.uk/cca93057 ================'



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 10:56:45 -0500 (CDT)
From: Joe Bott <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Quicksort...


Hello everyone! Enough people have asked for this subroutine, so I'm
going to post it to the list... Okay? Here we go.

i1=0:j1=a  ;a=size of array, or i1=startpoint and j1 = endpoint
p=1        ; so you dont have to sort the whole array....
begin:
If p=0 Then Goto done
  i = i1
  j = j1
  s = -1
main:
  If x(i)>x(j)
    t = x(i)      ;
    x(i) = x(j)   ; Change x(i) to whatever is being sorted (even strings...)
    x(j) = t      ;
    s = Sgn(-s)
    EndIf
  If s=-1
    j=j-1
    Else
    i=i+1
    EndIf
  If i<j Then Goto main
  If i +1 <= j1
    p = p+1
    m(p,0)=i+1
    m(p,1)=j1
    EndIf
  j1=i-1
  If i1>=j1
    If p<>0
      i1 = m(p,0)
      j1 = m(p,1)
      p = p -1
      EndIf
     EndIf
Goto begin:

done:





From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 10:34:04 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: MO Tiffany <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: AmigaGuide

On Mon, 12 Jun 1995, MO Tiffany wrote:

> Anyone out there got any ideas on how to call up stuff from the amigaguide
> library?  I would rather call it up myself within the new version of
> Virtual Worlds than execute amigaguide with document references.
>
> (I know what all the commands are, ie OpenAmigaGuideA_ etc, but dont know
> what to do with them!)

Yes, and I've also created a Blitz2 library to bring it up on your own
BB2 screen as well, go directly to any node or line, etc.  If you're
interested, e-mail me and I'll work out a way to get it to you...
(It's the best way to handle HELP in a style-guide compliant manner)

    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 12:45:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: "S. Flock" <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz List <[e-mail]>
Subject: Curious..


 Not wanting to mess around with the dma crap on Neil's Protracker replay
routine, I had a go at it last night.

 I'm hoping to find around 4-5 people who would like to test the new code.
Any takers? (NOTE: I _want_ feedback.. So only respond if your willing
to do this..) If, for some reason, I wind up with more than five people
wanting to check it out, I'll prolly just limit sending out the lib
to the first five. If the lib seems okay, I'll release it.

Steve

/---------------------------------+---------------------------------------\
| Steve Flock - Binary Assault    | Current Project: Donkey Kong (Arcade) |
| Programmer, Gfxian, Code Mangler|          Status: 65% complete         |
\---------------------------------+---------------------------------------/




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 95 20:56:03 CET
From: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shareware

Reply to...
NIGEL HUGHES ([e-mail])
Re: <Re: Shareware>
Date: 08.06.95


[deleted long shareware discussion]


Perhaps  I  can  help  a bit for you guys to get some money from the german
users.   Many  of  them  _want_ to register and pay the shareware fee.  But
there's a big problem which I can understand very well:

E.g.   you'll  have  to  register with 5 pounds.  Okay, where can you get 5
pounds from in Germany???  No bank just changes 5 pounds.  The next problem
is:  You'll have to send this money in an envelope to a foreign country.  I
personally  wouldn't  do this.  The third problem is:  Will the author ever
send me an update or something else (he's so far away).

These  are  many  reasons  which  keep  most  of  the  german users off the
registration for a real good shareware product.

Okay,  what  can I do?  For example I (=the german Blitz2 distribution) can
function  as an agency by collecting the fees in german DM and forward them
to  the  authors.   This  means the users have a contact address in Germany
which makes things _much_ easier for them.

Another  suggestion:  We sell a disk ("low cost") with a registered version
of  the  program, this would be against the shareware idea, but perhaps the
author could get some money with it.  Example:  We sell ShapeZII (shareware
5  pounds  I  think) for DM 25,- (10 pounds).  50-50 between author and us.
For  our 50% we would take care (send out) updates etc., self-evident!  The
author  just  has  to  send us the update.  If we would make it DM 30,-, we
could also include a german documention (necessary in Germany...)



If there are any cool Blitz programers outside who developed cool stuff in
and/or for BlitzBasic, then contact me, I'm sure we can find a solution!


bye,

Falk



--
Falk Nieder                        _          [e-mail]
                                _ //  [e-mail]
BlitzBasic Distribution Germany \X/   German BB2-BBS: [phone]

FATAL ERROR 302: INTEL INSIDE


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 95 18:45:29 +1300
From: Brett Cooper <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Loading GIF into bitmap

Hi modonnell, on Jun 12 you wrote:

>   Hi All,
>
>         Bit of a long shot this...  Does anyone have any code which will
>   load a GIF file into a bitmap?
>
>       Thanks,
>
>       Matt.

Have you thought about trying datatypes?  Has anyone played with datatypes
within blitz,  it would make loading almost any soft of data into a bitmap.


Brett




From: JONNY (BEC) 01232 894383 <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <950613083719.20a090b5@bfsec>
Subject: PPP
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Sender: [e-mail]
Precedence: bulk
Status: O


does anyone know how to set up a ppp connection with amitcp 2.3 ?

my work provides me with a non dynamic ppp connection to the internet over
the phone lines.... non dynamic being that i have a fixed ip address...

the problem is this.. first i have to dial up and login using AT commands..
i use ncomm to write the AT commmands.. the problem is once i have logged in
and told the sytem i want a pp connection, i then execute my amitcp startup..
this gives me 'can`t open serial device', obvioulsy because it is being used
by ncomm..

i therefore thought i should close the serial port from ncomm and then do
the amitcp startup... but this loose the telephone line link.. ie the host
modem hangs up... ?

any ideas on how i should do this..

all the scripts for connecting to ionternet via ppp at work are for a PC..
but surely i should be able to get it working with my Amiga. I have tried
some of the dialup scripts off aminet.. ie the arexx ones, but once they
close the serial port (they also mention something about closing the
serail port but leaving DTR open) the phone line is lost..

Any ideas ?

TIA

Jonny



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 13:43:50 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shareware

On Mon, 12 Jun 1995, Falk Nieder wrote:

> Reply to...
> NIGEL HUGHES ([e-mail])
> Re: <Re: Shareware>
> Date: 08.06.95
>
>
> [deleted long shareware discussion]
>

[deleted loads of stuff about distribution]

Falk,
What you're saying sounds interesting enough.  I wouldn't mind having a
go at this since I've had fuck all response from people (***EXCEPT*** one
person - you know who you are) about my map editor.

Nigel: Wanna do that collection that we wanted to do before?  And have
new Shapez, Map ed & new Debugger on one disk or two?  Call me - we'll do
lunch :)


Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                          L E A D I N G   E D G E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+               Hang                 | Current project :                    +
+      [e-mail]        | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 16:14:21 +0200 (METDST)
From: Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer <[e-mail]>
To: Brett Cooper <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Loading GIF into bitmap

On Tue, 13 Jun 1995, Brett Cooper wrote:

> Hi modonnell, on Jun 12 you wrote:
>
> >   Hi All,
> >
> >         Bit of a long shot this...  Does anyone have any code which will
> >   load a GIF file into a bitmap?
> >
> >       Thanks,
> >
> >       Matt.
>
> Have you thought about trying datatypes?  Has anyone played with datatypes
> within blitz,  it would make loading almost any soft of data into a bitmap.
>
>
> Brett
>
>
>
>
I just thought about this when reading Matt's letter, but how do I access
datatypes within blitz2? Unfortunately, I have not got the Autodocs3 yet-
(and maybe I should wait until the RISC-OS comes out...:) ).

What is the VBlank No. 2 for? It does _nothing_ on my Amiga (1200)

In an old blitz-list-entry I read about a problem with the BitmapInput-
function in Blitz-Mode - I have exactly the same problem, but I did not
read anything about it since then. The problem is as following:
You start in BLITZ-mode, do a nice intro where you need a input from
the keyboard (i.e. for entering your name). Then you want to load in
level-data and things like, so you enter QAMIGA-mode and load everything
in. Ok, no problem until now: In your game you want to access the keyboard
again (using BitMapInput) and what happens is 1)nothing 2)a system failure.
If somewants, I can mail a example (very short, fear not). The funny thing
is that on Blitz-PD 2 or so (Asmodeus), the same happens if you play the
game twice and enter your name the second time...
It must have to do something with FileInput - I think Blitz does not re-
direct the input correctly to the keyboard when in Blitz-mode. I have no
idea...

Sorry for the long mail, it's my first and I have much to catch up with.:)

McGreg
e-mail: [e-mail]
------
Current working on: -ShapesManager 1.5
                    -MonsterNoia!, second try...:)
                    -finding the most disaterous way to crash
                     my Amiga ;)


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 95 08:28:27 +1300
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Screen's resolution


I need to be able to place the mousepointer relatively to screen,
so Absmouse without knowing the screen's resolution won't do for me.

I know that viewmode=Peek.w(ViewPort(0)+32) , but what I don't know
(and can't test with my A3000) is what this gives in AGA machines
in different resolutions.

Or is there a better way to find out the resolution of the screen ?

-Mikko


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 95 08:44:50 CET
From: Carsten Hardt <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: GoldEd

Simon wrote on 20.06.95

> On Mon, 19 Jun 1995, Pink wrote:
>
> > There has been a lot of talk on BlitzList about a replacement for TED,
> > and recently Falk Neider suggested using GoldEd.  I was personally quite
> > happy with TED, but after downloading the demo-version of GoldEd from
> > Aminet I think we're definitely missing out!  Below is a list of advantages
> > and disadvantages between GoldEd and TED, though it must be noted that
> > some of the GoldEd features would require a fair amount of work.
> >
> Well you'll be pleased to know that here at Acid it is Blitz week, and
> we are trying among other things to get GoldEd up and running with Blitz.
> (Don't tell Falk I think he might have a breakdown if he finally realises
> we are doing something at last...)
>
> Simon

Nice to hear that. Now I can hope that i can use my gfx-card with Blitz :-)


So long,
          Carsten



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 95 08:51:18 CET
From: Carsten Hardt <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: GoldEd/bbc100.lha

Du schriebst am 20.06.95

[...]

> I don't really understand why people have some many problems with TED.  I
> know he's a very basic text editor but I have got used to him over the
> past year.  Apart from his basicness, and lack of proper tabs :), he's

You don´t have a gfx-card, yes ?

> fine.  So why let Acid off the hook with GoldEd (which I never liked)
> when they should be enhancing TED?

Why reinvent the wheel. There are a mass good text editors and a compiler
version of Blitz should be installed very easily into them.

> bloody optimiser?!?!?!.  I looked at the code Blitz generates the other
> day - it could have been written by a 5 year old, it was messy and had
> loads of redundancy, e.g. moving a0 onto the stack and then pulling it
> straight back off again?!?!  You what?  Completely useless.  And any
> compiler than cannot optimise MOVE.l #0,d0 to a MOVEQ is pig useless when
> you want to write anything that goes at a decent speed.  And where are
> short branches???  Can these really be hard to put in?

Now you are right :-))

Code optimization is another important thing.

So long,
          Carsten



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 21:41:56 +0300
From: David Radke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: GoldEd

Hi Richard (Richard T. Elmore), in <[e-mail]> on Jun 21 you wrote:

> I really enjoy CUAmiga myself, though it seems heavily biased toward
> low-end machines... When I can find it, it costs me $20US an issue...
> (Must EVERYTHING be so expensive when it's imported?)

  Your getting ripped off.  The mag only costs $7.99US (look under the UPC
for the prices).  I only paid $10.99 Canadian for the June (ImageFX 1.5)
issue. :}
        David

...T-Shirt saying: I used to be an adult before I grew up.




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 95 21:03:13 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Blitz for PC?

Hi NIGEL, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Jun 21:

> > >     While I am here, are you thinking of doing a PC version of Blitz,
>
> So there will be a Blitz PC then? Good show.

I'd prefer a fully useable and bugfree version of Amiga-Blitz. You
should imho first concentrate on the "mother of all Blitz'" to get it
work right...

And, in fact, on the PC-Side they use Visual Basic and got a real good
thing with it so I don't believe you'll make that much money with it.
Or do you do it for crosscompiling your games? But: Does anyone want's
to code games on your amiga?

--
Philipp Lonke*http://www.rhein-main.de/documents/people/phips/index.htm
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 1995 14:34:49 +1000 (EST)
From: Brett Johansen <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: copper / AGA modes




    Hi,
        can anyone out there give me an example
    of how (wait for this one :-) ) to open an

        *interlaced* dual playfield mode display (AGA only)
    using the display lib?

    There is an example of opening an interlaced slice. (no use)

    and I know that this screen mode is possible !!! (AGA)

                I would probably be the first
            to make use of such a screen  mode :-)

        The theory being that I might have enough time
    when running my game on the 1200 AGA to have a small 256x320
    screen centred in a 640x512 display that is dual playfield?
         (well give it a go anyway  :() )

        - Umm I would like to get some examples of the
        RIcopper lib that were offered the other day
                    thanks

                Brett


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 1995 08:46:11 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: Blitzlist <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Returned mail: Host unknown

On Thu, 22 Jun 1995, Mail Delivery Subsystem wrote:

>    ----- Transcript of session follows -----
> 421 Host refugium.gun.de not found for mailer ddn.
> 550 <[e-mail]>... Host unknown

Can someone who's recently received a copy of my updated bbgtlib please
forward a version to the above address?


Thanx,
Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                          L E A D I N G   E D G E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+               Hang                 | Current project :                    +
+      [e-mail]        | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 95 12:55:20 CET
From: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: GoldEd

Reply to...
Studer Andreas 3132 ([e-mail])
Re: <RE: GoldEd>
Date: 19.06.95

Hi,

SA> > and recently Falk Neider suggested using GoldEd.  I was personally quite
SA>
SA> His name is Falk Nieder and i think he don't like the word "Neider" in his
SA> name... :-)
SA> ("Neider" means something completely different in german... :-)

thankyou Andy :-) But it's always the problem I have when talking with
english people, "ie" doesn't seem to be very common in english ...

[...]

SA> > o GoldEd needs 2.04 Dos, a hard disk, 1Mb+ of memory and recommends 3.0
SA> >   Dos and at least a 68020 CPU
SA>
SA> IMHO any programmer needs this configuration sooner or later.... :-)

If  we  (Acid)  can  program  a  stand  alone  compiler,  somebody (or Acid
themselves)  can  program  an  API  module (special format for GoldED) in C
which  can  still  be  used  as  an  CLI  compiler.  This API module can be
implented  in GoldED and can be controlled via GoldED. If you've just a CLI
compiler,  you'll  always  have  to  save  your  source, start the external
compiler etc. This take too much time of course. Another advantage ist that
via this (and GoldED) Blitz2 gets an ARexx interface :-)

If  somebody wants more information conc. these modules: In the GED archive
there's  a  directory  called 'API'. If more people are interested in it, I
can also post it to the list!

SA> > Falk suggested chucking TED away, but for many users the GoldEd option
SA> > just wouldn't work with their configuration.  We could however work on
SA> > this as an alternative for those people who are interested, assuming
SA> > ACID could either supply a CLI version of the compiler, or supply us with
SA> > some kind of direction as to how to go about it.
SA>
SA> Well, it gives also alternatives like MegaED (also in the Aminet and not
SA> Shareware). If Acid will release a CLI-Version, everybody can use the
SA> editor he like or the best editor for his configuration. TED is nice but if
SA> you ever used something like GoldED, you'll never switch back to TED.

You are both right, we must not forget the users who still don't have the
configuration. Besides: In Germany we chucked OS1.3 over one year ago. It
makes no sense supporting this anymore. A harddisk is already highly
recommended by us. An API (CLI version) would make it very easy to include
another, simple editor for people with less equipment.

A programer who really wants to program DOES have the configuration I'm
sure. Somebody who doesn't have the configuration doesn't need GoldED
'cause it's too prfoessional. These people should perhaps get a 'light'
editor (like TED). Okay, a little bit confused, but I hope you understand
what I mean :-)))


SA> Falk looks at the moment for a "special-version" only for Blitz with the
SA> programmer of GoldED. Maybe this will cost something. But it is worth
SA> every $, DM, SFr or whatever :-).

Just waiting for a report from Acid (back in business???????) what's
possible! For the programmer of GoldED it's no problem!


bye,


Falk (Nieder) :-)

--
Falk Nieder                        _          [e-mail]
                                _ //  [e-mail]
BlitzBasic Distribution Germany \X/   German BB2-BBS: [phone]

  Habe soviel über die schlimmen Auswirkungen von Essen, Trinken, Rauchen
     und Sex gelesen, daß ich beschlossen habe, das Lesen aufzugeben.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 95 20:30:00 CET
From: Sascha Ott <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Problem with Locale


Hallo blitz-list !



Hello !

The following sourcecode works perfekt under Kick 3.1. If i now have
a Workbench without the Locale feature, like the WB 2.04, nothing happens.

Here`s the source:
-----------------------------Schnipp-----------------------------------

DEFTYPE .Locale *myloc
DEFTYPE .Catalog *mycat



If OpenLibrary_ ("locale.library",38)
  bi$="deutsch"+Chr$(0)
  wtag$+Mkl$($80090001) +  Mkl$(&bi$)
  wtag$+ Mkl$(0) +Mkl$(0)
  *mycat=OpenCatalogA_ (0,"pgptogui.catalog",&wtag$)
  CloseCatalog_ (*mycat)
End If

a$="Default Text"

Print Peek$ (GetCatalogStr_(*mycat,2,&a$))

----------------------------Schnapp--------------------------------------

Even if i write "STOP" in the very first line, BB2 attemps to load the
locale.library. (Says Snoopdos)

I get crazy ! *Please* help me !!!

Many thanks....



        MfG,
                 Sascha

## CrossPoint v3.02 ##


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 95 23:48:03 GMT
From: Antony Iadarola <[e-mail]>
Reply to: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Golded. Blitz Config

    Hi u,
I've already written some handy Blitz utils (Written in REXX) for GED ,
    A Help button - When u press it useful info on the command
     currently under the cursor is displayed.
    A program that converts the output of 'MakeDefLibs'
     program to .DIC (Dictionary) file and also creates a
     Help data File.
    And A Message window program, which displays any text
     which is send to a REXX Port (This is used by the
     Help.) and could be used to display error messages when
     compiling a progy.

But I gave up with GED because I couldn't figure out how Acid had
 tokenised the commands and I had other things to do.

You lot can have my GED Blitz config (and all associated files)(athough
it is a bit naff).
 It's very easy to install, all u have to do is copy all files into a
 directory call GOLDED:MACRO/BLITZ and then run the program using
    'GED C="GOLDED:MACRO/BLITZ/BLITZ.Prefs"'.

    I can upload it to 'x2ftp.oulu.fi' if anybody wants.

    Regards
        Antony

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

\   /        .    Anthony Iadarola - [e-mail]
~~~~        |
|o o|--------J    A4000/WE40 @ 40 - 16Mb - 1Gb HD - MicroVitec
|   |        |
(O_O)\| |_(  |    IRC: MOOCOW
     cC_| cC_|
-----------------------------------------------------------






From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 10:52:43 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
To: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz for PC?



On Wed, 21 Jun 1995, Philipp Lonke wrote:

> Hi NIGEL, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Jun 21:
>
> > > >     While I am here, are you thinking of doing a PC version of Blitz,
> >
> > So there will be a Blitz PC then? Good show.
>
> I'd prefer a fully useable and bugfree version of Amiga-Blitz. You
> should imho first concentrate on the "mother of all Blitz'" to get it
> work right...
>
The bad news is that the author of Blitz2 is no longer part of Acid
Software, I am struggling to get new editor interface plus all bugs fixed
for bum8/ABC. After this I really can't see what should happen to BB...
The reality is the only people who have made money out of Blitz have been
the ones that wrote games with it (us included). Our emphasis is now
developing on many platforms (Amiga, Sega, Jaguar and PC at present)..

The mother of all Blitz for use is one that can generate code for many
machines, the mother of all Blitz for you is perhaps a bug free compiler
that works with GoldEd, you will be happy to know that your mother is top
priority for us at present:)

> And, in fact, on the PC-Side they use Visual Basic and got a real good
> thing with it so I don't believe you'll make that much money with it.
> Or do you do it for crosscompiling your games? But: Does anyone want's
> to code games on your amiga?

Game development on PC is still very difficult.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 1995 18:13:11 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: Sascha Ott <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Problem with Locale

On Thu, 22 Jun 1995, Sascha Ott wrote:
> The following sourcecode works perfekt under Kick 3.1. If i now have
> a Workbench without the Locale feature, like the WB 2.04, nothing happens.
> Here`s the source:
    {Source fragment ommited}
> Even if i write "STOP" in the very first line, BB2 attemps to load the
> locale.library. (Says Snoopdos)

Unfortuneately (at least in some cases) Blitz2 always tries to open *ALL*
libraries used in your program before your program gets a chance to run
at all-- and it will then close these libraries after the last line of
your code is completed...  There is only one workaround, and that is to
open the libraries yourself and call them (in assembly only) in a
function or subroutine...

If you need examples of doing this, e-mail me and I'll throw something
together... :)


    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 09:57:24 +0100
From: NIGEL HUGHES <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz for PC?

In message <[e-mail]>,
    Simon <[e-mail]> writes:
>
>
> On Wed, 21 Jun 1995, Philipp Lonke wrote:
>
> > Hi NIGEL, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Jun 21:
> >
> > > > >     While I am here, are you thinking of doing a PC version of Blit
> z,
> > >
> > > So there will be a Blitz PC then? Good show.
> >
> > I'd prefer a fully useable and bugfree version of Amiga-Blitz. You
> > should imho first concentrate on the "mother of all Blitz'" to get it
> > work right...
> >
> The bad news is that the author of Blitz2 is no longer part of Acid
> Software, I am struggling to get new editor interface plus all bugs fixed
> for bum8/ABC. After this I really can't see what should happen to BB...
> The reality is the only people who have made money out of Blitz have been
> the ones that wrote games with it (us included). Our emphasis is now
> developing on many platforms (Amiga, Sega, Jaguar and PC at present)..

I think it is the only way to go. I was just wondering how many people
have registered Blitz?

> The mother of all Blitz for use is one that can generate code for many
> machines, the mother of all Blitz for you is perhaps a bug free compiler
> that works with GoldEd, you will be happy to know that your mother is top
> priority for us at present:)

I kind of like your mother too, but I am looking forward to Phils as well 8)

> > And, in fact, on the PC-Side they use Visual Basic and got a real good
> > thing with it so I don't believe you'll make that much money with it.
> > Or do you do it for crosscompiling your games? But: Does anyone want's
> > to code games on your amiga?
>
> Game development on PC is still very difficult.

Visual Basic does not support any kind of games development it really
is only good for UI development.

PC games development is a little difficult, but I have managed to get the
basic game engine for Blitz Bombers up and running in 12 days. This is
from scratch, writing all the graphics primitives file handling the
lot, which is not bad considering I had never coded on a PC before.
It ain't that hard.

I think Blitz would go down a storm on the PC.

I can see why you are having trouble Simon, so what next? I presume this
is the end of Blitz on the Amiga, so why not pass on the code to another
company (maybe one of Hisofts developers could pickit up (for a price)).

Nigel Hughes



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:19 1995
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 11:43:04 +0200 (METDST)
From: Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer <[e-mail]>
To: Simon <[e-mail]>
Cc: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz for PC?


On Fri, 23 Jun 1995, Simon wrote:

> The bad news is that the author of Blitz2 is no longer part of Acid
> Software, I am struggling to get new editor interface plus all bugs fixed
> for bum8/ABC. After this I really can't see what should happen to BB...
> The reality is the only people who have made money out of Blitz have been
> the ones that wrote games with it (us included). Our emphasis is now
> developing on many platforms (Amiga, Sega, Jaguar and PC at present)..

You split up with Acid? I just began to like this company ... :) Are you
planning to run your own software-company? But who will take care of BB?
This language is getting more and more important on the Amiga, I think..
I simply cannot imagine that it does not pay anymore to develop that engine..

McGreg
-shocked-

Internet: [e-mail]


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 95 12:40:59 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz for PC?

Hi Tony, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Jun 23:

> I paid IRstlg70 for my copy of Blitz Basic II from Games Zone, Dublin
> about a year ago.  Somebody made money from that sale!!!
> I'll be pretty pissed-off if Blitz bites the dust through lack of support effort!
> I even subscribed to Bum.  How can they say that Blitz is not
> profitable?

I think you (or me?) didn't understand Simon well... He said the
developper of BB2 (it's Mark Silby, isn't it? Does he earns more many
at BlackMagic? ;) hast left Acid. Simon overtook his duties. Blitz is
not going to die but to become more professional and multi-platformed
...



--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 95 01:55:24 CET
From: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz for PC?


Hi,

NH> I can see why you are having trouble Simon, so what next? I presume this
NH> is the end of Blitz on the Amiga, so why not pass on the code to another
NH> company (maybe one of Hisofts developers could pickit up (for a price)).

why  should this be the end for Blitz on the Amiga? Escom brings Amiga back
to  the computer world, so there's a biiiiig market for Blitz (they plan to
sell  150.000  Amigas  till end of the year). There's no other Basic on the
Amiga that can concure with Blitz, SAS/C is also dead, this is the chance.

[complaining on]

It's  no  wonder  that  Acid Software is unable to make money with it, just
look  at  their marketing behaviours. Bugs, bugs, bugs, instead of removing
them,  they  promise  us  the  moon, "only a few days etc." and program new
bugs  (Hi  Jurgen...).  Maybe  they  should  listen  to the bug reports and
suggestions  of  the  users, then they would be able to make Blitz the best
programming  language for the Amiga. How long did we suffer under TED, if I
haven't  bombarded  Simon  with  suggestions  and concepts for a new ED, he
would still swear on it. This is just one example.

[complaining off]

Blitz  has  so many excellent features and just some "simple" bugs, if Acid
Software  is  unable  to remove them, they have to sell it (I know somebody
who would buy it :-)). But don't sell it to HiSoft.....

Simon,  just  send  me the source of the compiler, and I will organize some
capable  programmers who develope everything we/you want. Implement GoldED,
LES  Debugger,  cool  userlibs, program an optimizer and have a look on the
few bugs in the existing libraries - where's the problem? Such a BlitzBasic
would let every PC user go green with envy.

Let's  see  what  the "blitz week" at Acid brings. Maybe it's my fault that
I'm still such an optimist after working three years "together" with Acid?


bye,

Falk



--
Falk Nieder                        _          [e-mail]
                                _ //  [e-mail]
BlitzBasic Distribution Germany \X/   German BB2-BBS: [phone]

The one call it text adventure, the others MS-DOS.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 09:53:28 +0100
From: NIGEL HUGHES <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz for PC?

In message <[e-mail]>,
    [e-mail] (Falk Nieder) writes:
>
> Hi,
>
> NH> I can see why you are having trouble Simon, so what next? I presume this
> NH> is the end of Blitz on the Amiga, so why not pass on the code to another
> NH> company (maybe one of Hisofts developers could pickit up (for a price)).
>
> why  should this be the end for Blitz on the Amiga? Escom brings Amiga back
> to  the computer world, so there's a biiiiig market for Blitz (they plan to
> sell  150.000  Amigas  till end of the year). There's no other Basic on the
> Amiga that can concure with Blitz, SAS/C is also dead, this is the chance.

I think maybe you misunderstand me. Blitz is a hell of a big project to keep
rolling with just one person. What I was suggesting was that if Simon
could not keep up with it, there would be people who could pick it up
and KEEP IT GOING! That's the main point, I agree Blitz could sweep the Amiga
scene.

> [complaining on]
>
> It's  no  wonder  that  Acid Software is unable to make money with it, just
> look  at  their marketing behaviours. Bugs, bugs, bugs, instead of removing
> them,  they  promise  us  the  moon, "only a few days etc." and program new
> bugs  (Hi  Jurgen...).  Maybe  they  should  listen  to the bug reports and
> suggestions  of  the  users, then they would be able to make Blitz the best
> programming  language for the Amiga. How long did we suffer under TED, if I
> haven't  bombarded  Simon  with  suggestions  and concepts for a new ED, he
> would still swear on it. This is just one example.
>
> [complaining off]

This is the real problem. LES has supplied Acid with a multitude of big fixes,
Gadtools, keyboard device etc, and I have yet to see Acid release them.
I sent Acid loadsastuff for BUM 8 ages ago. The BUMS don't always have to be
another Landmark for Blitz, they just need a few examples, a nice proggy and
some gossip!

> Blitz  has  so many excellent features and just some "simple" bugs, if Acid
> Software  is  unable  to remove them, they have to sell it (I know somebody
> who would buy it :-)). But don't sell it to HiSoft.....

It was just a suggestion to keep it alive IF Simon could not. I mean,
would you rather have no Blitz or Hisoft (insert name of better publisher
here)?

> Simon,  just  send  me the source of the compiler, and I will organize some
> capable  programmers who develope everything we/you want. Implement GoldED,
> LES  Debugger,  cool  userlibs, program an optimizer and have a look on the
> few bugs in the existing libraries - where's the problem? Such a BlitzBasic
> would let every PC user go green with envy.

Sounds great to me. I know LES would like to be involved in someway, I think
we have a proven track record as one of the most productive Blitz coding
groups.

I'm all for Blitz on the Amiga, I hope they both go from strength to strength,
I would like to be part of that effort.

> Let's  see  what  the "blitz week" at Acid brings. Maybe it's my fault that
> I'm still such an optimist after working three years "together" with Acid?

Well keep it up eh?

> bye,
>
> Falk

Take care Falk,

Nigel Hughes

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                 L E A D I N G   E D G E   S O F T W A R E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
            FUNdamental              | Current project : ShapeZ II Arexx    +
          [e-mail]           | [#############################:::::] +
  http://www.dcs.aber.ac.uk/~ngh94/  | 0%                100%+
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 95 13:54:58
From: "S. Flock" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: CIATrkrLib.lha

 RELEASE NOTICE:

 Since I didn't find enough people wanting to help test the Protracker routine I
fixed up (From Neil O'Rourke's source) I decided to upload it to Aminet in the
dev/misc directory as-is. (The routine has been tested and found working on four
machines as of now.)

 BUG NOTICE:

 After uploading, I noticed that _some_ modules don't care for the command
DecodeModule. (I fixed this problem in the LoadTrackerModule command, but didn't
think to check any included modules.) The problem has been fixed, and the new
version will be sent up shortly.)

 WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE:

 This version does NOT require the SetDMA command. (As a matter of fact, the SetDMA
command has been removed.) This is most meaningful to anyone who wants to use noise/
protracker modules in their programs and want it to work on other peoples machines.

 Steve

 __________________________________ ______________________________________
|                                  |                                      |
| S. Flock - Binary Assault        |    Current Project : Donkey Kong     |
| Code Mangler, Gfxian, etc.       |    % Complete : [OOOOOOOO..] 80%     |
|__________________________________|______________________________________|
       -> Also check out the newest Protracker Replay Library <-
       -> Available right now on the Aminet site nearest you! <-








From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 95 13:15:42 EDT
From: Lynn Jennings <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: bbc100.lha


The requests for bbc100.lha have been flooding in, but I think I have
responded to everyone who asked before the weekend.  If you don't have yours
yet, and you asked for one, write again, or...

It is also available from x2ftp.oulu.fi in (I think) /pub/amiga/prog/blitz
or will be shortly, when the administrator accepts it.

RE: cross-development via blitz:

This is a great idea.  You don't have to like PCs to make money off people who
buy them (hey, that's how I pay the rent).

Question: Why did Infocom (before they died) make fistfuls of money?
Answer:   Their stuff was available for just about anything ever made
          (and still is).  Why?  Their games were written in a pseudo-
          assembler code.  They simply wrote one "Z-Machine" (interpreter
          engine) for each computer, and then any of their games was
          directly compatible (put it on a disk with the interpreter
          and away you go, no conversion of any kind).  They did _not_
          go out of business because they didn't make money.

Of course this is much more complicated when you leave the text adventure
genre, but the idea is there.

And about pirates on the pc: yes they are out there, but so is everyone else,
and here's the trick:

The pc market is easily more than 100x that of the Amiga market.  So for every
copy you sold  of an Amiga version, you would (very roughly) expect 100 copies
to be sold for the pc.  That's a very big difference in profits.

65% of software in the U.S. is in legal copies (compare 8% Japan, 1% Thailand);
I'm pretty sure you can find several non-pirate copies of Excel (go to any big
business that isn't using Lotus).

Christopher Jennings
Enchanted Blade Associates



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 09:49:34 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
To: Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer <[e-mail]>
Cc: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz for PC?



On Mon, 26 Jun 1995, Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer wrote:

>
> On Sat, 24 Jun 1995, Philipp Lonke wrote:
>
> > Hi Tony, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Jun 23:
> >
> > > I paid IRstlg70 for my copy of Blitz Basic II from Games Zone, Dublin
> > > about a year ago.  Somebody made money from that sale!!!
> > > I'll be pretty pissed-off if Blitz bites the dust through lack of support effort!
> > > I even subscribed to Bum.  How can they say that Blitz is not
> > > profitable?
> >
Quite easy really, however I was NOT using it as an excuse. The author
Mark Sibly has done alright from it, I however with marketing,
production and support consider myself none the richer (none the poorer
either...)

> > I think you (or me?) didn't understand Simon well... He said the
> > developper of BB2 (it's Mark Silby, isn't it? Does he earns more many
> > at BlackMagic? ;) hast left Acid. Simon overtook his duties. Blitz is
> > not going to die but to become more professional and multi-platformed
> > ...

Mark has set up BlackMagic as we both needed our independence. The fact
that I seem to take credit for writing Blitz in many magazines being an
example. Gloom is one of the best games ever written for Amiga
technically and playability wise, it was obvious if Acid was to publish
then then Mark the author would not have got fair credit...

> That was what I objected to. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but Simon
> seems too pessimistic to me. If you cannot even use the Amiga for games,
> it's really the end :] !

Now don't get me wrong here either. I NEVER said we would stop supporting
Amiga. The fact is that working on other types of computers after 6 years
is very refreshing. It puts a few things into perspective especially
programming methodology etc. The fact that I now have a hell of a lot
more respect for C (not that I use or like it) is one such instance.

> I have even bought your Blitz-I, Simon - I don't know how good(bad) soft-
> ware-companies pay their programmers, but that is really not our fault -
> I think _they_ made enough money with Blitz-II.

Yes, we made enough money that we can drop all our other projects and
spend 18 months developing the next generation Blitz. Baaaah.



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 95 01:39:36
From: "S. Flock" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Bitmaps via Libraries?

 Is it possible to find out information about the currently used bitmap via slices? I want
to try writing a couple of gfx routines, but I need information..

 Like how to find out where the bitmap is stored in memory, etc.. Is this possible without
reading system registers?

Steve
 __________________________________ ______________________________________
|                                  |                                      |
| S. Flock - Binary Assault        |    Current Project : Donkey Kong     |
| Code Mangler, Gfxian, etc.       |    % Complete : [OOOOOOOO..] 80%     |
|__________________________________|______________________________________|
       -> Also check out the newest Protracker Replay Library <-
       -> Available right now on the Aminet site nearest you! <-




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 95 07:08:00 CET
From: Sascha Ott <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Problem with Locale


Hallo Richard !

Du meintest am 22.06.95 zum Thema "Re: Problem with Locale":

r> your code is completed...  There is only one workaround, and that is to
r> open the libraries yourself and call them (in assembly only) in a
r> function or subroutine...
r>
r> If you need examples of doing this, e-mail me and I'll throw something
r> together... :)

Oh yes please, that would be very nice !!!

Sascha

## CrossPoint v3.02 ##


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 00:43:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: "W.L. McGraw" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: 2 Cents Worth


Hey Simon, how about pushing for a deal with Escom to bundle Blitz/ABC
with the new Amigas. Since the Amiga needs to come back in a big way
this just might do it. With a lanuage like Blitz packed with the new
Amigas, many users would really get to see the power of their machines.
It would develope a larger user base for Blitz and enhance sales for Escom.









From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 12:38:52 +0200 (METDST)
From: Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer <[e-mail]>
To: Simon <[e-mail]>
Cc: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz for PC?


On Tue, 27 Jun 1995, Simon wrote:

>
>
> On Mon, 26 Jun 1995, Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer wrote:
>
> >
> > On Sat, 24 Jun 1995, Philipp Lonke wrote:
> > > > >And so on...
...just look up the old mails - that's propably the easiest way!

> Quite easy really, however I was NOT using it as an excuse. The author
> Mark Sibly has done alright from it, I however with marketing,
> production and support consider myself none the richer (none the poorer
> either...)
>
Sorry, I interpretated that wrongly and want to apologize to you,
Simon, for a quite emotional mail. ;)

> Mark has set up BlackMagic as we both needed our independence. The fact
> that I seem to take credit for writing Blitz in many magazines being an
> example. Gloom is one of the best games ever written for Amiga
> technically and playability wise, it was obvious if Acid was to publish
> then then Mark the author would not have got fair credit...
>
That's right. Also with Gloom - really a hit! It's the hardest of the Doom-
clones I saw (AlienBreed3D, Fears).

> > That was what I objected to. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but Simon
> > seems too pessimistic to me. If you cannot even use the Amiga for games,
> > it's really the end :] !
>
> Now don't get me wrong here either. I NEVER said we would stop supporting
> Amiga. The fact is that working on other types of computers after 6 years
> is very refreshing. It puts a few things into perspective especially
> programming methodology etc. The fact that I now have a hell of a lot
> more respect for C (not that I use or like it) is one such instance.
>
Wasn't the Commodore-saga refreshing enough? ;)
However, I have a lot of respect for C, knowing that the Amiga's OS was made
with it. It's only that the source always looks like blasted spaghetti...
Besides, I will be able (/forced) to use it soon (university).

> > I have even bought your Blitz-I, Simon - I don't know how good(bad) soft-
> > ware-companies pay their programmers, but that is really not our fault -
> > I think _they_ made enough money with Blitz-II.
>
> Yes, we made enough money that we can drop all our other projects and
> spend 18 months developing the next generation Blitz. Baaaah.
>
Don't get me wrong: at the time Blitz-I was released, it was unbeatable both
in power and easiness of use. (I had been looking for such a package for
years!) - and I dare say that for every BlitzI-Fan these 18 months were as
hard as for you...;)

Now then, I hope your plans will help the idea of Blitz come true!


McGreg
InterNet: [e-mail]


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 12:52:36 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: Blitzlist <[e-mail]>
Subject: Thoughts...

Seems like this Blitz<>Amiga<>PC thing is being talked about a lot so I
thought I'd throw some stuff in myself...

The way I see it, the Amiga market, whilst being small, is still worth
supporting - but it cannot support all the software houses that were
hanging onto it.  Thus recently loads have left, or moved to
concentrating on other platforms - this is to be expected, they are after
all businesses.  It doesn't mean that the Amiga market is gonna fall dead
overnight - forgive me if I'm being naive or over-optimistic about all
this...

Simon Armstrong has recently put further work on Blitz in question - Mark
Sibly leaving Acid is obviously gonna effect it.  Also the fact that Acid
are a commercial company and need to make money out of their products is
a key factor - just how much money is there to be made out of Blitz
compared to a good game?  I wonder how well sales of Blitz II compared to
sales of big games.

I'm not saying that Blitz should be abandoned - but something does need
to be done if its to be considered to be a friendly and powerful language
that is being supported by its creaters and users.  In the past Steve
Matty and I have helped with support for Blitz in our own way and will
probably continue to do so.  The question is, what are Acid gonna do with
it?  It maybe possible that Simon would like to 'contract out' Blitz
development - in which case we'd certainly be interested...

I did notice in a recent letter from Simon Armstrong that he came across
as being rather consilatory towards people on the Blitzlist.  I can
understand him wanting to support other platforms (we ourselves are
branching out to support PC in an initially limited way) but how about a
little movement on the Amiga front?  I think we could all use some after
that Commodore fiasco.


Steve Mc.



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 09:44:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tom Kruk <[e-mail]>
To: NIGEL HUGHES <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz for PC?



On Mon, 26 Jun 1995, NIGEL HUGHES wrote:

> In message <[e-mail]>,
>     [e-mail] (Falk Nieder) writes:
> >
> > Hi,
>
NH> This is the real problem. LES has supplied Acid with a multitude of
NH> big fixes,
NH> Gadtools, keyboard device etc, and I have yet to see Acid release them.
NH> I sent Acid loadsastuff for BUM 8 ages ago. The BUMS don't always have
NH> to be another Landmark for Blitz, they just need a few examples, a
NH> nice proggy and some gossip!

Stay tuned. We are about to change that and bring a more positive twist
on things. For more info Email me (Tom) or Richard T. Elmore.

                            Tom Kruk
                            [e-mail]
                            HeadSoft/Everware



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 15:37:41 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: Blitzlist <[e-mail]>
Subject: LES

On Tue, 27 Jun 1995, Studer Andreas 3132 wrote:

> Are you a member of LES?
>
> You should talk with your LES head of group Nigel (is he?) about that...
>
> (just a hot hint for you... :-)

Steve Matty and I are the bloody founders on LES :) - we wrote between
us the RILibs and personally wrote the LES debugger...  Thank you very much.


Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                          L E A D I N G   E D G E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+               Hang                 | Current project :                    +
+      [e-mail]        | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 00:36:19 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: What after ABC ?

Forwarded message:

> From: NIGEL HUGHES <[e-mail]>
[cutted]
>
> I think maybe you misunderstand me. Blitz is a hell of a big project to keep
> rolling with just one person. What I was suggesting was that if Simon
> could not keep up with it, there would be people who could pick it up
> and KEEP IT GOING! That's the main point, I agree Blitz could sweep the Amiga
> scene.

I think exactly the same.

> > Blitz  has  so many excellent features and just some "simple" bugs, if Acid
> > Software  is  unable  to remove them, they have to sell it (I know somebody
> > who would buy it :-)). But don't sell it to HiSoft.....
>
> It was just a suggestion to keep it alive IF Simon could not. I mean,
> would you rather have no Blitz or Hisoft (insert name of better publisher
> here)?

Here it comes: Amiga Ltdh (?). I know this is kind of daydream, as they can't be
that clever, can they ?  If I was in the head of Amiga Ltdh, I would make
everything possible to push developing of development environments.
Blitz is surely one of the programming languages with most potential.
I would make Blitz & the source pd, and pay little something for all good
enchancements for it (new libraries, frontends, utilities and so on).
I really think this would be great in the long run for the company.

But how to get them to realize that ?

-Mikko


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 10:55:40 +0100
From: NIGEL HUGHES <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: New CIA Protracker lib uploaded to Aminet


This mail is no behalf of S Flock who is having trouble getting stuff on to
this list 8)

The new version probably won't appear for a day or two, but it will be
in /dev/misc

Any questions please direct them towards [e-mail].

Cheers now

Nigel


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 15:45:20 +0300
From: "M.Carter" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]

I'd like to my conribution to the ongoing Ted debate.

I think it is basically okay, as it includes an ability to highlight
text, and tells you the cursor position. I have changed the prefs so
that the background text appears in black. This makes things much more
readable. What I can't do, however, is change the colour of highligthed
text. It appears in white, and is very difficult to read.

I, myself, think it could do with a few tweaks- but on the whole, it's okay.
It's a lot more useful than some of the text editors that I've tried that
are out on Public Domain - and I don't have to send off a registration fee.

Has anyone thought of doing a Public Domain version of Basic - like Blitz
Basic, only better? (i.e. without the bugs, and with more logical features).
And including the source code - e.g. made from lex and yacc?

Has anyone thought of doing a user magazine for Blitz? - like BUM, only for
free, and one that actually does make an appearance every so often?



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 95 23:26:37 CET
From: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: 2 Cents Worth

Reply to...
W.L. McGraw ([e-mail])
Re: <2 Cents Worth>
Date: 27.06.95

Hi,

WM> Hey Simon, how about pushing for a deal with Escom to bundle Blitz/ABC
WM> with the new Amigas. Since the Amiga needs to come back in a big way

I've already contacted Escom (Germany), don't know if Simon has any
interest? Hey Simon, give me a sign, could be a cool deal!



bye,


Falk


--
Falk Nieder                        _          [e-mail]
                                _ //  [e-mail]
BlitzBasic Distribution Germany \X/   German BB2-BBS: [phone]

FATAL ERROR 302: INTEL INSIDE


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 95 00:46:33 CET
From: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: bbc100.lha

Hallo Gregor,
Du schriebst am 27.06.95 zu "Re: bbc100.lha"


GB> > And about pirates on the pc: yes they are out there, but so is everyone else,
GB> > and here's the trick:
GB> >
GB> > The pc market is easily more than 100x that of the Amiga market.  So for every
GB> > copy you sold  of an Amiga version, you would (very roughly) expect 100 copies
GB> > to be sold for the pc.  That's a very big difference in profits.
GB> >
GB> However, there is much more competition out there...

the problem conc. Blitz is in my opinion, that most of the PC users do
_use_ programs and do not develope programs. Yes, the market is much
bigger, but not for programing languages. PCs are in every office, nearly
everybody has got one at home, but for their purposes QBasic is enough, and
if they want to develop with a "real language", they use Visual Basic or
C++ (was it from MS?). Blitz wouldn't have a chance. But on the Amiga
market there

a) are more "freaks"

b) is only BlitzBasic ;-)

So BlitzPC isn't a good idea I think.

bye,


Falk


--
Falk Nieder                        _          [e-mail]
                                _ //  [e-mail]
BlitzBasic Distribution Germany \X/   German BB2-BBS: [phone]

Produkte erscheinen immer nach dem angekündigten Erscheinungstermin,
        frühestens jedoch sechs Monate nach der Ankündigung.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 95 01:17:21 CET
From: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Money with Blitz2

Hi,

it's obvious that Acid Software isn't able to make any money with Blitz2 if
they don't produce any. There's still a great demand for it, even for V1.9.
But  Acid  hasn't shipped any for about 9 months (correct me if I'm wrong),
where should the money come from?


The normal way for a software company should be (as I believe):

A  software  product  is developed and sold. It gets a good reputation, but
there are still some bugs in it.

The  company  develops  a  new, better version. a) The user can upgrade (by
_buying_ an update) b) The users, who haven't bought it yet due to its bugs
do  now  buy it. c) Others buy it 'cause it has new, cool features d) don't
forget the guys who will change from other products (here: A*OS)

In  this  circulation  the  company must earn money, if they don't, there's
something going wrong...

During  this  whole  time,  there arises new demand with every new computer
sold. (This situation will start in September again.)


Please please please Simon & Mark, update Blitz2, produce new units and the
rest will work by itself I'm sure.


hoping,


Falk


--
Falk Nieder                        _          [e-mail]
                                _ //  [e-mail]
BlitzBasic Distribution Germany \X/   German BB2-BBS: [phone]

Woran erkennt man, dass ein Fax von einer Blondine zugeschickt wurde?
An der Briefmarke.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 10:16:40 +0100 (BST)
From: Marky B <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: ABC

In this month's CU Amiga there is one of those damn annoying inserts
advertising one of those software clubs - you know, the ones that you get
a magazine from every months or so and you have to buy x programs from
each magazine.

I was just scouring it just to see what was available, as they are often
a few months behind the new releases, and there in all it's glory was
Acid Blitz Compiler. So, can someone tell me EXACTLY what the situation
with ABC is please? (ie. when/is it released and what does it consist of).

Cheers

*******************************************************************************
*                                   |                                         *
* Mark Baxter                       |  "Life is like a joss stick             *
* Dept. Maths and Stats             |    - it stinks and then it's over."     *
* Birmingham University, UK         |         Red Dwarf Book One              *
*                                   |                                         *
*******************************************************************************
*                  http://phymat.bham.ac.uk/BaxterMA                          *
*      For Blitz Basic 2 (Amiga), Ride and Diabetic related stuff             *
*******************************************************************************



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 13:37:38 +0300 (EET DST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Urgent !

The following is reply, which I got from Dr. Peter Kittel, one of
the bosses at Amiga Technologies GmbH.

Now I would like you all to give me some reasons, why they should
buy Blitz instead of concentrating on E or something else (ofcourse,
they could do both, who knows). I would also like to know, what you
think are the best examples of Blitz's power.

Simon, how large part of the games which you and Mark have written, are
written with Blitz (I mean, how much is Blitz % & how much assembler) ?
And would Blitz be for sale, if we can ensure Peter ?

-Mikko

ps. Please don't flood Dr. Kittel with messages, I guess he receives
already enough messages/day 8).

Forwarded message:
> From <@ganesha.ganesha.com:[e-mail]>  Thu Jun 29 12:52:53 1995
> Date: Wed, 28 Jun 95 11:35:08 MEZ
> Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
> Reply-To: [e-mail]
> From: [e-mail] (Dr. Peter Kittel)
> To: ganesha!cc.helsinki.fi!mmmakela
> Subject: Re: Not a whine
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>
> >I know that you have read dozens of times people telling
> >you how important it will be for the Amiga to have good
> >development systems.
>
> Sure.
>
> >But as I'm not sure that you have thought of my idea
> >concerning this very much, I feel like I have to try
> >to ensure you about it this one more time.
>
> Did you already write that to me? (Too little time to scan various
> MB of mail, sorry.) I remember something about Blitz Basic, but
> the rest never made it to my mind.
>
> >My idea: Amiga Gmbh could (should) by Blitz Basic or some
> >other as easy & powerfull programming language and release
> >it & it's source as pd. After that little payments would
> >be promised to anyone, who will add new enchansements to it
> >(new libraries, frontends, utilities and so on).
>
> Your idea is indeed brilliant. Now Blitz Basic is probably not the
> best to start with, but there could be other candidates, like Amiga E
> or others. I like it!
>
> >With this approach, Amiga would have killer development
> >system within one year & with very little money.
> >I'm sure about this, as I (as the admin of blitz-list)
> >have seen a little bunch of enthusiastic people to
> >enchance Blitz Basic to a new level within one year -
> >and without getting any money out of it.
>
> Uh, one moment. I thought Blitz Basic were a commercial product?
> Is it a PD effort? Or is it commercial but open for such easy
> enhancements? You recognize that I never used it...
>
> > There is much
> >more potential in these kind of "hobby" programmers than
> >one usually thinks.
>
> You're right.
>
> Best Regards, Dr. Peter Kittel       //
> Private Site in Frankfurt, Germany \X/  Email to: [e-mail]
> Now re-employed at Amiga Technologies GmbH in Bensheim, Germany
> Stay cool, not cold (Cool bleiben, nicht kalt); H. J. Friedrichs
>
>



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 17:46:13 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Urgent ! (fwd)

>
> Please don't post private messages like this into an official place like
> the Blitz-list. This was a private opinion of Dr. P. Kittel and it is very
> unfair from you, if you'll post this here.
>
Yes, I'm already sorry, I did that. It was because of my enthusiasm,
I certainly don't do that usually without asking from the sender.
But I doupt though, if Dr. Kittel would mind.

> If now alot of people flood them with messages, you can't stop it.
> This is Internet.

I know, I'm admin of this list, you remember ? I apologize once
again, that I broke netetiquette. But what's done is done.

> So please be patient. At the moment, we have other problems with Blitz
> than bundle it with new Amigas.

I wasn't talking about bundle. Read more carefully.

-Mikko

ps. Please, please, please don't flood Dr. Kittel with messages...
    flood me 8).


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 95 20:44:38 CET
From: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Golded. Blitz Config

Hallo Antony,
Du schriebst am 22.06.95 zu "Re: Golded. Blitz Config"


[... cool GED stuff ...]

AI>
AI>     I can upload it to 'x2ftp.oulu.fi' if anybody wants.

Please, as soon as possible ;-)

And forward it to Acid...


bye,

Falk


--
Falk Nieder                        _          [e-mail]
                                _ //  [e-mail]
BlitzBasic Distribution Germany \X/   German BB2-BBS: [phone]



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 95 23:05:05 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: your mail

Hi M.Carter, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Jun 28:

> Has anyone thought of doing a Public Domain version of Basic - like Blitz
> Basic, only better? (i.e. without the bugs, and with more logical features).
> And including the source code - e.g. made from lex and yacc?

There is already one: ACE Basic ... public domain with an own mailing
list for support.

--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 06:13:00 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: Sascha Ott <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Problem with Locale

On Tue, 27 Jun 1995, Sascha Ott wrote:
> r> your code is completed...  There is only one workaround, and that is to
> r> open the libraries yourself and call them (in assembly only) in a
> r> function or subroutine...
> r>
> r> If you need examples of doing this, e-mail me and I'll throw something
> r> together... :)

This is an example of calling exec library's FINDTASK() command
with a (name) argument of zero.  The information can be found in the
RKM's or in books such as "Mapping the Amiga."  This is completely from
my head, so I can't guarantee it'll work as-is, but it *should* be fine.


#_findtask=-$126  ;The offset to exec's findtask() function

Function.l getmytask{}
    UNLK A4          ;Needed for Blitz functions to work with ASM right...

    MOVE.l 4,A6   ;Exec library (at address 4) moved to A6 for lib calls
    MOVE.l #0,A1  ;Pointer to processname-- zero in this case means
                  ;the current program's process...
    JSR _findtask(A6) ;Branch to routine at offset from A6... (The lib
              ;call in this case.)

    RTS               ;Function return... Result -> D0 (which was the
                        ;returned value of this and most system calls.)S
End Function


    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 16:48:36 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Findscreen


How Blitz finds out, which screens it will try to free, when
program ends ? It seems, that if I use Findscreen to find
ShapezII's screen from another program, Blitz tries to free
that screen at the end, which causes guru. Because this doesn't
happen with fex. Term's screen, I thought that there migth
be some hack (and not so good one), how Blitz keeps track of
this - and which fails, when the screen belong's to another
program programmed with Blitz.

-Mikko

ps. I'm quite surprised there has been so little feedback
from those previous messages...


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:20 1995
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 11:25:16 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Findscreen

On Fri, 30 Jun 1995, Mikko Makela wrote:

>
> How Blitz finds out, which screens it will try to free, when
> program ends ? It seems, that if I use Findscreen to find
> ShapezII's screen from another program, Blitz tries to free
> that screen at the end, which causes guru. Because this doesn't
> happen with fex. Term's screen, I thought that there migth
> be some hack (and not so good one), how Blitz keeps track of
> this - and which fails, when the screen belong's to another
> program programmed with Blitz.
>
> -Mikko
>
> ps. I'm quite surprised there has been so little feedback
> from those previous messages...
>


All screens *CREATED* (not found) by Blitz's screen library use a UserID
value equal to the characters "BlTz" to identify which were created by
the blitz program.  At the program end, Blitz will search the list of
screen objects either FindScreen'ed, or opened:  Those that have this
special UserID are CloseScreen'ed and those that don't are just
"forgotten."

This means that programs written in Blitz can FindScreen other program's
screens and not close them on exit, but if the found screen is that of
another program compiled in BB2, it *will* try to close it.

I'm now in the process of re-writing the screen library to help cope with
this, as well as use more efficient (2.x and above) means to grab
workbench, etc. and possibly support public screen creation too.


    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 11:28:40 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Findscreen

Ooops-- forgot to offer my suggestion to work around the screen-closing
problem in the last message:  The easiest (legal too, as hackish as it
seems) way would be to:

Use NewZap, FileX etc. to modify the blitz executeable in question--
Search and replace all occurences of the "BlTz" string with another
4-char string of your choice-- just make sure you use the same string
throughout... (You could use your own initials or something.)

    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Sat, 1 Jul 95 3:12:00 EDT
From: Lynn Jennings <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Findscreen


> How Blitz finds out, which screens it will try to free, when
> program ends ? It seems, that if I use Findscreen to find
> ShapezII's screen from another program, Blitz tries to free
> that screen at the end, which causes guru. Because this doesn't
> happen with fex. Term's screen, I thought that there migth
> be some hack (and not so good one), how Blitz keeps track of
> this - and which fails, when the screen belong's to another
> program programmed with Blitz.

Odd as it sounds I'm pleased to hear that this bug actually exists!

I've used FindScreen once or twice like this, and knowing how Blitz tends to
be, I programmed around it without even testing if it ever did this or not!

The screen object is (if I recall) simply a pointer to an Intuition screen.
(I wondered that the object wasn't bigger, so that they could keep track of
exactly the thing we're talking about: i.e. who owns the screen, Blitz or
someone else, but maybe they use the user data field of the screen structure
(which might explain why Blitz sometimes gets tricked) or something equally
bizzare.).

Anyway, you _should_ be able to stop it from doing it by changing the address in
the object to zero, i.e. Poke.l Addr Screen(scrn_num), 0 (or something
similar), so that it points to NULL instead of a real screen.

However, for anything more than a hack or utility for yourself, you should
probably be using public screens -- otherwise, suppose the user quits the
program you're using (closing the screen) and you either (a) still have an
open window on it [could get real ugly, real fast] or (b) try to use the
screen after it doens't exist [see previous comment].

Hope this helps.

Christopher Jennings
Enchanted Blade Associates


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Sat, 1 Jul 95 14:51:24 GMT
From: paul_burford <@metnet.demon.co.uk:[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: OpenWindow()

  Can someone please give me an example of opening a simple window using the
  OS command OpenWindow() as opposed to Blitz's Window command.

  I have a number of reasons for wanting to do this, curiosity being one.

Bye for now.

~Paul~



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Sat, 1 Jul 95 15:27:00 CET
From: Sascha Ott <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Problem with Locale


Hello !

r> This is an example of calling exec library's FINDTASK() command
r> with a (name) argument of zero.  The information can be found in the

[...AssCode deleted...]

Thanks Richard, but it`s to hard for me to code those stuff in
*Assembler*.
I apprehend the only chance to manage the problem, is to spread my program
only to user which have at least Kick 2.1. :-( But there is a second
chance, called "Falk Nieder" (can you hear me Falk ? ;-) Better next time
we "talk" in german ;-)) He told me, that Simon wrote, he knows something
called "FDConverter 2.0" which can solve my prob.

Ok... Thanks and bye...




 MfG,
     Sascha

## CrossPoint v3.02 ##


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 05:46:46 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: Lynn Jennings <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Findscreen

On Sat, 1 Jul 1995, Lynn Jennings wrote:
> The screen object is (if I recall) simply a pointer to an Intuition screen.
> (I wondered that the object wasn't bigger, so that they could keep track of
> exactly the thing we're talking about: i.e. who owns the screen, Blitz or
> someone else, but maybe they use the user data field of the screen structure
> (which might explain why Blitz sometimes gets tricked) or something equally
> bizzare.).

You were right in guessing this one... :)

> However, for anything more than a hack or utility for yourself, you should
> probably be using public screens -- otherwise, suppose the user quits the
> program you're using (closing the screen) and you either (a) still have an
> open window on it [could get real ugly, real fast] or (b) try to use the
> screen after it doens't exist [see previous comment].

Well, actually... In 2.x and above, you *can't* close a screen with
windows on it... (Blitz included!)  No crashes or anything, the
CloseScreen_ intuition function just returns FALSE and does nothing if a
window is still open on the screen in question....

However, Public Screens probably would be better, but they're a pain
to keep up with by yourself, though not impossible in BB2 even now using
ScreenTags...  I'm now working on a COMPATIBLE replacement for the
original screen library to handle some of these things automatically.  It
will feature Public Screen support as well.


    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 05:48:59 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: paul_burford <@metnet.demon.co.uk:[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: OpenWindow()

On Sat, 1 Jul 1995, paul_burford wrote:

>   Can someone please give me an example of opening a simple window using the
>   OS command OpenWindow() as opposed to Blitz's Window command.
>
>   I have a number of reasons for wanting to do this, curiosity being one.

You will find the OpenWindowTagList() function is a *LOT* easier to use,
which I'd recommend using.  It simply requires a taglist (see includes
and autodocs) and you can pass a null newwindow structure.

    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 21:21:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: Greg Siklos <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Console ?


 Hi all

    I've been trying to get the code from the "Coning Game" topic to
work but alas I have been unable to make it work for me. if anyone could
supply me with some working and documented code I'd appreciate it.


Thanks in advance !
Greg Siklos
[e-mail]





From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 1995 11:41:08 +1000 (EST)
From: Brett Johansen <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: fooling the blitteer?



    I think this question was asked last year.

    Anyway ,

        can I temporarily change the size of a shape
    by adjusting the shape structure.

    I want to do this for very large shapes in my game say 100 pixels
    wide. so I can move them on to the screen even though I only
    have 32pixel hidden buffer for normal size shapes? and then change
    the width back to 100 pixels as space allows :-)


    *Q2

        You cannot force NTSC into PAL can you?

    Currently I am making my game NTSC aware ! (I use PAL)
    So I'm making a smaller screen (no much smaller) to compensate
    but before I do this, I just want to see if its the only way?


            Brett

    ATOMHEAD 61% - the brainless shootemup


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 1995 10:44:33 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Findscreen

On Fri, 30 Jun 1995, Mikko Makela wrote:

> How Blitz finds out, which screens it will try to free, when
> program ends ? It seems, that if I use Findscreen to find
> ShapezII's screen from another program, Blitz tries to free
> that screen at the end, which causes guru. Because this doesn't
> happen with fex. Term's screen, I thought that there migth
> be some hack (and not so good one), how Blitz keeps track of
> this - and which fails, when the screen belong's to another
> program programmed with Blitz.

I think Blitz pokes the user data of the intuition screen structure with
the value bLTz (or something like that).  It then looks through all
screens it has initialised - checking for this value in the userdata.
ShapezII is written in blitz and so blitz running your program attempts
to free the screen because it sees the blitz identifier.  It would be
possible to change the screen library so that instead of using the
userdata field it has a flag to say whether or not the screen was created
via the Screen/ScreenTags command.


Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
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+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+               Hang                 | Current project :                    +
+      [e-mail]        | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+



From: JONNY (BEC) 01232 894383 <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <950703111320.20e0643f@bfsec>
Subject: modular programming
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Sender: [e-mail]
Precedence: bulk
X-Status:
Status: RO


hi..

wot is the best way to pass parameters between a c module and an
assembler module, and how do i pass a return value back from the
assembler module ?

an example may be the best for of help, ie write a calling c module
which passes 2 numbers to a function called add whihch adds them together
and returns the result .. ie the c prog would be..

number1= 10
number2= 20
printf( "%d\n",add(number1,number2)

the asm module would contain

add.l d0,d1
ie how do i pass in number1 as d0, number2 as d1, and read d1 from the c code
as the return value ?

and wot sort of extern definitions do i need to give etc ?

thanx, i hope it all makes sense
Jonny



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 1995 06:34:29 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: Brett Johansen <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: fooling the blitteer?

On Mon, 3 Jul 1995, Brett Johansen wrote:
>         You cannot force NTSC into PAL can you?

Try using the ForcePal/ForceNTSC commands from the ElmoreHardware
library-- They *should* work fine in Blitz mode...  Of course the user
needs a monitor or true PAL TV to see the display correctly.

You might be better off forcing the screenmode to NTSC (to get a
fullscreen image on PAL machines.)


    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 1995 12:22:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: Bradley Leffler <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Blitz Basic source!


  I'm looking for Blitz source code, and lots of it! Funny thing is, you
never know what to say in a lettler to an address you think might bounce!!

Bradley Leffler - [e-mail]  -  - -- -=-- -- - 2D/3D Graphic Artist
########### Visit The VORTEX!!! - http://www.widomaker.com/~vortex ###########
==============================================================================
=====--  -====-- -===- -  -  ______   -   -  --==- -- ---=====================
- -  Only   -  - -=- -  -    \____/    -    - - - -=- -- -==- - -=============
=-- - -  /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯\/¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\   -  - --=--===========
--  -   /  ¯¯¯¯\   \         \     \ /¯¯¯¯¯¯/ ¯¯¯¯\   \   -  - -==- --========
==-  -  \______/\__/_/\__/\__/_____/______/¯______/\__/ makes it possible!! -=
====-- -==-  -  -   - --  -  -=- ---   -     -  -  -=-  - -- -==- --==========
==============================================================================
====-  ---====- - GfxArts for Insane Software  - --- -====-- - -==- -=========
Amiga since 1989  -  - - --===-- -- - - Now running A1200MiniTower 030/10 megs
2D/3D Visual Art and animation / Image processing / Rendering with Imagine 3.0



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Tue, 04 Jul 1995 13:40:28 +0100
From: NIGEL HUGHES <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BlitzPC

In message <[e-mail]>,
    Jurgen Valks <[e-mail]> writes:
> #> > a) are more "freaks"
> #> >
> #> > b) is only BlitzBasic ;-)
> #> >
> #> > So BlitzPC isn't a good idea I think.
> #> >
> #> I agree with your opinion! The creativity of PC-users is only enough for
> #> cracking games... ALso, Blitz is quite an "exotic" language, and PC-users
> #> like the MAINstream. So, Blitz is a typical Amiga-product - bad marketing,
> #> but really nice and powerful ;)
>
> #> I agree with your opinion! The creativity of PC-users is only
> #> enough for
> #> cracking games... ALso, Blitz is quite an "exotic" language,and
> #> PC-users
> #> like the MAINstream. So, Blitz is a typical Amiga-product - bad
> #> marketing,
> #> but really nice and powerful ;)
> #>
>
> I disagree with that. When Eurpress launched their 'Amos for PC'
> idea, a lot of PC-Amiga uses where happy to hear it, but the dombo's
> made it run under Windows (you can't make a game under Windows!).

I basically agree, although you are quite wrong about Windows. I have
a doom clone the runs in my 1024x768 24 bit Windows screen which is
almost as fast as normal Doom II in DOS. Windows now has a load of stuff
to support game development.

I can't say much more but Windows is not the Sloth it used to be.

Still don't like it as an OS much, but you CAN do FAST games in Windows.

> I think when a Blitz version for PC will arrive, and it has some good
> marketing (don't put Simon on the job!) it will be a hit! Many people
> can't program in Pascal or C++, because it's to hard for them. The PC
> market is a few hunderd times bigger than the Amiga's market, it will
> be a success.

I agree completely.

PC owners are screaming for this kind of procduct, if Acid don't give it to
them, I will.

Nigel Hughes


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Tue, 04 Jul 1995 13:49:52 +0000
From: Jurgen Valks <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BlitzPC

#> > a) are more "freaks"
#> >
#> > b) is only BlitzBasic ;-)
#> >
#> > So BlitzPC isn't a good idea I think.
#> >
#> I agree with your opinion! The creativity of PC-users is only enough for
#> cracking games... ALso, Blitz is quite an "exotic" language, and PC-users
#> like the MAINstream. So, Blitz is a typical Amiga-product - bad marketing,
#> but really nice and powerful ;)

#> I agree with your opinion! The creativity of PC-users is only
#> enough for
#> cracking games... ALso, Blitz is quite an "exotic" language,and
#> PC-users
#> like the MAINstream. So, Blitz is a typical Amiga-product - bad
#> marketing,
#> but really nice and powerful ;)
#>

I disagree with that. When Eurpress launched their 'Amos for PC'
idea, a lot of PC-Amiga uses where happy to hear it, but the dombo's
made it run under Windows (you can't make a game under Windows!). I
think when a Blitz version for PC will arrive, and it has some good
marketing (don't put Simon on the job!) it will be a hit! Many people
can't program in Pascal or C++, because it's to hard for them. The PC
market is a few hunderd times bigger than the Amiga's market, it will
be a success.


Greetings from:

+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Jurgen Valks,                                              |
| Kerkeind 8a, 5293 AB, Gemonde                              |
| Tel: [phone]/14347 (home)  [phone] (work) |
|                                                            |
| Systems: DX-2, 4Mb, 210,170,540HD                          |
|          Pentium 90, 16Mb, 540, 1.2G HD                    |
|          running on Personal Netware 1.2                   |
+------------------------------------------------------------+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 95 15:14:41 GMT
From: Chris Russell <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BlitzPC

> I basically agree, although you are quite wrong about Windows. I have
> a doom clone the runs in my 1024x768 24 bit Windows screen which is
> almost as fast as normal Doom II in DOS. Windows now has a load of stuff
> to support game development.
>
> I can't say much more but Windows is not the Sloth it used to be.

    A friend of mine who has played with  the Beta-test version of Windows
'95 says Doom runs *very* quickly in it's own window .....

> Still don't like it as an OS much, but you CAN do FAST games in Windows.

    Especially if you have a 120Mhz Pentium under the bonnet :))

> > I think when a Blitz version for PC will arrive, and it has some good
> > marketing (don't put Simon on the job!) it will be a hit! Many people
> > can't program in Pascal or C++, because it's to hard for them. The PC
> > market is a few hunderd times bigger than the Amiga's market, it will
> > be a success.

    People can't or won't program in Pascal or C++ because the
support facilities and libraries for hi-quality graphics/sound
etc are either too hard to get hold of or just don't exist...
it's not a question of Pascal being too hard.
    I ditched the PC in favour of the A600 then 1200 some time
back because 'mig packages such as Blitz provide full and easy access
to system routines for graphics/sprite/bob/sound handling.
    Packages like Borland's C and C++ were OK if you wanted easy
file handling etc but totally and utterly crap if you wanted to
bash together a quick Space Invaders.... or Doom ;)

> PC owners are screaming for this kind of procduct, if Acid don't give
> it to them, I will.

    If Blitz and similar existed for the PC I would, in all
probability, invest huge amounts of cash in one with all speed (if
only to see my new kit become obselete in approx 6 weeks, unlike
my Amiga 1200 etc etc etc etc.... :)

    Nigel: Give it to the world! The first one in gets a huge sum
of cash out, IMHO.

Chris ...


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Tue, 04 Jul 1995 17:23:03 +0100
From: ngh94 <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BlitzPC

In message <[e-mail]>,
    [e-mail] (Studer Andreas 3132) writes:
> Hello,
>
> > I basically agree, although you are quite wrong about Windows. I have
> > a doom clone the runs in my 1024x768 24 bit Windows screen which is
> > almost as fast as normal Doom II in DOS. Windows now has a load of stuff
> > to support game development.
>
> That must be wrong.
> As long as you don't say Windows, that you MUST have 24-
> Bit, you haven't (similar like the Amiga on a Shell: one color: fast; CSh wit
> h
> 4 colors: slower...). If the game says: "Gimme 256 colors", they'll get 256
> colors, no matter, how many colors you have said them in Windows... else you
> have a 24-bit background, but i don't think, you have that.... :) You say onl
> y,
> how many colors they can have as MAXIMUM.

OK Andrew, I like you, but I don't takle this shit from anyone. I'm not quite sure
what you are getting at here. The game is in 256 colours but I run windows in a 24 bit
screen mode. So even though the game IS only in 256 colours it is still updating on
a 24 bit screen. Don't tell me this is not true, because I got the game from a cover-disk.
Lot's of people have it.

> Also: scaling on a PC is very fast and easy. It cost really not that much
> CPU-power to scale a 320*200-screen up to 1024*768.

The screen was not scaled.

> A Doom-clone with this resolution and without jittering needs alot of
> VRAM (rethink the 3-screen-buffering of Doom) and a very decent
> machine like a Pentium 120 or faster.

For a start I told you it was running in Windows. The buffers are held in normal
memory. Don't even think of flaming me, I KNOW this is how it is don. A lot of PC
games do this. And my machine is a Pentium 60Mhz.

I really f*cking hate people telling me that what I see running on my machine does
not exist.

> ...and this is not a standart-MPC at the moment.

OK a P60 is not standard (althogh at only 849 quid, it hardly costs the Earth)

> > I can't say much more but Windows is not the Sloth it used to be.
>
> If you'll make an OS-friendly game. you'll be surprised, how SLOOOOW
> your PC really is. (No, chunkydisplay aren't OS-friendly. How do you think,
> a PC-SVGA-card handle 24-bit? You would be surprised, how some SVGA-
> cards does handle that mode... :)

Yes I know, but it is running through WINDOWS. Some cards are very slow, mine is a simple
32bit Trident card. Don't tell me about PC cards, no I would not be suprised, I'm bloody
coding a game on them every day.

Most PC 24 bit cards for SVGA are chunky. Any slow down caused by cards not having a linear
addressing space can be avoided.

I just wish I could tell you all I know and what I am  going to be doing. You do not
know what you are talking about. Sorry Andrew, that's it. I don't suppose you
know what a windows GDW is do you? No, thought not.

> > Still don't like it as an OS much, but you CAN do FAST games in Windows.
>
> Well, you can do it like on the Amiga: dirty and incompatible.

Sure it WILL run SLOWER but not as SLOW as ____I____ thought. When I saw the
Doom game running, and then latyer became privvy to how it is done (with full
OS support) I was pleasently suprised.

> > PC owners are screaming for this kind of procduct, if Acid don't give it to
> > them, I will.
>
> No, they don't. As long as Blitz don't support optimizing-code, you can forge
> t
> to write fast 3D-programs, and you'll see in the future more and more only
> this kind of games.
> Blitz-Basic on Windows would be as funny as AMOS on the Amiga is.
> And for Windows-programms: use Visual Basic or Visual C++ (Visual Basic
> is very much EASYER to understand and Visual C++ is very comfortable and
> alot of Programmer SWEAR to this compiler).

These compilers are NOT for games. I'll stop right there before I explode. Don't
tell me what PC owners want and do not want. I read all their news groups, espcially
the programming ones, and they want an alternative to C whic provides built in
features to ease game development for new programmers and the like.

I did not mean it SHOULD run in windows, I just was pointing out it could and what
was about. I did not have you down as a blinkered Amiga owner.

> Well, i just wonder, that YOU have wrote this. I thought, you have PROGRAMMED
> the PC and so you should know a little bit more about the GFX-cards and so on
> there.

I DO know. You obviously don't.

> I'm a little bit surprised now... :)

Yeah? You find someone else how can master a new machine from scratch in 2 weeks and
then be offered work by a multi-million pound games company. Not many of us. You
want to be watching Leading Edge, we're going places.

I'll bring in the games name and the name of magazine I got it from for you tomorrow.
I will not have you say I'm talking shite, you can play the game on a PC and see
for yourself.
> cu
>
> Andrew

I'm going to presume you sent this mail in a fit of stupidity  because I do like
you normally. You've never come across as a complete prat before.

cu

Nigel


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 1995 15:02:28 +0930
From: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Serial port

does anyone know the CORRECT command to open the serial port?
I have tried all variations of openserial "serial.device",0,19200,69
Ihave tried this with () without"", my key board has dent in it from where I en bashing my head. HEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP! :<


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: 05 Jul 95 07:11:00 BST
From: Mr M L Funnell <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BlitzPC

>> I'm a little bit surprised now... :)

>Yeah? You find someone else how can master a new machine from scratch in 2
>week then be offered work by a multi-million pound games company. Not many
>of us. You want to be watching Leading Edge, we're going places.

Well, aren't you the hero?


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Wed, 05 Jul 1995 10:06:23 +0100
From: NIGEL HUGHES <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BlitzPC

In message <[e-mail]>,
    Mr M L Funnell <[e-mail]> writes:
> >> I'm a little bit surprised now... :)
>
> >Yeah? You find someone else how can master a new machine from scratch in 2
> >week then be offered work by a multi-million pound games company. Not many
> >of us. You want to be watching Leading Edge, we're going places.
>
> Well, aren't you the hero?

No not really. Just a hard-working chap who does not like being called
a liar. Nothing special.

Nigel Hughes



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 1995 18:45:49 +0000
From: Tony Byrne <[e-mail]>
To: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Serial port

> Date:          Wed, 5 Jul 1995 15:02:28 +0930
> From:          "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
> To:            [e-mail]
> Subject:       Serial port

> does anyone know the CORRECT command to open the serial port?
> I have tried all variations of openserial "serial.device",0,19200,69
> Ihave tried this with () without"", my key board has dent in it from where I en bashing my head. HEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP! :<
>

I know how you feel :-(  I discovered the *correct* syntax (as
opposed to the incorrect one in the manual) after weeks of searching.
Well here it is....

OpenSerial(device$, unit#, baud, io_serflags)

where device$ = serial.device or a replacement
unit# = the id of the port to access, for multi port serial cards I
assume.


Hope this helps


=============================================================================
Tony Byrne, Swords, County Dublin, Ireland.     <[e-mail]>
=============================================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 1995 11:51:49 +0930
From: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Serial port

Tony Byrne: Thanks for your answer BUT iI still cant get it to work !
I wrote: openserial("serial.device",0,19200,64)
Syntax Error was what I got back. DAMN. If I could indulge you, could you esend the actual command as you wuould write it ? Thanks again, I hope that in the future I will not be so slow at this :)
As I'm typing this in the unix shell i refuse to rewrite the other persons response.
I am trying to get AmiTCP working after which I will jion in the standard practices ;).


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 1995 15:05:20 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BlitzPC



On Tue, 4 Jul 1995, Jurgen Valks wrote:
>
> I disagree with that. When Eurpress launched their 'Amos for PC'
> idea, a lot of PC-Amiga uses where happy to hear it, but the dombo's
> made it run under Windows (you can't make a game under Windows!). I
> think when a Blitz version for PC will arrive, and it has some good
> marketing (don't put Simon on the job!) it will be a hit! Many people
> can't program in Pascal or C++, because it's to hard for them. The PC
> market is a few hunderd times bigger than the Amiga's market, it will
> be a success.
>
I disagree with this. Click and Play is a very very good product. It we
demonstarted to me by Francois himself. The idea like Amos is a program
for beginners that lets them easily learn the concepts behind game
design. Blitz has never and will never be suitable for beginners, the
fact that I never pushed it as such and ended up with thousands of users
who couldn't do anything with it might have made us more money but at the
expense of knowing thousands of Blitz packages were sitting around on
shelves never being used.

The idea was and still is to offer Blitz as a tool for profficient
programmers to develop market quality product. The fact that Asm is and
will be a more suitable tool for some is a fact of life. I don't see why
Steve etc. has to be rude about BB and it's deficiencies when it is plane
that asm is a more suitable tool for what he wants to be doing.

Hmm, sorry about this rant... it's just I like a lot of other blitz users
do not see BB as an end in itself, just a tool to develop our own ideas
and produce stuff that we can make a living from. I don't think Acid will
ever be in the business of making large bucks from selling development
languages, infact its more the fact that we like to share the tools we
use to get where we want to go with others for their benefit. In regards
to the PC it's more likelt that we will publish a large collection of
very good modules to go with Watcom which in regards to optimisation etc.
is mind blowing.



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 1995 15:11:02 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
To: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Serial port



On Thu, 6 Jul 1995, Jeffrey D. Fearn wrote:

> Tony Byrne: Thanks for your answer BUT iI still cant get it to work !
> I wrote: openserial("serial.device",0,19200,64)
> Syntax Error was what I got back. DAMN. If I could indulge you, could you esend the actual command as you wuould write it ? Thanks again, I hope that in the future I will not be so slow at this :)
> As I'm typing this in the unix shell i refuse to rewrite the other persons response.
> I am trying to get AmiTCP working after which I will jion in the standard practices ;).
>
If you use brackets then you are telling Blitz it is a function and hence
need a.l=openserial(....) leave off the brackets if you don't need to
check the result...


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 1995 08:44:41 GMT-1DFT
From: Jurgen Valks <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BlitzPC

# I disagree with this. Click and Play is a very very good product. It we
# demonstarted to me by Francois himself. The idea like Amos is a program
# for beginners that lets them easily learn the concepts behind game
# design. Blitz has never and will never be suitable for beginners, the
# fact that I never pushed it as such and ended up with thousands of users
# who couldn't do anything with it might have made us more money but at the
# expense of knowing thousands of Blitz packages were sitting around on
# shelves never being used.

That's true, Blitz is not for beginners, but you CAN learn it, look
at Amos. But when you look at Click & Play, I must say,
sorry..It's like the S.E.U.C.K. (Shoot Em Up Construction Kit) for
the Amiga, very limited. Maybe a Win95 Click & Play will be a hit
because Win95 is damn fast (graphics).

# The idea was and still is to offer Blitz as a tool for profficient
# programmers to develop market quality product. The fact that Asm is and
# will be a more suitable tool for some is a fact of life. I don't see why
# Steve etc. has to be rude about BB and it's deficiencies when it is plane
# that asm is a more suitable tool for what he wants to be doing.

I can see why Steve (and a lot of other guys) are pissed off, when
you create a programming language it may not contain bugs since
version 1.00. What would happend to a company like Borland do when
they say: Sorry guys, but our products are just a tool, go
programming in assembley...Sorry Simon, you're wrong at this point..

# Hmm, sorry about this rant... it's just I like a lot of other blitz users
# do not see BB as an end in itself, just a tool to develop our own ideas
# and produce stuff that we can make a living from. I don't think Acid will
# ever be in the business of making large bucks from selling development
# languages, infact its more the fact that we like to share the tools we
# use to get where we want to go with others for their benefit. In regards
# to the PC it's more likelt that we will publish a large collection of
# very good modules to go with Watcom which in regards to optimisation etc.
# is mind blowing.

I hope I will see some modules for Watcom (or is it Wadcom?)
soon.....I quit with the Amiga a few monts ago, I will return to the
Amiga platform when RISC Amiga's are available.

Cya!



Greetings from,

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
\  Jurgen Valks  email: [e-mail]                         /
/                                                                \
\  working at Hogeschool 's-Hertogenbosch (the Netherlands)      /
/                                                                \
\  Home adress:                                                  /
/  Kerkeind 8a, 5293 AB, Gemonde (NB), The Netherlands           \
\                                                                /
/  Systems:    486 DX-2, 4Mb, HD: 210, 170, 540                  \
\              Pentium 90, 16Mb, HD: 540, 1.2 Gig.               /
/  Phone work: [phone]                                  \
\        home: [phone]/14347                           /
/                                                                \
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 95 13:47:45
From: "S. Flock" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Well?


  Since I'm really curious about it working on other machines, has anyone used the protracker
 routine I sent to both Aminet and x2ftp?

  (I was thinking I'd see something by now.. Since there seemed to be so many that wanted
 a decent protracker player.)

 Steve
  __________________________________ ______________________________________
 |                                  |                                      |
 | S. Flock - Binary Assault        |    Current Project : Donkey Kong     |
 | Code Mangler, Gfxian, etc.       |    % Complete : [OOOOOOOO..] 80%     |
 |__________________________________|______________________________________|
        -> Also check out the newest Protracker Replay Library <-
        -> Available right now on the Aminet site nearest you! <-




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 1995 08:25:06 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Serial port

On Thu, 6 Jul 1995, Jeffrey D. Fearn wrote:

> Tony Byrne: Thanks for your answer BUT iI still cant get it to work !
> I wrote: openserial("serial.device",0,19200,64)
> Syntax Error was what I got back. DAMN. If I could indulge you, could you esend the actual command as you wuould write it ? Thanks again, I hope that in the future I will not be so slow at this :)
> As I'm typing this in the unix shell i refuse to rewrite the other persons response.
> I am trying to get AmiTCP working after which I will jion in the standard practices ;).

You may not realize it is a function... You would do something like this...

If OpenSerial("serial.device",0,19200,64)=0 Then End

It will return zero if the device couldn't be opened for some reason, or
non-zero if things went OK.


    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:21 1995
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 95 00:56:58
From: "S. Flock" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Well?

> >   Since I'm really curious about it working on other machines, has anyone used the protracker
> >  routine I sent to both Aminet and x2ftp?
>
> Yes I used it the very first day it was put on there and it still has the
> problem of missing notes!  I have an A1200 with 2MB fast ram and the timing
> problems still have that problem!  But I have remedied this problem of the
> music player by using the med routines, I was shown what you have to do to get
> them working perfectly on any machine (Basically the same triggering problem!).

 Eeh? You sure this is the routine I put there? (Check and see if SetDMA is still
a tokenised command. If it is, it is _NOT_ the one I put there.) Also make sure
that Neil's routine isn't there also, because they have the same lib number. (#57)
It could pose problems if both were present.

 (Since you're talking missing notes..) Also make sure you aren't using the commands
for modules that Blitz has. (I.e. LoadModule, etc.) There are different syntaxes
between the two. (And for a reason.)

> Sorry that this is so late, hey if you want to write a routine that will make
> every Blitz user happy, write a sample triggering routine that does not suck
> all the cpu (watch that bar go down) and triggers everytime(the blitz one has
> problems too!).  Can't figure it out, AM*S has the best replay routines I have
> seen around!

 I don't quite follow.. And since I HATE Am*s, I have no idea what you mean by sample
triggering. Go a little more indepth and maybe I can get an idea of what you mean.

> P.S Do you want to become a game tester?

 Sure.. What game?

Steve
 __________________________________ ______________________________________
|                                  |                                      |
| S. Flock - Binary Assault        |    Current Project : Donkey Kong     |
| Code Mangler, Gfxian, etc.       |    % Complete : [OOOOOOOO..] 80%     |
|__________________________________|______________________________________|
       -> Also check out the newest Protracker Replay Library <-
       -> Available right now on the Aminet site nearest you! <-




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 95 01:00:05
From: "S. Flock" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Well?

> I have download your CIATracker from Aminet about some time ago and still
> have not had a chance to try it.
>
> I have been real flat out with my overdue art assiment (it's due on the 10th)
> once I get that out of my face I will have a look at playing some modules.
>
> I have put your cool obj module into the user libs? (I think it when there)
> I just have to remake deflibs, then I'll let you know how I get on.

 Yup. Add it to the user libs and remake the deflibs file. (Make sure you remove
Neil's routine if you have it.. They are both the same lib number since I basically
started working off his source.

Steve

 PS: Check the docs and see if you've got version 1.01b.. The previous version has
     a bug in it.

 __________________________________ ______________________________________
|                                  |                                      |
| S. Flock - Binary Assault        |    Current Project : Donkey Kong     |
| Code Mangler, Gfxian, etc.       |    % Complete : [OOOOOOOO..] 80%     |
|__________________________________|______________________________________|
       -> Also check out the newest Protracker Replay Library <-
       -> Available right now on the Aminet site nearest you! <-




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 1995 11:23:47 +0930
From: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Thanks

Richard Elmore & Simon: A function.........Doh. Thanks for your answers btoh seem to
work fine happy happy joy joy :) Now my next question is..........
Is it possible to get the view mode param from the asl screen mode requester ?
I can get Height, width etc but I am using nested if statements to get the viewmode
messy and limited to hires and superhires (+interlace), i would like to be able to
support more modes without adding more bloody if statements ;)
Off of this subject and onto what seems a long winded debate on Amiga V Pc.
Well all I'v got to say is... Windows95 runs graphics fast on a Pentium...Der!
Tell me what does n't run fast on a Pentium ? Conjecture....WB3.1 would run bloody fast on a Pentium. If Utilities Unlimited can make a PC commpatable with the Motorola
chips why not the reverse ? Imagine an A4000 with a 100Mgz Pentium...mmmm.
Thats it thanks again Richard & Simon.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 1995 10:35:59 +0100 (BST)
From: J C Caulfield <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz List <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Well?

On Thu, 6 Jul 1995, S. Flock wrote:

>
>   Since I'm really curious about it working on other machines, has anyone used the protracker
>  routine I sent to both Aminet and x2ftp?
>
>   (I was thinking I'd see something by now.. Since there seemed to be so many that wanted
>  a decent protracker player.)
>
>  Steve

Yes, I tried it, but the LoadTrackerMod (or whatever it ws called) froze
my machine solid every time :(. Also, the Decode command tokenised into
the Stop command - wierd.

Cheers,

Chris.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 1995 11:15:41 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: Blitzlist <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: BlitzPC

Hello Simon & list readers,

On Thu, 6 Jul 1995, Simon wrote:

> The idea was and still is to offer Blitz as a tool for profficient
> programmers to develop market quality product. The fact that Asm is and
> will be a more suitable tool for some is a fact of life. I don't see why
> Steve etc. has to be rude about BB and it's deficiencies when it is plane
> that asm is a more suitable tool for what he wants to be doing.

Not sure if by 'Steve etc.' you include me (you probably do) so I'll
reply as if you did.

The reason why we are 'rude' about BB's deficiencies are:

        A) When we're polite and we get ignored.

        B) Some of the problems are incredibly annoying.

        C) I think BB should be growing and becoming better -
hence pointing out deficiencies should be good for Blitz.

Call me old fashioned but I like to see software supported.  I
understand that Acid are a small company and that there is obviously not
much money in writing Blitz - compared with a top selling game for
example.  But it'd be nice to think that Blitz was actually going
somewhere.  It seems like at the moment, apart from stuff produced as
user libraries by people like us, Blitz is stagnating.

> Hmm, sorry about this rant... it's just I like a lot of other blitz users
> do not see BB as an end in itself, just a tool to develop our own ideas
> and produce stuff that we can make a living from. I don't think Acid will
> ever be in the business of making large bucks from selling development
> languages, infact its more the fact that we like to share the tools we
> use to get where we want to go with others for their benefit.

I hope you don't get me wrong about all this - I do like using Blitz.
The only problem I have is the fact that support has been lacking.  I
could have understood this if you'd said at the beginning "This is just
something we use, use it yourselves if you like but don't coming running
to us with problems" but you didn't - if you make a commitment to support
something you should make an effort to do so.

I think a fair number of Blitz users probably share my opinion with this
(correct me if I'm wrong) - we'd like to see a little movement towards a
new Blitz.  We ourselves have offered to help improve Blitz - just so
that the problems get fixed but as usual there has been no reply to our
messages...  Maybe you could at least say yes or no out of politeness.


Thats all folks,
Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                          L E A D I N G   E D G E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+               Hang                 | Current project :                    +
+      [e-mail]        | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 95 13:30:07 +0200
From: Studer Andreas 3132 <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BlitzPC

Hello, Steve

> I think a fair number of Blitz users probably share my opinion with this
> (correct me if I'm wrong) - we'd like to see a little movement towards a

I agree with you. And i think too, before they will look to compeletely new
things like BlitzPC, Acid should "finish" first BB2 (i mean with "finish": better
support e.c.t.). Then, if that works good, they can look forward to other
great things. IMHO normal PC-users don't have the patience like we have
here with Acid.
(If we look back to the last year we can say that Amigans are veery much
patience-people... :)

bye

Andrew


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 1995 15:26:27 EST
From: MACIEJ GORNY <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: ABC, registered users, and U.S. support.

If ABC was going to be available free to registered users, I still
haven't found out if I am on registered users' list.

I purchased Blitz BASIC 2 in March 1994, and sent in $25 for BUM
subscription three months later,... and that was the end of it.

So, how can I find out if I am a registered user? I would really like
to resolve this situation.

Maciej

PS: Please, change my blitz-list subscription address to:
    [e-mail]


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 1995 14:21:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: "W.L. McGraw" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Blitz Future

I paid $100 US dollars for Blitz Basic II here in the States. This is
the most I have ever paid for any computer software. I am aware that
developement software can cost more than this but I live on a limited
income and I had to save up in order to buy Blitz. At $100 a pop it
seems that somebody made some money some where on Blitz. If you dance
to the music you got to pay the piper... the piper has been paid.

Hey if the guy who made Blitz duffed the money and ran over to the PC
side then thats life. Blitz Basic has the potential to be the best
programming language ever developed for a computer. That includes C,
C++, ASM, Pascal and Modula II. The concept of Blitz is unique to any
language I have seen. If it takes more money to support, develop and
expand Blitz to new platforms then I am all for it.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: 08 Jul 1995 01:25:08 +0200
From: Timo Suoranta <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: WaitPort_() ????

  For some reason, I want to open my very own Intuition
  -window all by myself using Intuition calls:

      WBStartup : NoCli : CloseEd : DEFTYPE .l

      USEPATH my_new_window.NewWindow
        \LeftEdge     =  50, 25
        \Width        = 150,100
        \DetailPen    =   1,  3
        \IDCMPFlags   = #IDCMP_CLOSEWINDOW
        \Flags        = #SMART_REFRESH | #WFLG_CLOSEGADGET
        \Title        = "MY WINDOW"
        \_Type        = #WBENCHSCREEN

      *my_window.Window = OpenWindow_( &my_new_window )
      If *my_window = 0 : End :EndIf

      Repeat
        WaitPort_( *my_window\UserPort )
        DisplayBeep_( *my_window\WScreen )
      Until Joyb(0)=3

      CloseWindow_( *my_window )
      End

  Why do I keep getting messages constanly although I just sit and
  wait?  There should be no other than CLOSEWINDOW -messages coming..
  I do have of course amigalibs.res as resident.



  Timo Suoranta
  Punkalaidun, Finland
  E-Mail: [e-mail]

* Offline Orbit 0.74a *


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: 08 Jul 1995 01:25:10 +0200
From: Timo Suoranta <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Latest Versions ???

  I currently have:

    - Blitz Basic Version 1.90
    - Ted Version 1.1
    - LES Blitz Debugger v1.21
    - BUMs 1-5, BUM 6 and BUM 7 (subscribed from UK)
    - variuos userlibs.

  I wanted to know:

    - If there is new versions available somewhere?
    - Where can I get them?
    - Is there BUM 8 out or coming soon?
    - Where should I send my stuff for next BUM?
    - How is it with Blitz3?
    - How many BUMs I should get with that subscription?
    - As a registered Blitz user, should/will I get posted
      offers / information about things mentioned about,
      without asking?
    - Is there a DECENT Blitz-related FTP-support somewhere?


  Timo Suoranta
  Punkalaidun, Finland
  E-Mail: [e-mail]

* Offline Orbit 0.74a *


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Sun, 9 Jul 95 14:09:12 GMT
From: Brian Skreeg <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BlitzPC (fwd)

Hi peeps,

> Call me old fashioned but I like to see software supported.  I
> understand that Acid are a small company and that there is obviously not
> much money in writing Blitz - compared with a top selling game for
> example.  But it'd be nice to think that Blitz was actually going
> somewhere.  It seems like at the moment, apart from stuff produced as
> user libraries by people like us, Blitz is stagnating.

If Blitz is stagnating it's because you can't buy it ANYWHERE. Where
the hell is ABC. I was ready to buy it back in March but after this wait
I'm now not so sure.


   Sig under construction due to MUI. Same as me wallet. :(



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 08:35:36 +0930
From: "Peter S. Giles" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: new kid on the block

hi everybody,

I'm fairly new to some of the ideas and concepts the blitz language covers and so i would appreciate any help you guys could give....
with  newtypes and transfering information in to lists the selecting an item from that list  to use with an array for example i have the information on a car


mazda
929
2 litre
then i want to add a brief description of about 3 80 characters lines

then the info on the next car will be on the list....i only want to have the cars name on the list but when it is selected i want to display all the rest...

I think if anyone can explain this in simple complete terms they must be a genius also i want to access this info from a file...i would prefer it to random access so it will load the info as it is selected and then forget it when the next car is selected


next week War and Peace.......

thanks






From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 95 01:04:48
From: "S. Flock" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: outputing the score?

>     Q1 **
>
>         In shootemup games what is the general method
>         for outputing the score ie(not printing it) but
>         using some sort of blit etc?
>
>             I ask this because printing is to slow
>         even if I only print when the score changes!
>
>         (I havent thought about this at all yet (-:)

 If you're talking ASM, the blitter is used. Printing shouldn't take up much cpu time..
Unless you're not double buffering the screen and have tons going on.


>
>     Q2 **
>
>         The maximin no# of shapes is 1024 ok.
>
>         Any chance of increasing this  to 2048 etc
>
>             not really is suppose. :(

 Dunno about this one. If a person REALLY needed that many shapes, it would be better
to load some of them from disk now and then.

>     Q3 **
>
>         In the RIshapelib umm...... it says if you have a
>         compressed RIshapes file you shouldn't cache it in
>         chip mem. How do you force a bank()/incbin to be in
>         chip mem?
>
>             If you have 2 banks of shapes and you
>         cludge one of them as shapes does it use the same
>         memory and just change the pointers (sortof)  in the shapes
>         array thingy?
>         And so can switch between these two banks for a set of
>         shapes when the need arises?
>
>             ie. shapes 0 - 100 can contain
>                 "baddies1.shapes"
>             or
>                 "baddies2.shapes"
>
>             by just cludging the banks when you need them

 Each set of shapes (i.e. "baddies1.shapes" and "baddies2.shapes") wouldn't use the
same memory if you IncBin'd them. By Decoding (or cludging) them, it changes blitz's
points to that/those parts of memory.

 It would be quite easy to switch between banks as long as you wanted the entire
bank. Switching to a few shapes from each would be a little more diffucult.

Steve

 __________________________________ ______________________________________
|                                  |                                      |
| S. Flock - Binary Assault        |    Current Project : Donkey Kong     |
| Code Mangler, Gfxian, etc.       |    % Complete : [OOOOOOOO..] 80%     |
|__________________________________|______________________________________|
       -> Also check out the newest Protracker Replay Library <-
       -> Available right now on the Aminet site nearest you! <-




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 15:20:49 +1000 (EST)
From: Brett Johansen <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: outputing the score?



    Hi again,

    Q1 **

        In shootemup games what is the general method
        for outputing the score ie(not printing it) but
        using some sort of blit etc?

            I ask this because printing is to slow
        even if I only print when the score changes!

        (I havent thought about this at all yet (-:)

    Q2 **

        The maximin no# of shapes is 1024 ok.

        Any chance of increasing this  to 2048 etc

            not really is suppose. :(

    Q3 **

        In the RIshapelib umm...... it says if you have a
        compressed RIshapes file you shouldn't cache it in
        chip mem. How do you force a bank()/incbin to be in
        chip mem?

            If you have 2 banks of shapes and you
        cludge one of them as shapes does it use the same
        memory and just change the pointers (sortof)  in the shapes
        array thingy?
        And so can switch between these two banks for a set of
        shapes when the need arises?

            ie. shapes 0 - 100 can contain
                "baddies1.shapes"
            or
                "baddies2.shapes"

            by just cludging the banks when you need them

                thanks
                    Brett


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 16:23:28 +0100
From: NIGEL HUGHES <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Last Orders at the Bar


Dear All,
    The latest version of ShapeZ is almost ready (am I too late Mikko?)
with quite a few additions and some bug fixes. The biggies are:

    o Arexx port
    o Tool Type Support
    o iHelp realtime help system

    If there is anything else you would like to be in the next version
please let me know REAL SOON.

    SIMON!!! Do you want a new version for the new Blitz????? Let me
know soon please.

    Nigel Hughes


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 95 17:24:02 +0200
From: Studer Andreas 3132 <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Latest Versions ???

Hello,

>   I currently have:
>
>     - Blitz Basic Version 1.90
>     - Ted Version 1.1
>     - LES Blitz Debugger v1.21
>     - BUMs 1-5, BUM 6 and BUM 7 (subscribed from UK)

You have the latest versions.
Maybe the LES-debugger will be updated in the near future.
(Steve? :)

>   I wanted to know:
>
>     - Is there BUM 8 out or coming soon?

Well, what does Acid say since a half year? "In the next
few weeks" ...

>     - Where should I send my stuff for next BUM?

Send it to Acid e.g. via Email: [e-mail]
but don't await any answer from there.

>     - How is it with Blitz3?

They should come in the same time when the new Amigas
will come and it is called ABC (Acid means that, not i).
But we will be happy if we can get BUM8 before... :(

>     - Is there a DECENT Blitz-related FTP-support somewhere?

Well, i know x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/amiga/prog/blitz
But i've heard something about another FTP-site....

bye

Andrew


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 95 19:55:42 EST
From: Phillip Eastham <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Getting graphics info.

Hi All,

This probably should go elsewhere, but I plan on using Blitz, so I'll ask
here!

I want to write a program that can retrieve the dimensions of as many
graphic image formats as possible. I don't want, or need, to display the
image, just retrieve the dimensions from the image.

Image formats I'd like to be able to get this info on are IFF, GIF, JPG,
PCX, MPG (If possible - Haven't looked closely at this one), BMP, TIFF, and
TGA.

Any help on any or all of these would be much appreciated.

-- Via DLG Pro v1.0

                    [e-mail]


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 23:49:46 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: "Peter S. Giles" <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: egs and blitz

On Tue, 11 Jul 1995, Peter S. Giles wrote:
> I have an A2000 with a 40mhz 030 and an egs card
> I am having problems with....
> blitz promoting to my egs board

I've got a Picasso II (2Meg) board on my 4000, and the problem happens
here as well-- the problem is TED is an intensive hardware-hitter for
text and scrolling, etc. so you will have to force Blitz to use an older
(compatible) screenmode until TED gets fixed or replaced...

Sadly, there isn't much you can do to get non-OS compliant programs to
work correctly on most graphic-board emulation software, no matter what
you do... With careful programming using the proper OS calls in place of
the Blitz-library commands that don't seem to work, you may have better
luck making graphics-board compliant applications yourself.  Now if only
I could use a 1600x1280 TED screen with a nice 20-point font!

> I want to know how to read what position the gtcycle gadget it at so
> I can do a gosub to the relavant code

You'll have to keep track of the value of EventCode at the time the
gadget is pressed and stick it in a variable... GadTools doesn't allow
you to read the value of this gadget prior to 3.x, and Blitz doesn't
handle it correctly even in 3.x.


    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 1995 11:19:53 +0930
From: "Peter S. Giles" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: egs and blitz

EGS and the wonderful world of blitz :)

I have an A2000 with a 40mhz 030 and an egs card
I am having problems with....
blitz promoting to my egs board
the debugger keeps crashing and/or won't go away when its told to
any blitting or graphics intensive coding causes a crash

if anyone out there can help or a least tell me that there is no hope
of fixing the problems I would appreciate it

ON PROGRAMMING

I want to know how to read what position the gtcycle gadget it at so
I can do a gosub to the relavant code
The manual doesn't explain the gadgets/lists/newtypes and how they interelate
with each other very well. (Well I can't grasp it anyway)

just a small idea...if everyone could write an explaination on their most understood
commands with examples of how they work together in blitz and mail it to this list I
would be willing to put it into an amigaguide or http or just plain ASCII format
as a kind of suppliment manual that could be released on one of the BUM's disks.
If simon is interested it might help him put together a manual the the average comsumer
can understand.

I think the lack of support for blitz and for the amiga in general is the fact the
too many people find it too hard to understand the advantages of using both
Amos has support for beginners intermediate and advanced users. The manual is the
entry level for any language. I'm not asking ACID to patronise the user but just
to consider the user.

Anyway thats my 2cents worth.

until next time.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 1995 17:05:56 +0930
From: "Peter S. Giles" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: programming again

how do you get the veiwmode from the aslrequester

and

hoe
how do you identifiy  which iten has been hit on a blitz listveiw gadget



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 1995 12:44:34 +0000
From: Colin Saunders <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: A Challenge!!


Dear All,

Hello everyone! I'm back on line now... having gone off-line before my
wedding at the end of May I didn't bother coming back until now.. soon
to start programming again.

However! There is now also a PC in my house.. before you say anything
it is NOT mine! .. and there is also one of those wizzo Windows/GDI
printers... but thats not really much good if you want to print from
an Amiga!

The question is:

    "Can you successfully use one of these printers on the Amiga?"

Okay.. so here are some details:

o   NEC SuperScript 610+, GDI Laser Printer.

o   Has PCL4 emulation (but I think this is done on the PC).

Does anyone know of some Drivers for this...?

Is anyone willing to try and write a Driver for this.. (brave!)?

    Thanks,

        colin.

*-------------------------------------------------*---------------------------*
|               Colin J. Saunders                 | CURRENT PROJECTS:         |
|   BSc Hons Computer Science,  Edinburgh 1994    |                           |
|                                                 | Graphics Manager:  100% B |
|            e-mail:  [e-mail]             | Cute Game:           5%   |
*-------------------------------------------------*---------------------------*


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 1995 16:58:49 +0000
From: Neil Miller <[e-mail]>
To: BLITZ Mailing List <[e-mail]>

Anybody know how to use boopsi gadgets in blitz?

Neil - TEX



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: 14 Jul 1995 02:52:38 +0200
From: Timo Suoranta <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (Re)Dim

  Does anybody know what happens if I use Dim in Statements or
  functions?  I guess it is not a very good idea?

  I ask for few little thing:

  How about a run-time-Dim?  Maybe I want to check out available
  memory before _possible_ dimming?  And what happens if there isn't
  enough memory for my Dim?  Dim should be a function, returning false
  if unsuccessfull!!  (as every other Blitz command...) And a function
  for removing Dims, please..

  And for the ABC, I also want some sophisticated variable
  transferring between functions.  I want that it is possible to send
  dimmed arrays to functions.  Even AmigaBasic supports this directly,
  but what about Acid...  ?

  I mean for example a function that would multiply two arrays and
  give an array as result:

  result_array() = my_multiply_func { array1(),array2() }

  And is there any 3d.lib for Blitz?  Coming?


  Timo Suoranta
  Punkalaidun, Finland
  E-Mail:  [e-mail]


* Offline Orbit 0.74a *


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: 14 Jul 1995 02:53:00 +0200
From: Timo Suoranta <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shapes Limit

  Somebody was worried about 1024-shapes-limit...

  SF>  Dunno about this one. If a person REALLY needed that
  SF>  many shapes, it would be better to load some of them
  SF>  from disk now and then.

  ...and so am I!

  I'm currently using

      328  - simple shapes
      390  - 6 groups of 65 shapes

      718  - Total shapes

  I _definitely_ need all of them at the same time.  There used to be
  8 of those 65-shape-groups.  There pretty sure will be at least 8 of
  them.  And the other day I was considering to double the amount of
  shapes used in groups...  That would make:

      328  - simple shapes
     1040  - 8 groups of 130 shapes

     1368  - Total shapes

  Am I in trouble?  Deep trouble?  So far can make it without doubling
  65 to 130, but I wanted to have at least 8 65-groups and still some
  more 'simple' shapes.  It is possible to cope with 1024 shapes, yes,
  but it will be tough...

  All of these shapes are pretty small; half of them 14x12, other half
  4x4.  I use only one Cookie for the bigger shapesize and another
  cookie for the smaller shapesize (hacking with blitz's pointers..) -
  Memory usage is 'reasonable' (with 4 bitplanes).

  My project BTW is a light multiplayer turn-by-turn strategygame.
  More about it later perhaps.


  Timo Suoranta
  Punkalaidun, Finland
  E-Mail:  [e-mail]


* Offline Orbit 0.74a *


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: 14 Jul 1995 02:53:38 +0200
From: Timo Suoranta <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (Un)signed values

  I have some serious trouble with (un)signed variables:


  NEWTYPE .coord
    x.b
    y.b
  End NEWTYPE

  Dim c.coord (10000)


  This takes some 20000 bytes memory.  I have choosen .b for x and y
  because maximum value for them might be up to 250.

  The real pain starts when I'm comparing coords.  No matter what I
  do, 128 and above is always considered less than 127 or less.

  I can solve the problem in two ways:  Using words, and wasting
  additional 20000 bytes, which _really_ isn't fair.  The other way
  is to use a sort of UnSign -function.  It takes byte parameter and
  returns word.  But that ain't fun either..

  PLEASE someone (Acid?????) fix this for me.

  How about REAL unsigned byte?
  Or 'more' and 'less' operators that do not care about signs?


  Timo Suoranta
  Punkalaidun, Finland
  E-Mail:  [e-mail]


* Offline Orbit 0.74a *


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: 14 Jul 1995 02:53:52 +0200
From: Timo Suoranta <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: BUM stuff

  Studer Andreas told me that..

  >> - Where should I send my stuff for next BUM?

  S3> Send it to Acid e.g.  via Email:  [e-mail]


  Thanks, but should I uucode or something by progs, or do they happen
  to have FTP where I could send them?  Wouldn't that be great?

  Or should I better send my progs for example to
  x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/amiga/prog/blitz ?
  And what would be the another FTP-site?

  UpLoading to FTP would support only those who have some kind of
  access there - including poor unregistered users.

  Sending stuff to Acid would make things (possibly) appear as part of
  fufure BUM.  But when?  And it would be accessible only to
  subscribers.

  What I've got is .bb2 versions of Minesweeper & Tetris, fully
  documented example sources and some general, practical hints.  And
  then there is a _nasty_ map-editor with sourcecode.

  Interested?  Where should I send them?  Choice is Yours, let me
  know.


  Timo Suoranta
  Punkalaidun, Finland
  E-Mail:  [e-mail]


* Offline Orbit 0.74a *


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 10:03:37 +0300 (EETDST)
From: "Ott M. Aaloe" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shapes Limit

>   them.  And the other day I was considering to double the amount of
>   shapes used in groups...  That would make:
>
>       328  - simple shapes
>      1040  - 8 groups of 130 shapes
>
>      1368  - Total shapes
>
>   Am I in trouble?  Deep trouble?  So far can make it without doubling
>   65 to 130, but I wanted to have at least 8 65-groups and still some
>   more 'simple' shapes.  It is possible to cope with 1024 shapes, yes,
>   but it will be tough...

I guess you are in trouble (perhaps even in deep one :) -  I had same
problem a year  ago and got the following reply from Acid then

>Date sent:      
Thu, 21 Jul 1994 00:32:27 +1200 (NZST)
>From:           
Acid Software <[e-mail]>
>Subject:        
Re: Shape problem
>To:             
"Ott M. Aaloe" <[e-mail]>
>Copies to:      
[e-mail]

>Wo how many shapes fo you waant, 2600????? Ummm no can do, I think
>calculation for objects is 32K/size of .object which for a shape I
>think is, hmmm, let me see... 32, so 1000 is the max.
>Best way around this if you are not after incredible speed and shapes
>are all one size is to lay them out on a big bitmap and use
>getashape when you need them or scroll to just plonk them down.

So thats it...only about 1000 shapes at a time...too bad :(



                                Ott M. Aaloe
                                [e-mail]
                                ** The Farm **


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 07:23:17 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: Timo Suoranta <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (Un)signed values

On 14 Jul 1995, Timo Suoranta wrote:
>   I can solve the problem in two ways:  Using words, and wasting
>   additional 20000 bytes, which _really_ isn't fair.  The other way
>   is to use a sort of UnSign -function.  It takes byte parameter and
>   returns word.  But that ain't fun either..

Until the signed/unsigned variables thing is taken care of, you won't
need an "UnSign" function as it is easy to convert already... Just AND
the byte with 255 to use it like an unsigned byte... Like this:

If (a.b&255)>250 Then Goto Blah

Words can be handled the same way by ANDing with 65535, like so:

If (a.w&65535)>57000 Then Goto Blah

    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 07:26:51 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Richard T. Elmore" <[e-mail]>
To: "Ott M. Aaloe" <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shapes Limit

On Fri, 14 Jul 1995, Ott M. Aaloe wrote:

> >Wo how many shapes fo you waant, 2600????? Ummm no can do, I think
> >calculation for objects is 32K/size of .object which for a shape I
> >think is, hmmm, let me see... 32, so 1000 is the max.
> >Best way around this if you are not after incredible speed and shapes
> >are all one size is to lay them out on a big bitmap and use
> >getashape when you need them or scroll to just plonk them down.
>
> So thats it...only about 1000 shapes at a time...too bad :(

You can always INCBIN 1000 shapes at a time in your program and use
DECODESHAPES when you need to use another group--- Though this would be
too slow to do real-time, I hope you don't need to be BLITting all these
shapes together...

    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |      Richard T. Elmore   -   "Head" of HeadSoft Software      |
    | E-MAIL: [e-mail]          TEL: [phone] |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 95 20:12:08
From: "S. Flock" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shapes Limit

Hi Dave,

> Then how did acid do Skidmarks 2, where you can have 8 different
> types of car on screen at once.  Each car has 800 different frames,
> so consequently, in memory, they have 6400 shapes.
>
> How did they get around it for this?

 This is just speculation on my part.. But Just because they have 6400 shapes doesn't
meaN that all of those shapes are in use at once. With that few shapes on screen, you
could free the old shapes and decode the new ones fast enough, I think.

 With a person having a ton of shapes for a project, you shouldn't try to have all of them
allocated at all times. The best thing would be to only keep allocated what you need.
Otherwise your wasting memory. (Considering that even tho the shapes might be in memory,
each one requires a pointer..)

Ah well.. It's all my opinion anyways.

Steve
 __________________________________ ______________________________________
|                                  |                                      |
| S. Flock - Binary Assault        |    Current Project : Donkey Kong     |
| Code Mangler, Gfxian, etc.       |    % Complete : [OOOOOOOO..] 80%     |
|__________________________________|______________________________________|
       -> Also check out the newest Protracker Replay Library <-
       -> Available right now on the Aminet site nearest you! <-




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 1995 12:12:06 +1000 (EST)
From: Dave Cole <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Shapes Limit

> >Wo how many shapes fo you waant, 2600????? Ummm no can do, I think
> >calculation for objects is 32K/size of .object which for a shape I
> >think is, hmmm, let me see... 32, so 1000 is the max.
> >Best way around this if you are not after incredible speed and shapes
> >are all one size is to lay them out on a big bitmap and use
> >getashape when you need them or scroll to just plonk them down.
>
> So thats it...only about 1000 shapes at a time...too bad :(

Then how did acid do Skidmarks 2, where you can have 8 different
types of car on screen at once.  Each car has 800 different frames,
so consequently, in memory, they have 6400 shapes.

How did they get around it for this?

Dave

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Cole  |  [e-mail]  | Please contact for info
           |                                  | about
           |  [e-mail]   | The Warhammer Compendium


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 1995 17:20:16 +0930
From: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Blitz

Hi Everybody :) I am still having no luck in getting the view mode param from the
ASL screen mode requester :( Any ideas ?
I am trying to write a term programand am having trouble getting my modem to dial.
The commands I am using are...
    Writeserialstring 0,"+++",1|2   ;go to command state
    ntd="ATDT"+qdial(z)\numb+"\r"   ;parse number from list
    writeserialstring 0,ntd,1|2    ;1|2 means I have tried both numbers
Am I doing it wrong ???What would be the syntax to wait for a reply from the other
modem ?? Is 42 still the answer ?? :) Thanks in advance :P


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 1995 12:40:00 +0200 (METDST)
From: Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz-List <[e-mail]>
Subject: ABC/Problems/Ideas

*Could someone please explain what exactly ABC is? Blitz 3.0 RISC or so?
 And why is it called ABC? I'd prefer PowerBLITZ or something like that...

Problems:
* I've got problems to get rid of a copperlist (with ColSplit). I tried
  something like
   For i=1 to CopLen
     Poke.b Coploc+i,0  ;not sure about the .b-type
   Next
  However, this method doesn't work and tends to crash. Any ideas?? It
  would be very helpful :)
* Peter S. Giles asked how you can get the VIEWMODE from the Asl-Req-
  I can GET it (if you define the newtype as mentioned in BUM 6 -i think-
  it should be no problem, it's in the viewmode.l-var), but how can I
  PASS it to the AslReq?
  It's annoying if the ScreenmodeAsl is always set to LoRes when I am
  using a Hires-Screen. Also, the screenheight is set to 200 (NTSC).
  Pleeease someone help!
* GTMX: How can I set a radiobutton to a specific value? (when a Shortcut
  is used) - the GTMX-comand doesn't work right, it does nothing...

Ideas:
* is it not annoying that the compiler stops at every simple syntax-error
  and you have to compile EVERYTHING again? In BLitz-I you could correct
  the line and _go on_.
* What about an 'UnShared' in Statements? I often need only one local var,
  but also the global vars from the mainprogram. At the moment, I have to
  SHARED all vars I need in my statement, and that's uncomfortable:(
  (I know, I'm lazy)

Greetings to all and may you have a better (that is: more summer-like)
weather than we have here in Austria! (rather rainy really!)

McGreg
Vienna, Austria
E-Mail: [e-mail]

* Gnoti sauton! (Realize yourself), Platon *



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 95 14:20:23 +0100
From: Robert Newman <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz

Hi Jeffrey, on Sat, 15 Jul 95 you wrote

> I am trying to write a term programand am having trouble getting my modem to dial.
> The commands I am using are...
>     Writeserialstring 0,"+++",1|2   ;go to command state
>     ntd="ATDT"+qdial(z)\numb+"\r"   ;parse number from list

Try replacing the "\r" bit with Chr$(13).

Rob.




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 1995 11:23:30 +1000 (EST)
From: Brett Johansen <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: ASM?



    Hi,
        is there anyway of of directly accessing a global
        variable in an asm statement by finding its offset
        from (a5)? <- global variable base
        Currently I have to pass a pointer to it but with only
        six arguments allowed that is a problem!
        (can pass a newtype of pointers to the variables I want
         but this twice as slow - double indirection!!!)

    ie.
        x.w = 99

        statement myasm{array.l}
            move.l d0,a0

            move 'x'(a5),d0        ;<#######
            .
            asmexit
        end statement

        ;need a command that finds the offset of x and
        ;subs it in a compile time!

        ;like

        move Offset(x)(a5),d0 ?

            Is this possible,
                probably tricky? (acid would have to do it)
                because it is a compile time directive!

                oh well,

                    Brett





From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 1995 11:27:16 +0930
From: "Peter S. Giles" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: database

has anyone written a small database with source code that i can have a look
at i'm am interested in using a database for a smallstrategy game
i want to write. A blitz spreadsheet code would be handy too.

[e-mail]


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 1995 14:10:18 +0930
From: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: ASL

On Saturday 15 Gregor Rosenauer wrote

> * Peter Giles asked how you get the viewmode from the aslreq I can get it
>   You use the viewmode.l var, how do I pass it to the asl req ?

You dont Gregor, you close the window and screen you have opened and use the
width height (etc) vars to open new a new screen and window.
*sc.screeninfo=ASLRequester(31)
close window 0
close screen 0
wdth=*sc\width:hgt=*sc\height    ;etc
screen 0,0,0,wdth,hgt            ;etc
window 0,0,0,wdth,hgt            ;etc

These params can then be saved and loaded with a condition if statment,user friendlyprefs :) Gregor my problem is that the new type appears to be possition sensitive
if you move a variale name up or down the newtype its vale does not follow it :(
The order for the new type appears to be:
    newtype .screeninfo
        id.l
        width.l
        depth.l
        autoscroll.l
        overscan.l
        bmapwidth.l
        bmapheight.l
    end newtype
I am using WB 2 should the order of the variables make a difference ?
If so where should the viewmode go ?
If not where do i buy a PC ?

Also on Saturday 15 Rob wrote
>Try replacing the "\r" bit with chr$(13)

I tried this and I still only got the flashing lights but no ring :(

Tanks all    JEFF


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:22 1995
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 1995 14:37:50 +0930
From: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Rob

Well There i go again.....WRONG I got your chr$(13) to work :)
Amazing what can happen when you gret thre sintax write :>

Oh and Gregor this is probably sucking eggs but with that opening of the screen
you must set menu and attach the list.

Thanks all    JEFF


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 1995 17:08:03 +0930
From: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: menus

Well here I am again :) now I am having problems with menus....my mother always said
that I was a problem child ;) my problem is that I can't get the function to work ?
I am using this :
    if menuchecked(0,1,2,0) then srep=srep+1
The value of srep never changes, also if I have more than one of these functions in
a row, even to different sub items the program crashes :( I intend to use this to edit the serial params (baud,unit,etc) and would rather use a menu than gadgets,
yet again any assistance will be greatfuly recieved. Thus until the next exiting episode of "PROBLEM CHHIIIIIIILLLLDDDDDD" we bid you adue.

p.s how do you spell aduie ?
        JEFF


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 1995 07:48:20 -0600 (MDT)
From: Basil Barnes <[e-mail]>
To: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: menus

On Sun, 16 Jul 1995, Jeffrey D. Fearn wrote:

> exiting episode of "PROBLEM CHHIIIIIIILLLLDDDDDD" we bid you adue.
>
> p.s how do you spell aduie ?
>         JEFF

If you could spell it right, we'd know what you wanted to be able to
spell! ;-)

The word is "Adieu" and literally comes from the French "A Dieu", meaning
"To God" ... saying that you are putting your life (or your health) in
God's hands as you start on your journey.

(My apologies for being so pedantic ... it's the only thing I can offer
this mailing list at the moment).  :)


                 Basil          /\
  \  /\    /\  __________/\/\  /  \  /\  Whew! It started beating again!
   \/  \/\/  \/              \/    \/

     Basil Barnes, from  Edmonton, the heartbeat of  Alberta, Canada
     PGP signature:  B9 12 A4 0E 66 35 B2 AD 51 D9 C1 83 C1 90 36 39

     Fidonet:  1:342/53.0                        Amiganet: 40:1/53.0




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 1995 22:08:29 +0300 (EETDST)
From: "Ott M. Aaloe" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Screens...overscans etc.

Hi!

Erm...so there...all the stuff I've written in Blitz I've done
in blitz mode and now I have the problem coz I have to use
amiga mode and screens.Reason for this is that I need to use hires
view (as far as I understand I can't set up any laced coplists)...so
the problem is I want to open a Hires Laced Video Overscan screen...
how can I do it...how's the the viewmode parameter calculated...it's
no probs in C - just to OR some constants defined in
includes...problem actually is with the overscan...so how can I
define it? Any help appreciated! (a good example is welcome too :)


                                Ott M. Aaloe
                                [e-mail]
                                ** The Farm **


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 1995 14:32:49 -0500 (CDT)
From: Maestria en Filosofia <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: SERIAL

  i can't find my messages. so i'm asking again.

  Does anybody knows how to write data to the serial port in Blitz mode?.

  Pedro.



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 19:48:03 +0930
From: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: gadgets

Yet again I need help :) This time as no one seemed to know why the menuchecked
command didn't work, I decided to set up a gadget list to do it. Now how do you
find out if a gtcheck button is checked ? I tried gadgetstatus, no luck :(
Also does anyone know the correct syntax for a loop that allows you to send to
the serial port and continualy check for input from the other end ? I haven't looked
at this yet but it may be difficult ;>
thanks JEFfF






From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 09:13:53 +0000
From: Jurgen Valks <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Offtopic question


Hi all,

Does anybody know if the company Blue Byte has a ftp site or a email
adres ??

Cheers!


Greetings from:

+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Jurgen Valks,                                              |
| Kerkeind 8a, 5293 AB, Gemonde                              |
| Tel: [phone]/14347 (home)  [phone] (work) |
|                                                            |
| Systems: DX-2, 4Mb, 210,170,540HD                          |
|          Pentium 90, 16Mb, 540, 1.2G HD                    |
|          running on Personal Netware 1.2                   |
+------------------------------------------------------------+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 15:04:25 +0300 (EETDST)
From: "Ott M. Aaloe" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Allo?

>Allo?
>
>Anyone here?

I'm still here ;)





                                Ott M. Aaloe
                                [e-mail]
                                ** The Farm **


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 21:36:01 +0930
From: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Ranges

Hello AGAIN  this time the questin is <drum roll> Is it possible to enter a range in the select command ?
i.e.  case 3 to 4.. In ADA they use .. as the range indicator does blitz have one ? I have tried to | them
no go :(  Also how as i'm writting a term program I want the text written in the window to scroll up, how
the hell do I do that ?  Lastly I am fairly well into this program and soon I will want to test it, is there anyone who is willing to be a beta tester, I can offer you headaches, ulcers, and of course probable visits from the
GURU, but I will be polite about it :P
Doh wrong again... this is the last bit (bloody shell account) how do you find out if a GTCheck gadget is checked
I tried gadget status etc but got no response :{ There had better still be people reading this, or I'll bloddy
well go nuts (bloody shell account) :)


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 16:38:56 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen McNamara <[e-mail]>
To: Blitzlist <[e-mail]>
Subject: Bye-bye

Hi ppl,
    just a quick note to say that I'm working full time now and so
will be unable to check mail from people who send it to me.  If anyone
has any questions for me specifically can they please mail Steve Matty
at [e-mail] and ask him to pass them onto me.


Steve Mc.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                          L E A D I N G   E D G E
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+               Hang                 | Current project :                    +
+      [e-mail]        | [::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] +
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 23:24:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tom Kruk <[e-mail]>
To: "Ott M. Aaloe" <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Allo?



On Thu, 20 Jul 1995, Ott M. Aaloe wrote:

> >Allo?
> >
> >Anyone here?
>
> I'm still here ;)

Me 2!

Tom.



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 15:45:36 +0930
From: "Peter S. Giles" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: windows in blitz


how do i get a window to the front of a whole bunch of other windows

i found the WindowtoFront_ command but it doesn't seem to work

this sucks.......could someone explain hoe this command works

how do i turn a gt checkbox on and off from within the program
i want to toggle its status and read its current status
also how do i activate a string gadget so that it doesn't have
to be clicked on before info is entered in

is there anydecent mapeditors out there and how do i use
a map inside a window...I want to try my hand at writing a strategy game

thanks bye :)



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 14:30:38 +0200 (METDST)
From: Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Ranges

On 21 xxx -1, Peter Liebetrau wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> YES  it  is  possible to use ranges in Select/Case.  Just Select a
> "true" and then case whatever u want.  :-)

Thanks! I have been wondering about that, too.
BTW, are you a 'Night-Netter' ? Must be quite fun, but at my university,
they close at 21pm:(

McGreg
Vienna, Austria
E-Mail: [e-mail]

* And now to something completly different... *


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 14:08:26 +0000
From: Colin Saunders <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: De-Assembler


Dear All,

Is there a "De-Assembler" out there that will de-assemble Blitz
generated code AND give you "symbols" ie labels in the code relating
to the Blitz Source so that you can tell which bit of the code relates
to which statement and so on. This obviously needs Blitz to have put
such information in the generated code...

So.. what is available?

    Thanks,

        colin.

*-------------------------------------------------*---------------------------*
|               Colin J. Saunders                 | CURRENT PROJECTS:         |
|   BSc Hons Computer Science,  Edinburgh 1994    |                           |
|                                                 | Graphics Manager:  100% B |
|            e-mail:  [e-mail]             | Cute Game:           5%   |
*-------------------------------------------------*---------------------------*


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 15:55:01 +0000
From: Colin Saunders <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: De-Assembler


> On Fri, 21 Jul 1995, Colin Saunders wrote:
> >
> > Dear All,
> >
> > Is there a "De-Assembler" out there that will de-assemble Blitz
> > generated code AND give you "symbols" ie labels in the code relating
> > to the Blitz Source so that you can tell which bit of the code relates
> > to which statement and so on. This obviously needs Blitz to have put
> > such information in the generated code...
> >
> > So.. what is available?
> >
> metascope is pretty cool, just select include symbols from bb compiler
> options and when you load executable into ms load symbol table also, be
> prepared for a bit of a shock, I certainly was (does some things really
> well other things hmmm, well I never claimed to be the author of Blitz...)
>
> Simon
>

Thanks Simon...

SO.. where do I get it and how much dosh will it cost?

    Thanks,

        Colin.

*-------------------------------------------------*---------------------------*
|               Colin J. Saunders                 | CURRENT PROJECTS:         |
|   BSc Hons Computer Science,  Edinburgh 1994    |                           |
|                                                 | Graphics Manager:  100% B |
|            e-mail:  [e-mail]             | Cute Game:           5%   |
*-------------------------------------------------*---------------------------*


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 95 19:09:52 +0100
From: Robert Newman <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: windows in blitz

Hi Peter, on Fri, 21 Jul 95 you wrote

> how do i get a window to the front of a whole bunch of other windows
> i found the WindowtoFront_ command but it doesn't seem to work

Use it like this :

WindowToFront_ (Peek.l(Addr Window(0)))

This will bring window #0 to the front.

Rob.




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Sat, 22 Jul 1995 02:45:45 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
To: Colin Saunders <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: De-Assembler

On Fri, 21 Jul 1995, Colin Saunders wrote:

>
> Dear All,
>
> Is there a "De-Assembler" out there that will de-assemble Blitz
> generated code AND give you "symbols" ie labels in the code relating
> to the Blitz Source so that you can tell which bit of the code relates
> to which statement and so on. This obviously needs Blitz to have put
> such information in the generated code...
>
> So.. what is available?
>
metascope is pretty cool, just select include symbols from bb compiler
options and when you load executable into ms load symbol table also, be
prepared for a bit of a shock, I certainly was (does some things really
well other things hmmm, well I never claimed to be the author of Blitz...)

Simon


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 95 12:53:07
From: Peter Liebetrau <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Test

Sorry again ...  but there are a lot of problems with AmigaElm.  I
hope, this mail will send outby SMTPPost ?!?!

Bye

Peter

--
insert your signature here




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 95 00:48:10
From: "S. Flock" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Map Editor

 Is there a decent map editor for blitz? I checked out the one on Aminet, but
it won't run right on my machine. The screen seems too small, because the
window it opens at the beginning is only half there.. And if I click on some
of the in the window, I get a cool software failure.

Steve
 __________________________________ ______________________________________
|                                  |                                      |
| S. Flock - Binary Assault        |    Current Project : Donkey Kong     |
| Code Mangler, Gfxian, etc.       |    % Complete : [OOOOOOOO..] 80%     |
|__________________________________|______________________________________|
|    Other Projects: 3d Vector Routine [80%] , CiaTrackerLib [Done]       |
|_________________________________________________________________________|




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 1995 21:03:08 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
To: Jan Breeman <[e-mail]>
Cc: blitz list <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: De-Assembler

Metascope has been sitting in my C directory since the year dot, I cannot
recall ever seeing it available...

Simon


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 12:25:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tom Kruk <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: IRC-Channel ?



On 26 xxx -1, Peter Liebetrau wrote:

> Hi all ...
>
> Is anyone here, who use IRC sometimes ?
> Let`s  start  a BB2-Channel there ?!?!  Or let`s make a date, when
> we can have some talks there.  How do you think about weekend ?!?!
>
> My  Idea  is  to  have  an IRC-Party in the night from Saturday to
> Sunday, starting at midnight (GMT -2 Timezone).  Any Problems with
> that date/time.
>
> Let`s have an IRC-Party ...
>
> Peter
>
> --
> +----------------------------------------------------------------+
>   [e-mail]         /\
>                              //\\MIGA - Power
> +----------------------------------------------------------------+
>

YEAH! I am all for that!

P.S. my IRC name is : Tomek
and i hang out at   : #amiga , #amigadev  (most of the time)




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 19:15:09 +0100
From: "UK.AC.NSF MTA" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Delivery Report (failure) for [e-mail]


------------------------------ Start of body part 1

This report relates to your message: Subject: Re: IRC-Channel ?,
  Message-ID: <Pine.BSD/[e-mail]>,
  To: [e-mail]
        of Wed, 26 Jul 1995 19:15:03 +0100

Your message was not delivered to   [e-mail]
        for the following reason:
        Unknown Address
        MTA 'sheffield.ac.uk' gives error message  Unknown local user
        's.spikings'

***** The following information is directed towards the local administrator
***** and is not intended for the end user
*
* DR generated by: mta sun2.nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
*         in /PRMD=uk.ac/ADMD= /C=gb/
*         at Wed, 26 Jul 1995 19:15:07 +0100
*
* Converted to RFC 822 at nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
*         at Wed, 26 Jul 1995 19:15:09 +0100
*
* Delivery Report Contents:
*
* Subject-Submission-Identifier: [/PRMD=uk.ac/ADMD= /C=gb/;<Pine.BSD/.3.91.950726122450.142]
* Content-Identifier: Re: IRC-Chann...
* Subject-Intermediate-Trace-Information:  /PRMD=uk.ac/ADMD= /C=gb/arrival Wed, 26 Jul 1995 19:15:03 +0100 action Relayed
* Subject-Intermediate-Trace-Information:  /PRMD=@/ADMD=fumail/C=fi/arrival Wed, 26 Jul 1995 17:43:38 +0100 action Relayed
* Subject-Intermediate-Trace-Information:  /PRMD=@/ADMD=fumail/C=fi/arrival Wed, 26 Jul 1995 17:43:35 +0100 action Relayed
* Subject-Intermediate-Trace-Information:  /ADMD=fumail/C=fi/arrival Wed, 26 Jul 1995 17:25:52 +0100 action Relayed
* Content-Correlator: Subject: Re: IRC-Channel ?,
*                   Message-ID: <Pine.BSD/[e-mail]>,
*                   To: [e-mail]* Recipient-Info: [e-mail],
*         /I=s/S=spikings/O=sheffield/PRMD=UK.AC/ADMD= /C=GB/;
*         FAILURE reason Unable-To-Transfer (1);
*         diagnostic Unrecognised-ORName (0);
*         last trace (ia5 text (2)) Wed, 26 Jul 1995 17:25:52 +0100;
*         converted eits ia5 text (2);
*         supplementary info "MTA 'sheffield.ac.uk' gives error message
*         Unknown local user 's.spikings'";
****** End of administration information

------------------------------ Start of forwarded message 1

Received: from kantti.Helsinki.FI by sun2.nsfnet-relay.ac.uk with Internet SMTP id <[e-mail]>; Wed, 26 Jul 1995 19:15:03 +0100
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Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 12:25:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tom Kruk <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: IRC-Channel ?
In-Reply-To: <[e-mail]>
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Sender: [e-mail]
Precedence: bulk



On 26 xxx -1, Peter Liebetrau wrote:

> Hi all ...
>
> Is anyone here, who use IRC sometimes ?
> Let`s  start  a BB2-Channel there ?!?!  Or let`s make a date, when
> we can have some talks there.  How do you think about weekend ?!?!
>
> My  Idea  is  to  have  an IRC-Party in the night from Saturday to
> Sunday, starting at midnight (GMT -2 Timezone).  Any Problems with
> that date/time.
>
> Let`s have an IRC-Party ...
>
> Peter
>
> --
> +----------------------------------------------------------------+
>   [e-mail]         /\
>                              //\\MIGA - Power
> +----------------------------------------------------------------+
>

YEAH! I am all for that!

P.S. my IRC name is : Tomek
and i hang out at   : #amiga , #amigadev  (most of the time)





------------------------------ End of forwarded message 1

From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 1995 17:00:58 +0930
From: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Buffers

Hi Everybody :)
How do you clear the serial buffer after reading it ?
How do you tell the difference between a serial message that you have typed and one that you have recieved ?
Is the serialevent command active in 1.9 ? and if so what is the syntax ?
Has anyone used ANSI codes with Blitz ? i am thinking of adding it to my prog ! although I may use RIP.
What is the syntax for changing the serial prefs after you have opened the serial port ?
Does anyone care?
Is Acid really a front for martians set on destroying the world ?
Is Bill Gates a Venetian spy sent to destroy peoples belief that computers can be friendly ?
Does anyone care?
Are the US really testing the resistance of Jamacan coconuts to greasy pork rinds ?
mmmmmmm greasy pork rinds.
Have the European powers be dumping radioactive waste in Tokyo bay ?
Have the Japanese been dumping radioactive cars in Europe ?
DOES ANYONE CARE ????
Until till the next exiting installment of Does anyone care, this is doubting thomas saying....
I DONT CAAAAAAARRRRRREEEEEEEEE !$%^&*&


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 1995 00:59:54 +1000 (EST)
From: Clarence Bakirtzidis <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: What's up with Blitz?

    I recently decided to investigate changing from programming
in AMOS to Blitz Basic, but I was suprised by the lack of support for
a language which I've heard many people praise.  For example, I was
looking through several Amiga magazines (both Australian and British)
and I couldn't find anyone selling Blitz, yet they all stocked languages
like AMOS, HiSoft Basic 2, DICE, Devpac etc...  Also, none of the magazines
had tutorials on Blitz (which I remember seeing in the past).  So what's
going on?  Is Blitz on the way out?  Is it still in distribution?  I was
seriously considering buying Blitz2 as I think AMOS is too slow and lacks
many features which Blitz2 supports (like structures etc...), but now I'm
not so sure.  I don't want to commit to a language which is no longer
supported.  There is a LOT of support for AMOS on the internet, which
is a good thing and I would have liked to see a similar thing with Blitz.
I hope that I am incorrect in assuming that Blitz is no longer supported
because I could not find it being sold in magazines.

    Any information on this matter would be appreciated.

--
+----------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| Clarence Bakirtzidis | Email -> [e-mail]         |
| RMIT Uni. Melbourne  |  WWW  -> http://minyos.xx.rmit.edu.au/~s9506574 |
+----------------------+-------------------------------------------------+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: 30 Jul 95 01:12:01 -0100
From: Chris Feringa <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Active Window on Pub Screen


Hi Everybody,

Just a simple question:-)

How can I get the address of the active window on a public screen?

                  \|/
Chris Feringa     @ @     [e-mail]
+-------------oOO-(_)-OOo-------------------+
|                                           |
|       *PGP Public key available*          |
|                                           |
+-------------------------------------------+




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 1995 23:56:26 -0400
From: Maciej Gorny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Active Window on Pub Screen

>Hi Everybody,
>Just a simple question:-)
>How can I get the address of the active window on a public screen?
>                  \|/
>Chris Feringa     @ @     [e-mail]

w.l=EventWindow:address.l=Addr Window(w)
I'm just guessing off the top of my head, but I think that's how I would try
this first. Window's $40000 IDCMP should be addded also. But that will only
work with windows created by Blitz.

I guess I can't be much help here. By the way, is there a way for Blitz2 to
control other things on a public screen? I mean let's say we wanted to
launch and then close another program from within Blitz program.

Launching would be easy using the execute_ command, but what about shutting
it down later?

Maciej



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 1995 12:41:21 +1000 (EST)
From: Brett Johansen <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TokeJsr?



    Hi,
        can someone help me with an example of how
    to use TokeJsr (I think thats it) from inside
    an ASM only statement?

    Do you have to set the correct values in d0-dx and
    then say

    statement flible{}
        move #666,d0    ;set arguments
            .
            ;
        TokeJsr RectsHit    ;call token
        move ....
        asmexit
    end statement

        Well something like this anyway
    I want to use this to speed up code by not having to reload
    all arguments everytime I call this function because they
    are still in the registers

                    Brett

    PROJECT: atomhead - The brainless shootemup 66% complete






From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 1995 16:21:34 -0500
From: Josh Jacobsen <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: BUMs

BUMs... Anybody know where I can get the BUMs in the United States?  I
just bought Blitz Basic 2 for my Amiga, and I got version 1.40... I
understand that the later versions of everything were distributed on the
BUMs.  I got the first Issue, but I need to find out where to get the
subsequent issues.



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Tue, 01 Aug 1995 11:03:22 +1000 (EST)
From: Mr M Sawicki <[e-mail]>
To: Brett Johansen <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: TokeJsr?



On Mon, 31 Jul 1995, Brett Johansen wrote:

>
>
>     Hi,
>         can someone help me with an example of how
>     to use TokeJsr (I think thats it) from inside
>     an ASM only statement?
>
>     Do you have to set the correct values in d0-dx and
>     then say
>
>     statement flible{}
>         move #666,d0    ;set arguments
>             .
>             ;
>         TokeJsr RectsHit    ;call token
>         move ....
>         asmexit
>     end statement
>
>         Well something like this anyway
>     I want to use this to speed up code by not having to reload
>     all arguments everytime I call this function because they
>     are still in the registers
>

I can't help you with your question but how did you find out what regusters
have to be preloaded with what?

Maciek.




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:23 1995
Date: Tue, 01 Aug 1995 14:18:35 +0930
From: "Jeffrey D. Fearn" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Serial stuff

>> Hi Everybody :)

>Hi J.D.F.

hello Peter

>> How do you clear the serial buffer after reading it ?

>It will be clearedby the read command .. I hope ...

This does not appear to occur. When I read the serial port a second time I get the same line as before but with
the first character removed ! That is Hello becomes ello then llo etc. This may becaused by the fact that I have
the read serial command in my main program loop:
        if readserial(0) <>0 then
this is messy but I can see no alternative :(

>> How do you tell the difference between a serial message that you have typed and one that you have recieved ?

>If  you  are connected, the message you have typed is not returned
>from  the  modem !!!  If you are not connected,the message will be
>returned !!

Ohh.........<blush>

>> Is the serialevent command active in 1.9 ? and if so what is the syntax ?

>I think the command is not working. Syntax would be ...

Alll wriiiight

>ev.l=Wait                 ; This command waits for any event
>sv.l=Serialevent(port)    ; If sv <> 0 then it was a serieal event ..

Smokin.

>But forget it .. It doesn`t work

Doh

>> Has anyone used ANSI codes with Blitz ?  i am thinking of adding it to my prog !  although I may use RIP.

>Yeah, it works .. but you need a console window to have a right output of them !

Hmmm a console window ??? Not blitz window ??? mmmmm...... BAD (*&%*%#$&$#@&^

>> What is the syntax for changing the serial prefs after you have opened the serial port ?


>SetParams ?!?!

Syntax is not what you say but the way you say it :)

>I  never  use  this fu***** BB2-Serial commands.  They aree really
>baaaad !  I use an own source that works fine.

Hmmmm

>Short Description ...

>CreateMsgPort  ... for both, sending and receiving
>CreateExtIO`s ... with the MsgPorts

>OpenDevice with the IOExtSer

>StartSerReadingwith SendIo ...

>That`s all ...

>Peter

CreateMsgPort    sounds like Arexx, I'll give it a try when I have some spare time, these bastards at Uni expect
me to STUDY <sounds of great indignation>. Can you use RIP with Blitz?

Thanks for your help Peter :)
Jeff


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Tue, 1 Aug 95 13:12:54 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Triton conversion available for BB2!

Since the latest release of Triton, there is a rude Blitz2 conversion
implemented.

I will finish it completely until the end of the year, a fully useable
conversion should be included in the next release, which will be the
1.4

With this package you will be able to create easily fontsensitive, fully
user-configurable and nice looking GUIs for your programs, a little
bit MUI-alike but not as big in size.

The actual releas 1.3 you can find in the AmiNet/dev/gui

        triton13usr.lha        (216157 b)
        triton13dev.lha        (300620 b)


If you want to know how far the latest bb2-conversion is, eMail me and
I send you a little archive, right now without docs.

I mustn't forget to send a big "thank you very, very much" to Rupert
"HelpApp" Henson, whithout his help the conversion couldn't been
finished in this short time.

C'mon people, give Triton a try - it's easy, small and handy!!



--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sat, 5 Aug 95 01:00:31 GMT
From: Chi Wai Lee <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: bsdsocket.library

OK guys,

I've got a working version of the main functions from AmiTCP's
bsdsocket.library.  I'll be needing some beta testers soon so if anyone is
interested could they reply.


--
+===========================================================================+
|                                                                           |
|      Chi Wai Lee - [e-mail] (Spiral Vortex Productions)       |
|                                                                           |
+===========================================================================+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sat, 5 Aug 95 16:21:19 GMT
From: Chi Wai Lee <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: bsdsocket.library

OK, there seems to be still a couple of people alive on this list <G>

If you want to beta test my lib, you should at least have AmiTCP installed
on your system, otherwise it will just sit there staring at you.
You will also need to know what to do with the functions as (at the mo)
there is minimal docs.

For more infomation on what the functions do, get the AmiTCP API archive.

I'll be posting a uuencode msg with the lib as soon as I write some
"minimal docs" <G>


--
+===========================================================================+
|                                                                           |
|      Chi Wai Lee - [e-mail] (Spiral Vortex Productions)       |
|                                                                           |
+===========================================================================+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sun, 6 Aug 1995 23:00:26 +0000
From: Neil Miller <[e-mail]>
To: BLITZ Mailing List <[e-mail]>

See ya's all later, sick of waiting for the promised upgrades that never
happen. I've gone over to PC.

If anyone is interested all my source code will be up on the main blitz
ftp site within the next couple of weeks.

So long and thanks for all the fish.
Neil "TEX" Miller


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sun, 06 Aug 1995 22:37:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: blitz last version

Help! One of my co-workers bought a copy of Blitz Basic from Safe Harbor
last week, received it yesterday. He has taken a weeks vacation intending
to get his Star Trek compendium finally done.

Unforch, the Safe Harbor shipped version is 1.4! On an 030, crash city of
course if you attempt any in-memory compiles.

In fairness to Safe Harbor, they are attempting to get a copy from the
last customer whom they KNOW got the current version.  However, that will
take till mid-week, and won't have the new docs with it until they get a
full replacement from Australia.

Jimi expected to get 1.9+, paid for it but got 1.4 cause the Harbor had picked
up the remaining stock from another dealer who assured them "Its all the
latest stuff".  Yeah, sure it was.  8:(  In the meantime back at the ranch,
Jimi is learning ever newer ways to twiddle his thumbs.

I don't even know how many disks it is, but if somebody would take the time
to DMS 'em, then uuencode, and mail to me, we'ed sure be gratefull. Or better
yet, since I'm out here in West (by God) Virginia on a 2400 baud line,
maybe give me a landline # so's I can call you and get it at full v32.bis
speeds. That obviously isn't an option for international calls.

Jimi tells me he might only need the programs disk and the libraries disk.
Can anyone help?

Cheers, Gene






From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 95 08:37:41 GMT
From: Chi Wai Lee <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: bsdsocket.lib

OK guys (& gals ???)

Here's the current beta source code of my library.
Compile it (making sure you don't get any library number clashes),
makedeflib, and have a look at the test program.

I know the codes a bit dodgy <G> but it works, just.
Could someone supply me with more docs on writing BB2 libs. cos the bit's
that came with BUM dosen't help much (Simon???)





  [Part 2, Attached file "bb2socketlib.lha.uue"  4.8KB]
  [Unable to print this part]


  [ Part 3: "Attached Text" ]




--
+===========================================================================+
|                                                                           |
|      Chi Wai Lee - [e-mail] (Spiral Vortex Productions)       |
|                                                                           |
+===========================================================================+



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 95 13:03:00 PDT
From: Tom Duncan <[e-mail]>
To: blitz-list-owner <[e-mail]>
Subject: you too


Hi Neil,
     I have gone to the PC also. Still keeping the Amiga for
work related stuff only.


Tom Duncan
 ----------
From: blitz-list-owner
To: BLITZ Mailing List
Date: Sunday, 6 August 1995 11:00PM

Return-Path: <[e-mail]>
Date: Sun, 6 Aug 1995 23:00:26 +0000
From: Neil Miller <[e-mail]>
To: BLITZ Mailing List <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <Pine.3.89.9508062253.B5260-0100000@triode>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Sender: [e-mail]
Precedence: bulk
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 --
See ya's all later, sick of waiting for the promised upgrades that never
happen. I've gone over to PC.

If anyone is interested all my source code will be up on the main blitz
ftp site within the next couple of weeks.

So long and thanks for all the fish.
Neil "TEX" Miller



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 95 11:35:59 GMT
From: James Savage <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Gadtools!

Hi

I'm on the list directly now since my BBS died...

Does anybody have the latest gadtools.library coz I don't think mine is
okay. gtshape gadgets don't work, neither do gtenable/gtdisable, and a
betatester told me the listviews were empty on his system (but invisible
items were in them).

My lib came with 1.9 and is 1168 bytes long.

James

--
James on earth /\v/\  CountB on IRC /\v/\  [e-mail] on the Net

                    "Undead, undead, undead!" - Bauhaus


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 1995 10:58:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tom Kruk <[e-mail]>
To: ACID's Blitz-List <[e-mail]>
Subject: DUM BUM


Yo what the fuck is going on with BUM 8 ?

somebody send whatever of it there is already. what kind of crap is this
why dont you all say somethig. i wrote 10 letters to simon. and he didnt
even write to me to say "kiss my ass" or anything.

Oh I am sorry, forgot , you must be installing windows 95 about now eh?
hrhg.

Cmmon simon get it together already. you dont have it complete. release
it incomplete. or give it to Richard Elmore to put the rest together
hes got material for 20 bums.. cmmon you're holding us back.

Tom



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 95 18:15:16
From: Robert Shelton <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: DUM BUM (fwd)

On Tue, 08 Aug 95, Tom Kruk wrote:

*** Start of forwarded message

Yo what the fuck is going on with BUM 8 ?

somebody send whatever of it there is already. what kind of crap is this
why dont you all say somethig. i wrote 10 letters to simon. and he didnt
even write to me to say "kiss my ass" or anything.

Oh I am sorry, forgot , you must be installing windows 95 about now eh?
hrhg.

Cmmon simon get it together already. you dont have it complete. release
it incomplete. or give it to Richard Elmore to put the rest together
hes got material for 20 bums.. cmmon you're holding us back.

Tom

*** End of forwarded message

I must agree with the above sentiment - it is ages since anything new was
sent out to registered users - and although blitz2 is wonderful it isn't
perfect!

Rob.

--

         Commodore Amiga A1200 Viper 68030+68881 8Mb RAM PowerScan
                             Zappo CDRom Drive

                EMAIL: [e-mail] IRC: Smurf_UK
         DIAMOND CABLE free call access to "the internet in notts"




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Wed, 09 Aug 1995 13:56:52 +0930
From: "Peter S. Giles" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]

On Tue, 08 Aug 95, Tom Kruk wrote:

*** Start of forwarded message

Yo what the fuck is going on with BUM 8 ?

somebody send whatever of it there is already. what kind of crap is this
why dont you all say somethig. i wrote 10 letters to simon. and he didnt
even write to me to say "kiss my ass" or anything.

Oh I am sorry, forgot , you must be installing windows 95 about now eh?
hrhg.

Cmmon simon get it together already. you dont have it complete. release
it incomplete. or give it to Richard Elmore to put the rest together
hes got material for 20 bums.. cmmon you're holding us back.

Tom

*** End of forwarded message

I must agree with the above sentiment - it is ages since anything new was
sent out to registered users - and although blitz2 is wonderful it isn't
perfect!

Rob.

--

         Commodore Amiga A1200 Viper 68030+68881 8Mb RAM PowerScan
                             Zappo CDRom Drive

                EMAIL: [e-mail] IRC: Smurf_UK
         DIAMOND CABLE free call access to "the internet in notts"

****** I have something to say too
i have been a registered user for about a year now
I think blitz is great but you and all your mates can stick it up
your arse i'm turning to the pc and <gag> visual basic as soon as I
can afford it.....that's what i think so there...you owe me 4 more
BUM issues ok..I want 'em or my money back..hurry up and get your
shit together simon.....NOW.

:) have a nice day <trite remark no.4>




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 95 13:33:55 +0200
From: Studer Andreas 3132 <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: 3D-Library

Hello,

Has soebody programmed a 3D-Library?
(I have heard about a 3D-library in BUM8, but i wan't see
them when i'm a grey old man... :)

bye

Andrew


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 95 22:46:59 GMT
From: Chi Wai Lee <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: librarys

OK guys,

I need to know a few things...

1. What does the 'return' arg do in !libheader do? How do I use it?

2. How do create a token object.  I know you have a line
"!dumtoke{"token","text",_toke}" and
"!libfin{_toke,_load,_save,_use,_free,x,y}" but what does all the
arguments do ???

3. Whats the difference between !acommand, !ustatement, !ufunction and the
normal function & statement?


--
+===========================================================================+
|                                                                           |
|      Chi Wai Lee - [e-mail] (Spiral Vortex Productions)       |
|                                                                           |
+===========================================================================+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 95 23:08:43 GMT
From: James Savage <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: GadTools errors

Hi

I'm having real trouble with GTSetAttrs. It basically doesn't work at all.
If I can't fix this then my newsreader is dead.

Heeeeelp!

James


--
James on earth /\v/\  CountB on IRC /\v/\  [e-mail] on the Net

                    "Undead, undead, undead!" - Bauhaus


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 95 04:43:56 +1300
From: Brett Cooper <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: DUM BUM

Aug 09 Mr M Funnell wrote to the blitz-list:

> If we don't get all our BUM's, are we entitled to a refund???? :)

You want to come and pick them up??  I rember hereing something about
a support fee being needed to get continued updates in the future.
But I could be wrong..

Could try and take acid to the world court for not getting there bum out
on time.

Brett
[e-mail]  (Brett Cooper)
                           --- HELLONEARTHISMAN ---


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 95 05:02:12 +1300
From: Brett Cooper <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: DUM BUM

Hi Gregor, on Aug 9 you wrote:
> On Tue, 8 Aug 1995, Tom Kruk wrote:
>
> > Yo what the fuck is going on with BUM 8 ?
> >
> (I think that says enough:) )
> Very Direct and Very RIGHT! ;)

Constant nagging and bad carmer..

Brett
[e-mail]  (Brett Cooper)
                           --- HELLONEARTHISMAN ---


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 11:55:31 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
To: Chi Wai Lee <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: librarys



On Wed, 9 Aug 1995, Chi Wai Lee wrote:

> OK guys,
>
> I need to know a few things...
>
> 1. What does the 'return' arg do in !libheader do? How do I use it?
>
If another library needs to access your libraries unique data structure
or global variable type base or something then your lib can return a
pointer from it;s initialisation that other library commands can request
similar to DosBase or somesuch.

> 2. How do create a token object.  I know you have a line
> "!dumtoke{"token","text",_toke}" and
> "!libfin{_toke,_load,_save,_use,_free,x,y}" but what does all the
> arguments do ???

They don't do anything. Originally we were hoping to have default load
save etc. for every object. The use command can be linked to a command
such as usepalette but I think it's a bad idea. If you have an object
that goes with a library best to set aside a token for it's name ala
dumtoke and if need be support the standard Use terminology so your
commands can operate on that particular used object.

>
> 3. Whats the difference between !acommand, !ustatement, !ufunction and the
> normal function & statement?
>
Hmmm, I think acommand can be used both as a command and a function, big
problem with this is I think you can't tell how user used it so best for
just succeed or fail type functions which if the user is lazy can simply
be used as statements. The ustatement and ufunction I have never used,
maybe something to do with user being able to dictate the type such as
peek.w peek.q peek.l?


On another note, I haven't had a chance to mess with your socket library.
If we were able to support slip and ppp net connections with our own code
ie send and receive IP packets quite happily with dialup connections,
what sort of TCP support is required to replace amitcp. I personally
would like to replace AmiTCP with pure shareware version and know it was
as fast as it could be.

Oh one more question, does anyone know or can find some docs on perorming
CRC checking (cyclic redundancy checksums?)...

Simon


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 95 2:22:23 EDT
From: Lynn Jennings <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: CRCs and such


You have to hand it to Simon to be so bold in the face of such damning
criticism (something like 95% of the mail I just read was rather unfriendly
towards him). I say that for demonstrating such bravado he at least deserves
an answer to his question...

> Oh one more question, does anyone know or can find some docs on perorming
> CRC checking (cyclic redundancy checksums?)...

FTP to x2ftp.oulu.fi and go into the DOS programming stuff. I forget exactly
where I found it, I think under "docs" or something... I really can't recall
the directory structure at all as I've only poked around a few times.

There are some articles and demo code in there.

BTW North Americans, there is a mirror of x2ftp.oulu.fi (a site mainly for
game development, which has a blitz subdir) at ftp.infomagic.com somewhere in
pub/mirrors.


Christopher Jennings
Enchanted Blade Associates



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 95 2:56:30 EDT
From: Lynn Jennings <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: My twin (RE: service/JCOCHRAN)


> u people think its bad not getting BUM 8..
> i`m still stuck with the original version of blitz.. and no
> BUM`s
> i sent off my details for registering about 2 years ago
> and i stil haven`t heard any thing
>
> ah well.. i`ll go and price some pentiums

Well, they say that everyone in the world has an identical twin. Here's mine.
I almost checked to see who wrote this to make sure I didn't write it in one
of my half-dazed no-sleep-for-a-couple-days marathons.

I'm in the exact same situation, and I thought that I was finally going to be
saved by Richard Elmore, but alas, it does not appear that it will be...

After nearly two years of letter writing and phone calls,
I got in contact with him, and even sent him additional money beyond my
original BUM subscription dollars. He said he'd get my update out real soon,
and I was a happy boy.

And the weeks went by.

So I sent him a letter asking if he'd gotten the money.

And the weeks went by.

So I sent him a letter to find out if he was still alive.

And finally, his typing finger had some sort of post-mortem nervous/gaseous
spasm, and he sent a response saying that he was sorry he didn't get back,
he'd been overworked at his day job and had gotten behind, and that he would
send it out "right away". Evidently, "right away" is a quaint colloquialism
in his regional speech which means about the same as "when hell freezes over"
does in ours. He must still be wiped from that day job, because the weeks have
once again gone by.

Now, from my experience as a professional programmer, I happen to know that
you can mail something between any two points in North America in 6 days, 7
tops -- i.e. not several weeks, but _a_ _single_ week, unless you're talking
about some remote northern icecap.

I've found myself swamped at work before, so I can understand his position,
but really, is there some superhuman factor involved in stuffing an envelope
and licking stamps that requires months to complete? Perhaps Acid requires that
every package have a complicated ritual blessing based upon the lunar cycle
performed upon it before it can be sent. If so, it doesn't appear to be working
as I still haven't gotten anything.

In fact, I was about to give him another electronic pulse-feel when I read the
message above. I doubt he'll read this for a while though; I notice messages
sent to the list from him have all but disappeared as of late.

Believe it or not, I don't think he's a terrible guy, just a bit lax. But I
tend to get a bit pissed after waiting around for two years for a company to
deliver its product. I can even say that I like him. And he's certainly done a
lot for Blitz. I just wish he'd do what he promised (and was paid) to do for
me.

Christopher Jennings
Enchanted Blade Associates



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 15:13:33 +0300 (EET DST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Blitz library utility


I just uploaded blitzlibman.lha to x2ftp.oulu.fi .
It's somesort of library utility from Richard Elmore.
I accidentaly deleted the bounced message in which it
came (it was bounced by Majordomo because it was too long),
and don't remember anything more - except it should be quite
selfexplanatory. Oh well.

Richard, did you get my messages ? It's hard to keep a track
of possible errormessages when I receive a mountain/day of them...

About BUMs and Blitz's support: I mailed to Mark Sibly and he
stated that Simon has been busy doing conversion of Skidmarks
for Sega(?). Simon, I don't think it would hurt sales
of BlitzABC, if you handed some of the stuff you have gathered
and would let someone who has time to make BUM8 & release it
as free update - actually, I think that could keep some
of these people within Amiga platform and as possible buyers...
(3D-libraries alone will sell BlitzABC quite good - if they
are so good I like to believe).

-Mikko


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 22:52:29 +1000 (EST)
From: Vaughan Roberts <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: DecodeSprites?


Help.....
    Is there such a command as DecodeSprites, or would it be easy to
cludge one up.  I'm trying to include sprites in my game file and I
don't want to to use GetaSprite (It seems to want to use more memory?
Even after I free the shapes..)

    If anyone can help, thanks...

    Vaughan Roberts
    [e-mail]
    http://yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au/~vroberts







From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 14:07:29 +0100 (BST)
From: Big Will Riker <[e-mail]>
To: blitzlist <[e-mail]>
Subject: Annoucement of RIBlitzLibs V5


Hi,

I am pleased to announce that Version 5 of RIBlitzLibs is due
for imminent release.

There are approx. 6 new libraries plus around 50 new commands.

The libraries are complete, uncrippled. Work is now being done
on the documentation.

Look out for it soon on aminet:  pub/dev/basic/RIBlitzLibsV5.lha

Steve.
 ___________________________________________________________________________
/     <--== Amiga ==--> Developer    | Current Project : BlitzBombers       \
|    [e-mail]   | [###########################:::::::] |
\____________________________________|______________________________________/



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 18:18:20 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz library utility

>
>
> Mikko,
>
> > I just uploaded blitzlibman.lha to x2ftp.oulu.fi .
>
> Where did you put it?
>
>     Thanks,
>
>         Colin.
>
>
>

To the incoming directory. It will take some time, before it will
be moved to the /pub/amiga/prog/blitz dir, I'm afraid. Should
have mentioned that.

-Mikko


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 95 19:29:44 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TRITON support for TRITON finished

Stefan Zeiger, the programmer of TRITON, told me that the next release
will be on the CD Rom "Meeting Pearls 3" and the deadline will be
around this weekend (12-13. august). So I hurried up and finished the
bb2 conversion *IN MY HOLIDAYS* !!! Just for all you blizzies :)

So I am very proud to announce, that with the great help of Rupert
"HelpApp" Henson, I finished the TRITON conversion to BlitzBasic2. You
are now all able to:

        * create your own, nice looking GUI easy and fast
        * have font sensitive/adaptive and user definable GUIs
          (like MUI, only smaller and easier :))
        * have automatic shortcut and hotkey handling for all menus
          and buttons
        * work with an object oriented system in your procedural
          basic!
        * and much more.

You can get it by three ways:

    1. Wait until the "Meeting Pearls 3" CD Rom is avaiable in a
       shop near your city.

    2. look in your favourite Blitz-FTP-Server in
       x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/amiga/prog/blitz
       [but give me a week to put it there!]

    3. mail me directly if you really can't get it otherwise.

I really would appreciate it if you'd contact me when you're using
TRITON in your programs. I am open to criticism, ideas, help and
surely will be able to solve your problems.



--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 95 19:37:16 GMT
From: Chi Wai Lee <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: librarys

> On another note, I haven't had a chance to mess with your socket library.
> If we were able to support slip and ppp net connections with our own code

At the mo the library's 99% up and running with *ALL* the useful
functions. I've completely changed the way it works now and have used my
own token for the FDSET so that waiting for stuff at sockets are quicker
to set up.

> ie send and receive IP packets quite happily with dialup connections,
> what sort of TCP support is required to replace amitcp. I personally
> would like to replace AmiTCP with pure shareware version and know it was
> as fast as it could be.

To replace AmiTCP would require a lot of work and I don't think many
people are willing to sacrifice their time for such a big project.
I don't think anyone's even written a dial-up program for AmiTCP yet...


--
+===========================================================================+
|                                                                           |
|      Chi Wai Lee - [e-mail] (Spiral Vortex Productions)       |
|                                                                           |
+===========================================================================+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sat, 12 Aug 1995 00:27:51 +1200
From: Simon Armstrong <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]

Oh shit,

It's August, bloody August. I can't sleep. I'm sitting here
shivering (winter down here no heat wave in sight) in front
of my computer wondering what the hell is going on.

For one, I haven't has a single cigarette for 8 days. A pack
of PallMall filter a day no longer. Why on earth am I doing
this?

Secondly, there are a load of pissed off people out there
and I'm losing sleep over them. Blitz must survive. I AGREE.
I am not giving up on it. We're just finishing the first
ever Sega Megadrive game written in Blitz. I'm kind of pleased
with it, Sibs has given us a wonderful tool. The latest version
of FigZ has arrived which I have payed for so as to include
in BUM8. The wonderful RI debugger has been payed for to be
included in BUM8. Mark has fixed every known parameter passing
bug in v1.95 which is ready for BUM8, and shit there were a
few suprises which made me feel guilty as hell that Blitz was
ever considered a commercial viability (as opposed to liability).

Well, now Blitz is bug free, it has a cheesy online help system
and this weeked it is getting squashed into 880K and an 8 page
magazine. I will be logging on Saturday night, any last minute
contributions (small cool bits of code) that are emailed to me
get BUM8 emailed back to them.

And if I don't finish it? Well I'm not logging back onto the
net after Saturday until it's done that's for sure.

So if you want it emailed to you as soon as it is done, email
me a file under 4K for the groovy_code drawer and if it gets
included you'll get BUM8 even before Guildhall does...

Simon




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sat, 12 Aug 1995 12:57:51 +0200 (METDST)
From: Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer <[e-mail]>
To: Vaughan Roberts <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: DecodeSprites?

On Thu, 10 Aug 1995, Vaughan Roberts wrote:

>
> Help.....
>     Is there such a command as DecodeSprites, or would it be easy to
> cludge one up.  I'm trying to include sprites in my game file and I
> don't want to to use GetaSprite (It seems to want to use more memory?
> Even after I free the shapes..)
>
>     If anyone can help, thanks...
Interesting idea - maybe you could use INCBIN and later a pointer, but I have
not tried out that... if you have BUM7, there's some info about including
data into your own programs. Sorry that I can not give you a better advise,
maybe someone else has more to say :)

Gregor B. Rosenauer
Vienna, Austria
E-Mail: [e-mail]







From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sat, 12 Aug 1995 13:05:37 +0200 (METDST)
From: Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer <[e-mail]>
To: Simon Armstrong <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BUM 8

FINALLY! It's almost too good to be true. :)) I hope I will get it before
Oct. (uni) so that I can play around with it.
Maybe you should split up sothat one half can work on Sega-Games and the
other one is completly devoted to Blitz;) BTW, is the optimizer planned
to be included again sometime?
4K-Groovy code: I could send you a groovy Blitz2-Icon:) Is that enough??
Can I get BUM8 now?? Pleeease.

Gregor B. Rosenauer
Vienna, Austria
E-Mail: [e-mail]


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sun, 13 Aug 95 00:38:06 GMT
From: Chi Wai Lee <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Blitz newsgroup

Whatever happened to the Blitz Basic newsgroup???


--
+===========================================================================+
|                                                                           |
|      Chi Wai Lee - [e-mail] (Spiral Vortex Productions)       |
|                                                                           |
+===========================================================================+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sun, 13 Aug 1995 18:15:00 +0100
From: Audun Vaaler <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Registering Blitz

A couple of months ago, I sent off my Blitz Basic II registration card to
the address printed on it - Acid Software, PO Box 3172, Hampstead, London,
NW3, England. Then, one month or so later, I got the very same card back with
a 'return to sender' sticker applied to it, on which the box 'gone away' was
ticked.

Therefore, I wonder if someone knows which address I should send my
registration card to. I also wonder what to do to subscribe to BUM - and as I
live in Norway, if that fact would influence the price.


  //| || // Audun Vaaler  | E-mail:             | Only //| |\/| || //_ |\\
 //|| ||//  Bakkebo       | -------             |     //|| |||| || \\/ ||\\
//-+| ||/   N-2040 Klxfta | [e-mail] |     makes   it   possible

              Have a look at my current Blitz Basic-project at:
                http://www.powertech.no/~audunv/SuperPac.html



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 1995 23:34:40 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Blitz newsgroup (fwd)

Forwarded message:

> From: Chi Wai Lee <[e-mail]>
>
> Whatever happened to the Blitz Basic newsgroup???
>

It's still there (alt.sys.amiga.blitz), but for some reason
people have had a lot of problems receiving it.

If you mean the plan to start comp.sys.amiga.blitz -
this has been on halt, because 1) I was lazy 2) when
I finally got accurate info last month from the mailing list, which
should help users in these questions, there wasn't enough
messages/day that I could have written the RFD (request
for discussion) with good arquments. We are close to
"critical mass" so that we could success - but we
definitely don't have >30 messages/day or 1000 subscribers,
which is considered to be enough in the recommedations.

But I just today came up with an idea, which could solve
the problem for ALL Amiga programmers, who would see
the messages of some list occasionally, but don't want
to subscribe the list: let's write RFD for
comp.sys.amiga.programmer.m-l or something like that, which
would be place to forward all programming related mailing-lists'
post. The listservers would add something before the
original subject (A: for Amos, B: for Blitz E: for E...),
so that people could read only the messages of which they
are most interested - but they would see from subjects,
what is happening with other languages.

I don't know yet, maybe it's silly idea, and we should instead
try to start many separate newsgroups at once - this could
be easier in fact than just advocating for Blitz group...

-Mikko


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 95 20:58:59 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz newsgroup (fwd)

Hi Mikko, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Aug 14:

> But I just today came up with an idea, which could solve
> the problem for ALL Amiga programmers, who would see
> the messages of some list occasionally, but don't want
> to subscribe the list: let's write RFD for
> comp.sys.amiga.programmer.m-l or something like that, which
> would be place to forward all programming related mailing-lists'
> post. The listservers would add something before the
> original subject (A: for Amos, B: for Blitz E: for E...),
> so that people could read only the messages of which they
> are most interested - but they would see from subjects,
> what is happening with other languages.

I disagree with that. You shouldn't put all programming mailinglists
again into a newsgroup. If someone is interested in the language he
will add himself to the mailing list but not for reading everything a
second time in a newsgroup.

btw, this would have the affect that the people instead of adding
themselves to the lists will only write through the newsgroup.

I think the way it is is ok. and, why not use some existing basic
newsgroup like

            COMP.SYS.BASIC

???????????????????????????



--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 95 23:03:04 GMT
From: James Savage <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: My gadtools prob

Heres some code ...

.gui
   xpos = 4 : ypos = 175 : width = 92 : pad = 3
   Free GTList 2
   GTButton 2, 0,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_Thread",$0010 : xpos = xpos + width + pad
   GTButton 2, 1,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_FollowUp",$0010 : xpos = xpos + width + pad
   GTButton 2, 2,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_Reply",$0010 : xpos = xpos + width + pad
   GTButton 2, 3,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_MailTo",$0010 : xpos = xpos + width + pad
   GTButton 2, 4,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_Save",$0010 : xpos = xpos + width + pad
   GTButton 2, 5,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_Print",$0010 : xpos = xpos + width + pad
   GTButton 2, 6,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_Articles",$0010
   xpos = 4 : ypos = 4 : width = 320 : pad = 22
   GTText   2, 7,xpos,ypos,width,12,"",$0010,"" : xpos = xpos + width + pad
   GTText   2, 8,xpos,ypos,width,12,"",$0010,""
   xpos = 4 : ypos = ypos + 13
   GTText   2, 9,xpos,ypos,width,12,"",$0010,"" : xpos = xpos + width + pad
   GTText   2,10,xpos,ypos,width,12,"",$0010,""
   xpos = 644 : ypos = ypos + 13
   gtmin = 0
   gttop = 0 ;article()\abody
   gtmax = 0; article()\alen
   GTScroller 2,11,xpos,ypos,22,142,"",$400,16,gtmax,gttop
Return


.article_gui
   oldwin = win
   Window 2,(ScreenWidth-678)/2,(ScreenHeight-200)/2,678,200,$2|$4|$8,"GNews - Article Text",1,2,2
   Activate 2
   AttachGTList  2,2
   Use IntuiFont 0
   Use WindowFont 0
   Use Window 2
   GTSetString 2,7,from$
   GTSetString 2,8,org$
   GTSetString 2,9,subj$
   GTSetString 2,10,dat$
   GTBevelBox 2,9,ypos+11,640,142,0
   gttop = article()\abody
   gtmax = article()\alen
   GTSetAttrs 2,11,#GTSC_Top,gttop,#GTSC_Total,gtmax
   WLocate 328,6 : Print "at"
   WLocate 328,19 : Print "on"
   selected = False
   win = 2
Return


So, tell me why GTSetAttrs does sod all in the above routine, or ANY
routine! If I set #GTSC_Top and #GTSC_Total in the gui routine, all is
well, but adding and removing the user interface every time I open the
window is slow, and really pisses off enforcer!

Any ideas?

James



--
James on earth /\v/\  CountB on IRC /\v/\  [e-mail] on the Net

                    "Undead, undead, undead!" - Bauhaus


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 95 00:38:14 GMT
From: Chi Wai Lee <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz newsgroup (fwd)

> "critical mass" so that we could success - but we
> definitely don't have >30 messages/day or 1000 subscribers,
> which is considered to be enough in the recommedations.

Yep, it's gone awfully quiet all of a sudden.  Probably due to the
holidays.

> post. The listservers would add something before the
> original subject (A: for Amos, B: for Blitz E: for E...),
> so that people could read only the messages of which they
> are most interested - but they would see from subjects,
> what is happening with other languages.

This wouldn't be the best idea for the people who want to read off-line.

> I don't know yet, maybe it's silly idea, and we should instead

Sounds silly <G>

I bet once Blitz 3 (or whatever it's called) turns up, it'll start hotting
up again. (or even BUM8)

--
+===========================================================================+
|                                                                           |
|      Chi Wai Lee - [e-mail] (Spiral Vortex Productions)       |
|                                                                           |
+===========================================================================+


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 95 03:55:13
From: Crossbones <[e-mail]>
Reply to: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Bug in BlockScroll?

 I'm having a problem with the BlockScroll command, and just wondering if anyelse
is having this, or is it just me?

 I seem to be able to scroll on all axis 'cept one. Here's the different ones
I use...

BlockScroll 16,1,288,192,0,1 \ These are for the X-axis.
BlockScroll 0,1,288,192,16,1 / They work.

BlockScroll 16,32,288,160,16,16 \ This one works
BlockScroll 16,0,288,160,16,16  / This doesn't.

 It doesn't matter how I change the Y values, it always scrolls one line all the
way down the screen. Any suggestions?

Steve
 __________________________________ ______________________________________
|                                  |                                      |
| S. Flock - Binary Assault        |    Current Project : Donkey Kong     |
| Code Mangler, Gfxian, etc.       |    % Complete : [OOOOOOOO..] 80%     |
|__________________________________|______________________________________|
|    Other Projects: 3d Vector Routine [80%] , CiaTrackerLib [Done]       |
|_________________________________________________________________________|




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 95 14:27:39
From: Crossbones <[e-mail]>
Reply to: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Program priority

 How does one change the priority of the program? What I'm writing right now
needs a higher priorty than what it's probably at. (At any rate, I need the
ability to change it.)

Steve
 __________________________________ ______________________________________
|                                  |                                      |
| S. Flock - Binary Assault        |    Current Project : Donkey Kong     |
| Code Mangler, Gfxian, etc.       |    % Complete : [OOOOOOOO..] 80%     |
|__________________________________|______________________________________|
|    Other Projects: 3d Vector Routine [80%] , CiaTrackerLib [Done]       |
|_________________________________________________________________________|








From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 1995 17:05:25 +0200 (METDST)
From: Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer <[e-mail]>
To: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Blitz newsgroup (fwd)

On Mon, 14 Aug 1995, Mikko Makela wrote:

> But I just today came up with an idea, which could solve
> the problem for ALL Amiga programmers, who would see
> the messages of some list occasionally, but don't want
> to subscribe the list: let's write RFD for
> comp.sys.amiga.programmer.m-l or something like that, which
> would be place to forward all programming related mailing-lists'
> post. The listservers would add something before the
> original subject (A: for Amos, B: for Blitz E: for E...),
> so that people could read only the messages of which they
> are most interested - but they would see from subjects,
> what is happening with other languages.
>
> -Mikko
I think that's a great idea - people using other lanugages could see
the benefits of Blitz;) and nobody could say we are narrow-minded.
It would be interesting to hear how things are done in other languages
(for example C, which I want to learn).

Gregor B. Rosenauer
Vienna, Austria
E-Mail: [e-mail]

* God save the Queen, we save your Data (advert) *

From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 95 23:52:04 EDT
From: Lynn Jennings <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RE: Program priority

>  How does one change the priority of the program? What I'm writing right now
> needs a higher priorty than what it's probably at. (At any rate, I need the
> ability to change it.)
>
> Steve

oldPriority.b = SetTaskPri_( FindTask_(0), newPriority.b )

SetTaskPri takes a task address and the new priority as arguments.
Calling FindTask with a parameter of 0 finds the address of the current (i.e.
your program's) task. You could put the results of FindTask in a long-sized
variable once and then use the variable instead of the call if you plan to
change the task priority more than once.

Note that the priority is a signed byte (-128 to +127) but you should avoid
setting it to higher than +5 (or lower than -5 ) or so unless you know what
you're doing.

Setting it to very high values will cause the system to crash and/or lockup as
vital system routines (such as the input.device) are effectively locked out.

Christopher Jennings
Enchanted Blade Associates


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 1995 06:43:40 +0800
From: Richard Wiffen <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Repeats

Am I the only one getting two copies of every message?

- Richard

     _--_|\ AMIGA /// Richard Wiffen ([e-mail]) -- Perth, W.A.
    /      \ OK! /// ---------------------------------------------------------
 ==>\_.--._/ \\\/// "I don't understand."
          v   \XX/                                "Ursula has great powers."



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 1995 09:07:50 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Repeats (fwd)

Forwarded message:
> Am I the only one getting two copies of every message?
>
> - Richard
>

No, I just mailed to my postmaster because of them.

-Mikko


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 1995 09:07:50 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Repeats (fwd)

Forwarded message:
> Am I the only one getting two copies of every message?
>
> - Richard
>

No, I just mailed to my postmaster because of them.

-Mikko










From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 1995 23:40:00 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Virtual i -glasses come - are we ready ?

I just read the latest news from The Amiga Web and
felt actually quite confident after reading about
these glasses, that they could be a breakthough
in the area.

Now, we really need libs for them as soon as possible...
Does anyone have any hint of developer info for them ?

--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| Homepage, like this sig, still under construction...        |
|                                                             |
| If you don't have time to do it all by yourself - delegate. |
|==============================================================

BTW, as you see, after writing my name manually to appr.
500-1000 messages, I finally decided to give up and
make a .signature file 8).
(when I began to use email, I couldn't get it to work -
and after that it became a habit)


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 95 14:04:11 GMT
From: James Savage <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: My gadtools prob (fwd)

On Wed, 16 Aug 95, Philipp Lonke wrote:

*** Start of forwarded message
Hi James, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Aug 15:

> So, tell me why GTSetAttrs does sod all in the above routine, or ANY
> routine! If I set #GTSC_Top and #GTSC_Total in the gui routine, all is
> well, but adding and removing the user interface every time I open the
> window is slow, and really pisses off enforcer!
>
> Any ideas?

Use TRITON ;)

*** End of forwarded message

That won't make gtsetattrs work.

Why won't anybody help me? ;(
--
James on earth /\v/\  CountB on IRC /\v/\  [e-mail] on the Net

                    "Undead, undead, undead!" - Bauhaus






From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 95 18:18:57 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: How to create an own task?

I hope that someone can help me:

 For my current project I need a clock, which advances not in real
time but in game time (e.g. an hour in the game are 15 minutes in
reality).

I thought about putting the clock-code into an interrupt but that
doesn't seem to me to be ok - the rest of my program is system
compliant (not in blitz-mode!) and the code takes longer than a 50ths
second...

so I thought about creating an own task who signals every minute or so
- but I just didn't get it how to do that.

I tried to understand how the RKMs tell it - perhaps that will take a
little time :) and I hope someone other can explain it to me easier.

Or is there a way in BB2 which I didn't see?

thanx for your help!

PS: I am very sorry, but Stefan Zeiger still didn't put his TRITON 1.4
on AmiNet. As I don't have direct ftp access myself, you still have to
wait - until next week, hopefully :)



--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")






From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:24 1995
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 1995 20:59:44 +0100 (BST)
From: "J.B.Gosland" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Help

Hello guys

Can someone answer the following and mail me back

1) How do i do hardware wrap around scrolling in blitz

2) Is there a version of the ClipBlit command available for Qblit

3) Can a List's pointer be set with a list variable without resorting to
using a loop

Thanks JBG







From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 1995 23:51:22 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Has somebody made circle-link ?


I haven't found the reason for dublicates yet.

Now I would like to everyone who has been linking the list
to somewhere, check that it isn't "circle-link".

--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| Homepage, like this sig, still under construction...        |
|                                                             |
| If you don't have time to do it all by yourself - delegate. |
|==============================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 95 10:10:19 +0200
From: Studer Andreas 3132 <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Virtual i -glasses come - are we ready ?

Hello,

> I just read the latest news from The Amiga Web and
> felt actually quite confident after reading about
> these glasses, that they could be a breakthough
> in the area.
>
> Now, we really need libs for them as soon as possible...
> Does anyone have any hint of developer info for them ?

The i-glasses does split a interlaced picture in the even and odd lines
for every eye (don't ask me, which will be for which eye, but this
is a minor problem... :). The resolution of the glasses is Lores-like.
Simon knows that. I have mailed them that 10 days ago.
But i don't know, if they'll include that now on his 3D-lib.

I think for the near future the follow things are more important:
CHEAP Amigas (also bundles).
CD-ROM's for every Amiga.
No more Amigas with no Fastram (2 Megs will give alot of speed
for a A1200) and no Harddisk (40 Megs would be still alot for a
Amiga).
The A1200 should have a HD-floppy like the A4000 has.

...

bye

Andrew



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 1995 19:08:43 +1000 (EST)
From: Vaughan Roberts <[e-mail]>
To: James Savage <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: My gadtools prob

>
> Heres some code ...
>
> .gui
>    xpos = 4 : ypos = 175 : width = 92 : pad = 3
>    Free GTList 2
>    GTButton 2, 0,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_Thread",$0010 : xpos = xpos + width + pad
>    GTButton 2, 1,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_FollowUp",$0010 : xpos = xpos + width + pad
>    GTButton 2, 2,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_Reply",$0010 : xpos = xpos + width + pad
>    GTButton 2, 3,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_MailTo",$0010 : xpos = xpos + width + pad
>    GTButton 2, 4,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_Save",$0010 : xpos = xpos + width + pad
>    GTButton 2, 5,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_Print",$0010 : xpos = xpos + width + pad
>    GTButton 2, 6,xpos,ypos,width,11,"_Articles",$0010
>    xpos = 4 : ypos = 4 : width = 320 : pad = 22
>    GTText   2, 7,xpos,ypos,width,12,"",$0010,"" : xpos = xpos + width + pad
>    GTText   2, 8,xpos,ypos,width,12,"",$0010,""
>    xpos = 4 : ypos = ypos + 13
>    GTText   2, 9,xpos,ypos,width,12,"",$0010,"" : xpos = xpos + width + pad
>    GTText   2,10,xpos,ypos,width,12,"",$0010,""
>    xpos = 644 : ypos = ypos + 13
>    gtmin = 0
>    gttop = 0 ;article()\abody
>    gtmax = 0; article()\alen
>    GTScroller 2,11,xpos,ypos,22,142,"",$400,16,gtmax,gttop
> Return
>
***** Code Deleted *****
>
> So, tell me why GTSetAttrs does sod all in the above routine, or ANY
> routine! If I set #GTSC_Top and #GTSC_Total in the gui routine, all is
> well, but adding and removing the user interface every time I open the
> window is slow, and really pisses off enforcer!
>
> Any ideas?
>
> James

    I don't think it's actually GTSetAttrs fault...
Try putting the GTScroller command at the start of the GT list, ie give
it an id of 0 and placing it near the top of the subroutine.

I've had the same trouble with sliders, so I think it has to do with the
order that Blitz sets up the GTlist, and having graphical gadgets
(scrollers etc.) at the start of the list.  But anyway that should solve
your problem. Let me know if it doesn't. (cause I've tried your code
segment and have got it to work :')

    Vaughan Roberts.
    [e-mail]
    http://yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au/~vroberts
    Member of Insane Software, and programer of Aerial Racers.



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 1995 12:30:04 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Virtual i -glasses come - are we ready ? (fwd)

Forwarded message:
> The i-glasses does split a interlaced picture in the even and odd lines
> for every eye (don't ask me, which will be for which eye, but this
> is a minor problem... :). The resolution of the glasses is Lores-like.
> Simon knows that. I have mailed them that 10 days ago.
> But i don't know, if they'll include that now on his 3D-lib.

Clever and simple solution. I guess it's possible to make Amiga
to show every second line from another screen/bitmap and every
second from another (and this would do it, wouldn't it ?) with
interrupts ? Ofcourse the speed will be a problem, as everything
must be calculated twice (some hacks may help here a bit).
>
> I think for the near future the follow things are more important:
> CHEAP Amigas (also bundles).
> CD-ROM's for every Amiga.
> No more Amigas with no Fastram (2 Megs will give alot of speed
> for a A1200) and no Harddisk (40 Megs would be still alot for a
> Amiga).
> The A1200 should have a HD-floppy like the A4000 has.
>
Yes, maybe, but I don't think we can make any libs for
these... 8) except that for cd-rom there should be better support.
I guess the bundles which are described in The Amiga Web's pages
are what we will see before Christmas.
>
> Andrew
>

--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| email: [e-mail]                                 |
| If you don't have time to do it all by yourself - delegate. |
|==============================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 95 17:30:20 +0200
From: Studer Andreas 3132 <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Virtual i -glasses come - are we ready ? (fwd)

Hello,

> Clever and simple solution. I guess it's possible to make Amiga
> to show every second line from another screen/bitmap and every
> second from another (and this would do it, wouldn't it ?) with

Erm... i'm not sure, if i understand you correctly, but i don't think,
this would work...
"interlaced" doesn't work this way. But i'm sure, it is possible
in a similar way with the famous chopper. :)
Does someone else have a simple solution for that?

> interrupts ? Ofcourse the speed will be a problem, as everything
> must be calculated twice (some hacks may help here a bit).

I think the greatest problem is to DRAW every picture twice. The
twice-calculating can't be too hard because in that moment, any
rotations, moving and animation of an 3D-object is done. So you
must simply calculate the scene in two "positions" along the
horizontal-axis,which will give you the distance between the eyes
for 3D.

cu

Andrew



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 1995 19:41:44 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Virtual i -glasses come - are we ready ? (fwd)

Forwarded message:

>
> > Clever and simple solution. I guess it's possible to make Amiga
> > to show every second line from another screen/bitmap and every
> > second from another (and this would do it, wouldn't it ?) with
>
> Erm... i'm not sure, if i understand you correctly, but i don't think,
> this would work...
> "interlaced" doesn't work this way. But i'm sure, it is possible
> in a similar way with the famous chopper. :)

Hmmbh. I should have known that.

> > interrupts ? Ofcourse the speed will be a problem, as everything
> > must be calculated twice (some hacks may help here a bit).
>
> I think the greatest problem is to DRAW every picture twice. The
> twice-calculating can't be too hard because in that moment, any
> rotations, moving and animation of an 3D-object is done. So you
> must simply calculate the scene in two "positions" along the
> horizontal-axis,which will give you the distance between the eyes
> for 3D.
>
Yes, I have programmed some demos for red/blue glasses (best
of them with AMOS long time ago) and know how it works. But
I don't know, how the fact that you only need to calculate
"little different" scene can make the calculation any easier.
Ofcourse the drawing takes time too.
--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| Homepage, like this sig, still under construction...        |
|                                                             |
| If you don't have time to do it all by yourself - delegate. |
|==============================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 95 18:57:02 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: My gadtools prob (fwd)

Hi James, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Aug 20:

> > Any ideas?
>
> Use TRITON ;)
>
> That won't make gtsetattrs work.
>
> Why won't anybody help me? ;(

But if you use TRITON you don't need GadTools anymore, no more caring
about fontsensitivity, screens, fonts, and all this ugly stuff. You
just create easily your window with buttons, sliders,
progress-indicators, checkmarks, listviews of any kind, etc... and you
just take care of the incoming messages - react on selected buttons
etc.

Resizing the window or anything else concerning the layout is no more
your task and/or problem - TRITON will do it for you.

btw: the thing is: with TRITON, changing attributes will work *always*
in what order the buttons etc. are ;)



--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 1995 15:02:49 -0500
From: Josh Jacobsen <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Amiga 1200

Okay... lotsa newbie questions...
One>> The copy of BlitzBasic2 that I bought will work fine on my A2000,
but it won't work worth crap on my A1200... even the really short sample
code from BUM #1 (with QBlit) won't work.  Most of the examples won't
work, except for Insectoids.  (which surprised me) This royally sucks.  Is
there something I need to set special for an A1200?

Two>> I've heard that the address on the Registration card is bad.  Is
there a different address that I should send it to?  Especially... The check
for the BUMS?

Three>> Is there someplace where I could FTP the newest libraries or
whatever?  Or do those come with the BUMS?  I know that there is a
Blitz FTP site, but I don't know where it is.

About the 3D goggles>> Haven't they had those around for a _long_
time... the ones that split the interlace?  I heard about those like 2 years
ago... was it just some kind of ultra-prerelease review?  Wouldn't you
have some major problems determining head tilt (as far as the 'close
together on a horizontal plane



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 1995 23:26:20 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Amiga 1200

>
> Okay... lotsa newbie questions...
> One>> The copy of BlitzBasic2 that I bought will work fine on my A2000,
> but it won't work worth crap on my A1200... even the really short sample
> code from BUM #1 (with QBlit) won't work.  Most of the examples won't
> work, except for Insectoids.  (which surprised me) This royally sucks.  Is
> there something I need to set special for an A1200?

You should get the latest version. Sadly not too easy to achieve.
>
> Two>> I've heard that the address on the Registration card is bad.  Is
> there a different address that I should send it to?  Especially... The check
> for the BUMS?
>
I don't have a list of addresses for BUM subscribtions,
although I have requested it almost a year now.

> Three>> Is there someplace where I could FTP the newest libraries or
> whatever?  Or do those come with the BUMS?  I know that there is a
> Blitz FTP site, but I don't know where it is.
>
Did you read the welcoming message ?
Try x2ftp.oulu.fi for a start. Acid stuff is copyrighted, but
many other libs are free. They don't prevent you from having
crashes though, I'm afraid.

> About the 3D goggles>> Haven't they had those around for a _long_
> time... the ones that split the interlace?  I heard about those like 2 years
> ago... was it just some kind of ultra-prerelease review?  Wouldn't you
> have some major problems determining head tilt (as far as the 'close
> together on a horizontal plane
>
I guess they have just now got it to a form, which is affordable (?)
and doesn't weigth too much or give you enormous headache after
one hour 8).

--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| email:[e-mail]                                  |
| If you don't have time to do it all by yourself - delegate. |
|==============================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 1995 23:30:56 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Circle-link probably found

Like someone (thanks, btw) noticed, the headers of
these dublicates told the address, which were causing
them. I would have checked them rigth away myself,
but I deleted couple of first ones as this was
first time something like this happend.

The address causing it is now removed (I asked
him to subscribe again, when he has checked it out),
but dublicates may come still couple of days.
Majordomo will prevent major troubles, but it won't
"bother" because of couple of messages 8(.
--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| email:[e-mail]                                  |
| If you don't have time to do it all by yourself - delegate. |
|==============================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 1995 23:52:49 +0300
From: [e-mail]
Subject: bsdsocket.library

(This message was approved by me, as it's not that much over
the 7000 char limit and can interest many. Sorry it took sooo
long, the approve script failed - Mikko)

From: Chi Wai Lee <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: bsdsocket.library
MIME-Version: 1.0

OK guys I've cleaned up the library a bit and it's now in a fully usable
state.  There's still no real docs to it except for the stuff in the
source so have fun and look at the supplied chat server for examples of
use.

I hope to get a full release vers out as soon as I get enuf thumbs up
and maybe a permanent libnum.

Anyway, look forward to receiving BUM8 soon...









  [Part 2, Attached file "socketlib.lha.uue"  7KB]
  [Unable to print this part]


  [ Part 3: "Attached Text" ]



--
+===========================================================================+
|                                                                           |
|      Chi Wai Lee - [e-mail] (Spiral Vortex Productions)       |
|                                                                           |
+===========================================================================+







From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 95 22:31:43 GMT
From: James Savage <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: My gadtools prob (fwd) (fwd)

On Sun, 20 Aug 95, Crossbones wrote:

*** Start of forwarded message
Hi James,

> On Wed, 16 Aug 95, Philipp Lonke wrote:
>
> That won't make gtsetattrs work.

 Hey, My mail crashed and I lost your orig. post. If you'd care to re-
enlighten me, I'll see if I can't help. No promises tho.. The most recent
thing I've done with gadgets was add a front end to the Protracker library
I'd revamped for Blitz2.

*** End of forwarded message

Its okay. It was a weird bug caused by the order of my gtlist.

James


--
James on earth /\v/\  CountB on IRC /\v/\  [e-mail] on the Net

                    "Undead, undead, undead!" - Bauhaus


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 1995 13:27:57 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
To: blitz list <[e-mail]>
Subject: BUM8 is finished

Yup, it's done and is being tested over the next few days. Contributors
expect email by Friday, others expect it in your mailbox within 3 weeks
depending on location etc.


1. Stereo glasses, the I-glasses development documentation is available
   on their home page in Word format. For Blitz all you would need to do
   is cludge a bitmap structure to effectively assign different bitmaps for
   odd and even lines, anyone with glasses email me and I'll send you the
   code. The big thing with these glasses is the tracking stuff and I don't
   know if Escom plan on the more expensive variety with tracking included.
   I personally think its a waste of time, as soon as you have tracking
   you need to give the player other cues such as force etc. for it to be
   convincing. There are drivers available for FarkForces and Descent so
   I'm probably talking through a hole in my head as I haven't experienced
   them.

2. Old versions of Blitz crashing on A1200, from what I can remember the
   problem is with the way Blitz opens its CLI, either use NOCLI which is
   why Insectoids works or remove any shell enhancers you are running that
   may be incompatible with Blitz...

3. GTSetAttrs problem: I have stated over and over again that Gadtools need
   id of 50 and bigger as the dickhead who wrote the version in 2.0 uses
   user id's lower than this in GTlists etc. If this doesn;t fix it then
   the latest version from RI probably does, I have put the .obj in latest
   blitzlibs but don't have source code (RI-please send) so can't say if
   gtsetattrs ability to reference a gadget from the id passes is better
   worse...

4. Acid publishing... Giles Hunter of GuildhallLeisure has been in NZ
   this weekend. After pointing out I should stop trying to do 300 things
   at once we have a new strategy for operating the Acid label and getting
   product finished and available. More news soon but the good news is
   people won't have to rely on Acid NZ to get things done (BUM will
   be regular and edited in UK for instance) and opportunities of BB
   users to get things published will be increased.

Stay tuned...

Simon


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 1995 12:45:47 -0500
From: Josh Jacobsen <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Cycling Gadget...

Is there some sample code for using a cycling gadget, somewhere?  It
doesn't seem that cycling gadgets are directly supported in Blitz (at least
not the version I have), and I wanted to make sure... Thanks.



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 95 13:58:49 EDT
From: Lynn Jennings <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RE: Timing in Amiga mode

>  For my current project I need a clock, which advances not in=
>  real
> time but in game time (e.g. an hour in the game are 15 minute=
> s in
> reality).
>
> I thought about putting the clock-code into an interrupt but =
> that
> doesn't seem to me to be ok - the rest of my program is syste=
> m
> compliant (not in blitz-mode!) and the code takes longer than=
>  a 50ths
> second...

Here's a couple of solutions...

First of all, there is nothing wrong with using interrupts in Amiga mode. The
Amiga provides an interrupt server chain for the vertical blank interrupt,
which in English means that it's fine to have a vblank interrupt as long as
you follow a couple of rules. Blitz happens to do this for you.

So for example, you can slap a simple counter mechanism in a SetInt like this:

DefType .w
DispHz=50 : If NTSC then DispHz=60
frames=0 : realSecs = 0 : gameMins = 0 : gameHours = 0

SetInt 5
  frames+1
  if frames = DispHz
    frames=0 : realSecs+1
    if realSecs = (60*4)  ; 60*4 since 4 real min = 1 game min
      realSecs+1 : gameMins+1
      if gameMins = 60
        gameMins=0 : gameHours + 1
      EndIf
    EndIf
  EndIf
End SetInt

The above is easily extendable for days, etc. as well.  The best part is
that once it's set up you don't have to think about it.  Just use the
gameMins and gameHours variables whenever you need the time.  The only
potential problem is with a line like this:

Print str$(gameHours)+":"+str$(gameMins)

Suppose the time is 2:59, and it changes to 3:00 exactly  when the ":" is being
printed. What you'll get is a jump from "2:59" to "2:00" and then (one frame
later) "3:00". (This won't be a big deal if you are redrawing your frames
a lot and are not too concerned (it would almost never happen), but see below.)

The solution here is to move everything higher than "realSecs" outside the
vblank routine, into a procedure that is called with "realSecs" as an
argument. This will give you a "locked" value for the seconds at the time the
procedure is called.

However, this makes a new problem: several seconds may pass between calls, so
the "if realSecs=60" bit won't work anymore. If you know that no more than one
extra minute will pass (i.e. the time between calls is less than 2 min.) you
can use:

if realSecs>= (60*4)
  gameMins + 1: realSecs = realSecs-(60*4) ; or realSecs mod (60*4)
  etc.

If it might be more, you can use a loop similar to above or use division and
modula arithmetic.

Anyway, you can also use the built in time functions. Store the time when you
start into a variable, then when you want game time, call a procedure that
compares current time with original time, and convert.

Either of these is certainly much less drastic and resource intensive than
launching another task. I hope this solves your problem, and as I said there's
nothing wrong with using vblank routines in Amiga mode.

Hope this helps more than it hurts!

Christopher Jennings
Enchanted Blade Associates


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 95 20:36:22 GMT
From: James Savage <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: BUM8 is finished (fwd)

On Tue, 22 Aug 95, Simon wrote:

*** Start of forwarded message

3. GTSetAttrs problem: I have stated over and over again that Gadtools need
   id of 50 and bigger as the dickhead who wrote the version in 2.0 uses
   user id's lower than this in GTlists etc. If this doesn;t fix it then
   the latest version from RI probably does, I have put the .obj in latest
   blitzlibs but don't have source code (RI-please send) so can't say if
   gtsetattrs ability to reference a gadget from the id passes is better
   worse...

*** End of forwarded message

It wasn't the id's, I tried that, it was the position in the list of the
gtslider. I moved it from 7 to 0 and it works. I might bung a +50 on the
lists to help things out as well tho.

James

--
James on earth /\v/\  CountB on IRC /\v/\  [e-mail] on the Net

                    "Undead, undead, undead!" - Bauhaus



From: JONNY (BEC) 01232 894383 <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <950823110825.21017287@bfsec>
Subject: 3270 Emulator
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Sender: [e-mail]
Precedence: bulk
X-Status:
Status: RO


Does any one know of an IBM 3270 emulator for the amiga ?

Otherwise i`m gonna have to hoke out some docs on it and write one me self !!

Cheers, Jonny



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 95 20:54:16 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: How to create an own task?

Hi Mikko, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Aug 21:

> > so I thought about creating an own task who signals every minute or so
> > - but I just didn't get it how to do that.
>
> I'm not sure I understand what you want to do, but if the
> clock is in the same program as from where it's been watched
> (wasn't it a game ?), why don't you just make a routine
> which writes this time often enough ?

That exactly is the problem: I want this routine "work alone". But I
don't want to put it via

SetInt x : clock{} : End SetInt

in any interrupt but instead doing this system friendly by creating an
own task.



--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")

From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 95 21:12:45 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Virtuali -glasses come - are we ready ? (fwd)

Hi Mikko, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Aug 21:

> > I think the greatest problem is to DRAW every picture twice. The
> > twice-calculating can't be too hard because in that moment, any
> > rotations, moving and animation of an 3D-object is done. So you
> > must simply calculate the scene in two "positions" along the
> > horizontal-axis,which will give you the distance between the eyes
> > for 3D.
> >
> Yes, I have programmed some demos for red/blue glasses (best
> of them with AMOS long time ago) and know how it works. But
> I don't know, how the fact that you only need to calculate
> "little different" scene can make the calculation any easier.
> Ofcourse the drawing takes time too.

AFAIR a posting by Dr. Peter Kittel (AT), you don't have to calculate
anything more ... the glasses are put on the composite video output of
your amiga and it splits the picture by itself. the resolution should
be smth. like lores interlace. so just code your games as you did all
the time...



--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 1995 18:55:38 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: What are these disks ?

I found these from one bbs and wanted to ask, what are they and if they are
copyrighted before uploading to x2ftp:

RUCD1.DMS - RUCD3.DMS    Registered blitz basic user collection disk1-3
RUDEVC.DMS  800K   Registered blitz basic user delevelopers collection + info
bbdFev.dms  321K   Blitz Basic developers disk

There seemed to be some version of Triton in RUCD1.DMS

--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| email:[e-mail]                                  |
| I simulate chaostheory on my desk.                          |
|==============================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 95 17:11:51 GMT
From: James Savage <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: My gadtools prob (fwd) (fwd)

On Mon, 21 Aug 95, Philipp Lonke wrote:

> > > Any ideas?
> >
> > Use TRITON ;)
> >
> > That won't make gtsetattrs work.
> >
> > Why won't anybody help me? ;(
>
> But if you use TRITON you don't need GadTools anymore, no more caring

But I need a support library yes? Is that freely distributable?

> about fontsensitivity, screens, fonts, and all this ugly stuff. You
> just create easily your window with buttons, sliders,
> progress-indicators, checkmarks, listviews of any kind, etc... and you
> just take care of the incoming messages - react on selected buttons
> etc.

Sounds nice. Can I change the position of, say, a slider from within my
code? Thats why I'm using gtsetattrs, to make my slider follow keyboard
shortcuts.

> Resizing the window or anything else concerning the layout is no more
> your task and/or problem - TRITON will do it for you.

I like that idea.

> btw: the thing is: with TRITON, changing attributes will work *always*
> in what order the buttons etc. are ;)

So where do I get it?

James

--
James on earth /\v/\  CountB on IRC /\v/\  [e-mail] on the Net

                    "Undead, undead, undead!" - Bauhaus


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 95 20:59:43 GMT
From: James Savage <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BUM8 is finished (fwd) (fwd)

On Wed, 23 Aug 95, Simon Armstrong wrote:

*** Start of forwarded message
>
>It wasn't the id's, I tried that, it was the position in the list of the
>gtslider. I moved it from 7 to 0 and it works. I might bung a +50 on the
>lists to help things out as well tho.
>
>James
>
OK, hopefully RI have taken careof that in the latest lib, Blizt searches
through gadgets checking their user id field, I think the
way setattrs was doing it was a little off, any comments Steve?

Simon

*** End of forwarded message

--
James on earth /\v/\  CountB on IRC /\v/\  [e-mail] on the Net

                    "Undead, undead, undead!" - Bauhaus


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 1995 12:57:38 +1200
From: Simon Armstrong <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: comp.sys.amiga.programmer anyone?

I noticed comp.sys.amiga.programmer was a bit quiet.

How many people would be into moving any blitz programming
discussion there? I would much prefer a lot of Blitz stuff
to be discussed in public discussion, I'm doing an AmiNet
version of 1.95 and don't see any reason why the main bulk
of blitz-list discussion shouldn't move at the same time.

Oh Mikko, what are these disks you mention? If they have
documentation files lifted straight from BUM i'm not too
sure I'm very happy. If they are in German and are done
by Falk I have no problem.

Simon



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 1995 07:44:45 -47900
From: The Crow <[e-mail]>
To: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: comp.sys.amiga.programmer anyone? (fwd)



On Thu, 24 Aug 1995, Mikko Makela wrote:

> Forwarded message:
>
> > From: [e-mail] (Simon Armstrong)
> > Subject: comp.sys.amiga.programmer anyone?
> >
> > I noticed comp.sys.amiga.programmer was a bit quiet.
> >
> > How many people would be into moving any blitz programming
> > discussion there? ....
>
> This could be the best solution, because:
> 1) we don't want to piss off all C, E & assembler programmers
> in comp.sys.amiga.programmer

  I agree.

> 2) RFD for comp.sys.amiga.blitz could get many people vouting
> against it, as they would think it's too spesific and then
> there should be group for each and every language available.
> Basic group on the other hand could get'yes' votes from
> all programmers (other than basic programmers too).

  Yes.  I would forget about being too specific.

> 3) People using other basics would see that Blitz beats
> those hands down and could change the language.
> 4) I don't think linking this list to any of existing
> groups is a good idea (again, someone will be angry).
> But linking it to the basic group shouldn't be
> a problem.
>
  This could be a good/sneaky way to get other programmers to
  switch over to this far more powerful language.

> If (and when) Blitz becomes dominant (if it isn't yet)
> basic for Amiga, and maybe even dominant dev. package for
> Amiga, nothing would prevent starting comp.sys.amiga.blitz.
>
  Perhaps.  Although I'm sure C is used alot and they don't have
  their own.
>
> Btw, this doesn't mean, that I would stop blitz-list.
> As far as there are people, who will use it, it will
> stay. I will look for a chance to make a filter with
> "some brain" in it to collect messages concerning blitz
> to the list.
> >

  If you can keep this list going, Great!.  I don't get onto
  other sites much these days (mainly because of my limited
  time access to the net).

Thanks

Tom Stone

From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:25 1995
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 1995 15:14:46 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: comp.sys.amiga.programmer anyone? (fwd)

Forwarded message:

> From: [e-mail] (Simon Armstrong)
> Subject: comp.sys.amiga.programmer anyone?
>
> I noticed comp.sys.amiga.programmer was a bit quiet.
>
> How many people would be into moving any blitz programming
> discussion there? I would much prefer a lot of Blitz stuff
> to be discussed in public discussion, I'm doing an AmiNet
> version of 1.95 and don't see any reason why the main bulk
> of blitz-list discussion shouldn't move at the same time.

I have noticed that too, but I still think that we will piss off
some people, if there will appear 10-30 messages/day conserning
Blitz in comp.sys.amiga.programmer.

That's why I have now come up with a solution, which could
be best for all: comp.sys.amiga.programmer.basic or just
comp.sys.amiga.basic (hmm, the first is a bit long & the
other may just be recognized to be for original Amiga basic -
which one do you folks prefer ?)

This could be the best solution, because:
1) we don't want to piss off all C, E & assembler programmers
in comp.sys.amiga.programmer
2) RFD for comp.sys.amiga.blitz could get many people vouting
against it, as they would think it's too spesific and then
there should be group for each and every language available.
Basic group on the other hand could get'yes' votes from
all programmers (other than basic programmers too).
3) People using other basics would see that Blitz beats
those hands down and could change the language.
4) I don't think linking this list to any of existing
groups is a good idea (again, someone will be angry).
But linking it to the basic group shouldn't be
a problem.

If (and when) Blitz becomes dominant (if it isn't yet)
basic for Amiga, and maybe even dominant dev. package for
Amiga, nothing would prevent starting comp.sys.amiga.blitz.

I will write the RFD today and mail it to this list today
or tomorrow. After that I would like to see as many comments
about it as possible (I usually get 1-5 comments, when I ask
something like this). This is important, as it's important
that RFD is well done - and as you remember, enliungsh verry
secondery langauge to me.

Btw, this doesn't mean, that I would stop blitz-list.
As far as there are people, who will use it, it will
stay. I will look for a chance to make a filter with
"some brain" in it to collect messages concerning blitz
to the list.
>
> Oh Mikko, what are these disks you mention? If they have
> documentation files lifted straight from BUM i'm not too
> sure I'm very happy. If they are in German and are done
> by Falk I have no problem.
>
> Simon
>
I don't know exactly, maybe someone has made a collection
himself. I didn't download all archives, as credits on that
bbs are very tight. There is some Falk's stuff anyway.
I will look it closer in the evening. Now I'll have to do
some cooking for our german visitors...


--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| email:[e-mail]                                  |
| I simulate chaostheory on my desk.                          |
|==============================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 95 18:56:36 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Cycling Gadget...

Hi Josh, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Aug 22:

> Is there some sample code for using a cycling gadget, somewhere?  It
> doesn't seem that cycling gadgets are directly supported in Blitz (at least
> not the version I have), and I wanted to make sure... Thanks.

either you use the blitz gadgets with

 TextGadget a,b,c,d,e,"This|Will|Cycle"

or you use GadTools (avaiable at least in BB2 v1.9)

 GTCycle list,id,x,y,w,h,"This|Cycles|Better",flags,options

or you use Triton

 !CycleGadget{&cycles(1),id,top}


--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 95 19:06:32 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RE: Timing in Amiga mode

Hi Lynn, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Aug 22:

> Either of these is certainly much less drastic and resource intensive than
> launching another task. I hope this solves your problem, and as I said there's
> nothing wrong with using vblank routines in Amiga mode.

there you are right - I looked through the rkms and got really weird
about that...

> Hope this helps more than it hurts!

it helped very much, indeed!! thanks a lot!


--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 95 19:07:31 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TRITON (was Re: My gadtools prob (fwd))

Hi James, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Aug 23:

> > But if you use TRITON you don't need GadTools anymore, no more caring
>
> But I need a support library yes? Is that freely distributable?

Yes, TRITON is freely distributable like ReqTools and MUI.

> Sounds nice. Can I change the position of, say, a slider from within my
> code? Thats why I'm using gtsetattrs, to make my slider follow keyboard
> shortcuts.

Mmm... I didn't try that and I would say you can't. But what is the
sense of a Cycle gadget that walks through the window moved by e.g.
the cursor keys?? Or did you mean to change the visible cycle entry??
This is no problem and easily to change!

> > Resizing the window or anything else concerning the layout is no more
> > your task and/or problem - TRITON will do it for you.
>
> I like that idea.

me too :)

> > btw: the thing is: with TRITON, changing attributes will work *always*
> > in what order the buttons etc. are ;)
>
> So where do I get it?

That's the clou. The latest release of TRITON, numbered 1.4, is not
yet avaiable on aminet. You can get TRITON 1.3 there in dev/gui -
remember, you need this to FDConvert the library!

In TRITON 1.3, the Blitz2 package wasn't complete - now it is. Due to
the fact that I don't have direct ftp access to "put" a file on a ftp
server, I couldn't put the blitz package alone on x2ftp.oulu.fi.

I'd be grateful if someone could do that for me! You will get a free
example of the triton blitz package :-)


--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 1995 23:32:51 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: draft of Request For Discussion

This is the draft of RFD, which I promised.
Do _not_ forward this to any public forum.
I will start discussion in comp.sys.amiga.programmer myself -
this is to "soften the ground" for RFD.

Please send me all suggestions for changes.
It's quite welldefined, what should be in these RFDs and
I have tried to follow the guidelines.

If someone has better suggestion for name, please tell that too.
comp.lang.basic.amiga could be possible, but as almost all
other amiga groups start "comp.amiga", this could be confusing.

------------start of rfd----------

                     REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
           unmoderated group comp.sys.amiga.programmer.basic

Summary:             Discussion of basic languages for Amiga computers
Proposed by:         Mikko Makela  <[e-mail]>

This a formal Request For Discussion concerning the creation of a new
unmoderated newsgroup called comp.sys.amiga.programmer.basic.
This is not a Call For Votes (CFV).  Please do not vote at this time.

PROPOSED GROUPS:

comp.sys.amiga.programmer.basic

RATIONALE:

There currently exists only one newsgroup for Amiga programmers,
named comp.sys.amiga.programmer. This group though has traditionally
been mainly used by programmers of other than basic languages, like
C, E and assembler. This means that many people would find it very
irritating, if suddenly comp.sys.amiga.programmer would be filled
with messages concerning basic languages. There exists atleast
two very active mailinglists for basic languages, so linking these
lists to comp.sys.amiga.programmer would surely irritate "old users"
of the group.

On the other hand, separation of all languages to their own specific
group would seem to be too much and the volume of most of these
groups would be low.

CHARTER:

comp.sys.amiga.basic is meant for all basic languages which
are available for Amiga range of computers. Also all mailing-
lists, which specify to same area, would be allowed to link
their messages with the group.

PROCEDURE:

A Call for Votes will be posted within 7-10 days of this posting, on
approval of the news.announce.newsgroups moderator.  This vote will
be administered by a neutral third party and will follow the rules
outlined in the Newsgroup Creation Guidelines.

DISTRIBUTION:

This RFD is being posted to the following newsgroups:

comp.sys.amiga.programmer
comp.sys.amiga.misc

Discussion of this RFD will take place on news.groups.  All
follow-up posts should be made to news.groups.

--------end of rfd-------
--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| email:[e-mail]                                  |
| I model chaostheory on my desk.                             |
|==============================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 95 11:49:18 +0200
From: Studer Andreas 3132 <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: screen for i-Glasses

Hello,

Well, i don't have these i-Glasses, but i'm just curious,
which solution would be the fastest way to combine two
bitmaps in one interlaced screen for this...

bye

Andrew


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 95 10:25:57
From: Crossbones <[e-mail]>
Reply to: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: IncLibrary

 This really should go to Richard Elmore, but I can't find his address, so I'm
sure this will reach him just the same. ;) (maybe someone else can help too?)

 After going in and using the include-tool, I've been trying (and trying..) to
get the IncSound command to work correctly. In the compile options, I set the
number of sounds to 20.

This is what I tried to do:

if IncSound(0,?sfx1)=false then end
if IncSound(1,?sfx2)=false then end  <--- Problem line

 It seems that any number above 0 for a sound number gives back the error
"Value out of maximum range." Is there something I missed?

Steve
 __________________________________ ______________________________________
|                                  |                                      |
| S. Flock - Binary Assault        |    Current Project : Donkey Kong     |
| Code Mangler, Gfxian, etc.       |    % Complete : [OOOOOOOO..] 80%     |
|__________________________________|______________________________________|
|    Other Projects: 3d Vector Routine [80%] , CiaTrackerLib [Done]       |
|_________________________________________________________________________|






From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 95 10:41:05 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RE: Timing in Amiga mode

Hi Lynn, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Aug 22:

> Here's a couple of solutions...

thx a lot!

[example code]

> The above is easily extendable for days, etc. as well.  The best part is
> that once it's set up you don't have to think about it.  Just use the
> gameMins and gameHours variables whenever you need the time.  The only
> potential problem is with a line like this:

ok, I got another problem. Since my program can be opened on any
screenmode, I always have to check which screenmode is used. That
would be not as complicated if I weren't using TRITON - because here
the user selects the screen not in the program but in an separate
prefs editor (like MUI).

So I thought about just using another interrupt. I thought about the
CIA ports interrupt (SetInt 3) or the software interrupt (SetInt 2).
Do you know, how I have to count then? How much per minute do these
interrupts come? every 50ths or only every second?

thx for help,



--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Sat, 26 Aug 95 18:56:31 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Triton 1.4 released (fwd)

so, for all you folks. you can get the newest triton incl. the
complete blitz basic 2 package on aminet or, if you have an older
triton already, get the blitz package stand alone on x2ftp.oulu.fi


|-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------|

found in ftp.uni-paderborn.de/aminet/new and should be available at all
AmiNet sites soon.

        Changes since release 1.3:

*****************************************************************************

    Changes for Triton users and developers:
    ========================================

    triton.library asked for diskfont.library v37 which caused problems on
      OS2.0 systems. This is fixed now. triton.library asks for v36 only.
    QuickHelp windows accidentally appeared always on the default public
      screen instead of the screen of their parent window.
    Some gadgets could accidentally be activated by <Return> although they
      were not intended to react on that shortcut.
    Double (string gadget like) borders were not drawn correctly in 'thick'
      mode with OS versions below 3.0.

    Changes for Triton developers only:
    ===================================

    Fixed flaws in the autodoc class documentation.
    Cycle gadgets in MX mode didn't set all necessary IDCMP flags which
      caused MX gadgets not to work properly in some cases.
    Updated BlitzBasic support packet.
    Changing of class_Listview.TRLV_Top was not possible and caused the
      Listview to become disabled when you tried it.

    Internal changes:
    ================

    Added some major new features to the OOP kernel. The message dispatching
      is now a bit faster with even more speed increase expected for the
      next release.

*****************************************************************************

<html>

Downloading <b>Triton 1.4</b> from AmiNet:

<ul>
<li> USA <i>(wuarchive.wustl.edu)</i>
     <ul>
     <li> <a href="ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/util/libs/tri14usr.lha"> User archive</a>
     <li> <a href="ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/dev/gui/tri14dev.lha"> Developer archive </a> (user archive is also required!)
     </ul>
<li> Germany <i>(ftp.uni-paderborn.de)</i>
     <ul>
     <li> <a href="ftp://ftp.uni-paderborn.de/aminet/util/libs/tri14usr.lha"> User archive</a>
     <li> <a href="ftp://ftp.uni-paderborn.de/aminet/dev/gui/tri14dev.lha"> Developer archive </a> (user archive is also required!)
     </ul>
</ul>

</html>

--
Stefan Zeiger           mailto:[e-mail]
                        http://www.rhein-main.de/people/szeiger/index.htm


|------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------|


--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 1995 19:33:40 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TRITON

Forwarded message:

> From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>

> In TRITON 1.3, the Blitz2 package wasn't complete - now it is. Due to
> the fact that I don't have direct ftp access to "put" a file on a ftp
> server, I couldn't put the blitz package alone on x2ftp.oulu.fi.
>
> I'd be grateful if someone could do that for me! You will get a free
> example of the triton blitz package :-)
>

I can do it. In case anyone else is facing same kind of difficulties,
just uuencode what you have & send it to me, I'll upload it to x2ftp
or wherever you like.

--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| email:[e-mail]                                  |
| I model chaostheory on my desk.                             |
|==============================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 95 22:34:16
From: Crossbones <[e-mail]>
Reply to: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Triton

 I downloaded all the Triton stuff, wanting to check it out for myself.
There is a problem with this though, and I thought I'd let everyone know
about first. (It isn't a big problem, but it did annoy me.)

 Before you use the FDConvert program, make sure you have library #1 free
to use, or you'll create a conflict between your libraries. (You may use
Richard Elmore's excellent Library Manager to do this with.)

 Ok.. Now on to the bit I'm annoyed about. I wanted to check out the demo
programs, just to see how well blitz interacts with it.. But, if you're
like me, and you have to use a different library number, they won't work
because they aren't saved in ascii, and blitz won't know about the tokens.

 So, if someone would like to let the author know that he really should save
off those example programs in ASCII format in future releases.

Steve
 __________________________________ ______________________________________
|                                  |                                      |
| S. Flock - Binary Assault        |    Current Project : Donkey Kong     |
| Code Mangler, Gfxian, etc.       |    % Complete : [OOOOOOOO..] 80%     |
|__________________________________|______________________________________|
|    Other Projects: 3d Vector Routine [80%] , CiaTrackerLib [Done]       |
|_________________________________________________________________________|




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 95 21:20:21 GMT
From: Chris Russell <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Triton prob ...

    Damn, damn, damn .....

    I d/loaded Triton to give it a whirl but came across a
problem when I tried to FDConvert the lib file. Running FDConvert
with FDConvert triton_lib.fd just throws up some error message
about FDinfo and command line switches.
    Could someone *please* offer soothing words of advice on how
to get the damned thing to operate so's I can run the utility,
install Triton and play with it myself :))

TIA

Chris ...



--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 _ ___                                        |
| '_  \ __ _  ____  _ __ ___    __ _  _ __    |   My name is Ozymandias
| |_) // _" |/ _` || '_ ` _ \  / _` || '_ \   |       King of Kings
|  _ <| (_| | (_| || | | | | || (_| || | | |  |Gaze upon my works ye mighty
|_| \_\\__,_|\__, ||_| |_| |_| \__,_||_| |_|  |        and despair..
             |___/ [e-mail]   |
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 95 05:37:18 GMT
From: Ben Wyatt <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Game creator questionnaire

Hello all

I'm not subscribed to this list, but I want some advice/ideas for my current
project, a point and click adventure creator (PACAC :) ). It will hopefully
be able to make graphic adventures equivilant to Monkey Island, Beneath
the Steel Sky and Relics of Deldroneye.

If you're interested in such a program, please fill in the following
questionnaire and return it to me at [e-mail]. Thanks. You
may also be interested in some demo pics and furthur info on aminet
(dev/misc, PACAC.lha).

1. Would you prefer that there is no programming at all, even if they are
   very simple commands?

2. PACAC will be able to control many characters, as they wander about from
   screen to screen, doing jobs, talking to people, getting distracted, etc.
   (like in Beneath the Steel Sky)
   Do you think that the script for these characters, should be programmed
   or built up using the mouse (takes longer)?

3. At the moment, the system uses variables to hold the current state of the
   game. These are called Var1, Var2, e.t.c. Would you prefer to have
   real names (such as "animstate", "count", "timesmet", etc) instead of the
   above? This would mean quite a bit more programming for me. Otherwise, a
   list of all the var numbers could come up, with their meanings beside
   them and the final game would also execute faster.

4. Complex conversations will be possible, with characters taking actions
   simply because of something you said, and the possibility of giving your
   character a good or bad reputation. To do this, commands will have to be
   built into the conversation. For example, "*T{1} How are you? *T{2}
   I'm very well, *N how about you? *T{1} *C{*O1 I'm great
   *O2 Life stinks and so do you} *T{2} *1{ [IncVar1] That's nice} *2{
   [DecVar1] I know}"

   In the above conversation between you *T(1) and another character *T(2),
   this happened:
         You:How are you?
   Character:I'm very well, (on next line) how about you?
         You:(A choice between "I'm great" and "Life stinks and so do you")
   Character:(If you said "I'm great", then say "That's nice" and
             increase Var1. If you said "Life stinks and so do you", then
              say "I know" and decrease Var1)

   Do you think this is too complicated? If so, can you suggest a better
   approach? Or should I cut it out all together?

5. Music can be played on certain screens, or when a character comes on to
   screen (like in Monkey Island 2). Do you think that PACAC should use
   Tracker files, or its own music editor that isn't compatible with
   anything?

6. The interface will be quite like the one on Beneath the Steel Sky. It
   goes on the principle that there are only two things you can do with an
   object. These being, look at it and use it.
   Anyway, do you prefer this method to the standard method using icons
   along the bottom (Look at, Open, Use, Push, etc) for PACAC games to use?

7. Should the data files be encrypted, so that only the programmer can edit
   them? Or should the files be available to everyone, to look at/change?

8. Should I split the system into three separate parts, Screen Editor,
   Character Editor, Game Editor? Or should I try to keep it all in one
   editor?

9. In the script language that I have created, commands can get quite long.
   For example:

   Character Walk To / Char Walk To

   Animation On / Anim On

   ...and so on, do you prefer the shorter versions, although they make
   it slightly less "readable"?

10.Do you want the game to be controlled by one script, or would you
   prefer that each object in the game contains its own piece of
   programming. For example, imagine this in a game:

      There is a door, that can only be opened if the player turns two
      switches to "on". The two switches start in the "off" position.

      For this example,
         Var1=switch 1 state (0=off, 1=on)
         Var2=switch 2 state
         Var3=both the switches state (2=both on)
         Exit 1 is the door.
         Comments are shown in brackets.

      Switch 1:
         If Use and Var1=0 Then IncVar1 : IncVar3 : Animate (using switch)
         If Use and Var1=1 Then DecVar1 : DecVar3 : Animate

      Switch 2:
         If Use and Var2=0 Then IncVar2 : IncVar3 : Animate
         If Use and Var2=1 Then IncVar2 : DecVar3 : Animate

      Door:
         If Use and Var3=2 Then Animate (door opening) : Exit On 1

   Otherwise. if it were a single script:

      Object 1 is switch 1
      Object 2 is switch 2
      Object 3 is the door

         If Use1 and Var1=0 Then IncVar1 : IncVar3 : Animate (using switch)
         If Use1 and Var1=1 Then DecVar1 : DecVar3 : Animate

         If Use2 and Var2=0 Then IncVar2 : IncVar3 : Animate
         If Use2 and Var2=1 Then IncVar2 : DecVar3 : Animate

         If Use3 and Var3=2 Then Animate (door opening) : Exit On 1

      Notice that the only difference is that the object number is
      specified. Also, this code would be surrounded by the rest of the
      code for the current screen/game.

   Which method do you prefer?

11.PACAC will support some kind of Animation. Which would you prefer this
   to be; Anim5 (Dpaint) or er... PACAC type :)

   PACAC type animations would have extra things which Anim5 doesn't have,
   eg. Fading, sound effects, the outlined text, etc. but it would
   probably be harder to make your animations. Maybe it could import
   Anim5 animations and allow you to edit them. Anyway, which do you
   prefer?

12.Are there any particular tools you'd like to have, when making your
   adventure? e.g. Screen renderer, character generator, e.t.c.

13.Any comments/ideas/suggestions you wish to add or you'd like to
   answer furthur questionnaires, then here's the place for it:

Thanks for your time and help. :)
   _________________________________
  /                                 \
  > Ben Wyatt - [e-mail] <
  \_________________________________/ ©1995 Very Interesting Signatures


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 1995 08:48:41 +0300
From: Kosiva stylianh <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: New user..


Please, inform me about the current BlitzII version.
Mark 'Force' Papadakis
Objmanip Programmer
'At last i am in list..':-)


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 1995 11:31:05 +0300
From: Kosiva stylianh <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Question..

What is the object of the conversation these days? I am a new user and ..
Does anyone know if there is another program like ObjManip?
Q2:What is the next BIG THING for the BlitzII?
Mark 'Force' Papadakis
[e-mail]


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 1995 14:51:12 +0300
From: Kosiva stylianh <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]

Info about ObjManip
-------------------
Current version:2.00
Installer      :MPInstaller V1.0
Status         :Completed

Programmer     :Mark Papadakis ([e-mail])
Genre          :Convertion and manipulation of graphic objects
Range          :BlitzII shapes, AMOS Icons, AMOS Bobs, IFF Brushes, .info files
Kickstart      :1.1 - 3.1
MemRequired    :1 MB Ram

PDWare         :ShareWare (Demo version allows only 20 images)
Shared$        :10 $

This program was written by me in order to convert some games that i had written in AMOS(crap!) and see how fast would they run with BlitzII.. I sent a version (1.0b) to Greece's computer mag PIXEL. The liked it and they contacted with me. So, i sent them v1.2. The popularity of the program was big enough to persuade me to write the current version. It was completely rewritten, with my MPInterface and it is tottaly bug-free.... Please, mail me for more info. I will upload the demo version to the official BlitzII ftp site, if i 'ill make to connectt there, that is...
If you want i can uuencode the .lha file and sent it to the list...
Not that big(only 350K :-)
Mark'Force'Papadakis


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 1995 21:53:40 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Buffers...

>
> I'm having ridiculous problems with Blitz2... Every time I select
> "Compile/Run" from the menu, it resets all my buffers (under options).
> While this is moderately annoying on my A2000, it's absolutely frustrating
> on my A1200, where the computer crashes whenever the buffers are
> improperly set.
>
> is there any way to set these 'options' or save them or something, so it
> always uses them?  I'm writing programs to capture 336 shapes from
> text files (and set proper handles) from iff files, and my main program will
> be using over 1000 shapes.  I think I re-booted my computer 20 or more
> times last night while trying to do stuff... (it actually took me quite a while
> to realize that the options were being reset, and in some cases lowered
> to like 2k)
>
> BTW.... Thanks, Phillip, for the Cycling Gadget tips!
>
Blitz saves (atleast in my version, 1.9) the compiler options settings
along the program, so just save the program after you have changed
the settings.

--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| email: [e-mail]                              |
| I model chaostheory on my desk.                             |
|==============================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 1995 22:19:04 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Blitz digests

Who was it, who requested the recent messages from blitz-list
week or two ago ? Sorry I didn't get back to you, but
you didn't remind me, so half of the blame is yours 8)...

Anyway, I'm going to upload big archive of these messages
to aminet in near days. I should make this every month
I guess from now on... Mark, do you still keep the
digests in your homepage ? I don't have enough room
to do that (uh, I haven't yet even found time to make
my homepage ready. I guess I'm too making too many
things at once...)

--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| email: [e-mail]                              |
| I model chaostheory on my desk.                             |
|==============================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 1995 21:16:03 -47900
From: The Crow <[e-mail]>
To: Kosiva stylianh <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: 3D stuff...



On Tue, 29 Aug 1995, Kosiva stylianh wrote:

> I know that the 'Seek n Destroy' as well as the 'Guardian' were written in BlitzII. The question is:BlitzII doesnt have any 3D handling commands... How did they make it?
> Mark Papadakis
>
>
>
 I could be wrong, but I think that Mark Sibly used BLITZ2 to create a 3D
 modeling program which he then used to design all his game objects.

 He also used BLITZ2 to create other "utilites" which he used to help
 design GLOOM.

 However, I don't think "Guardian" or "Gloom" were coded in BLITZ.

 I may be wrong on this, but I don't think so.


 Thanks


 Tom Stone


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 1995 23:40:56 +0100
From: Roy Antonsen <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Requester mayhem


Hi there.

I've just started out with Blitz Basic, and I've encountered some small
problems. I'm making a vote-poller program wich is using GTStrings and
GTListviews. This works fine. But how do I read the text that has been
entered into the GTStrings and store them in a file?

I'm also having some trouble with an About-requester that's supposed to
be in the prog. Currently, I have this code (only part of it ofcourse):

#MOUSEMOVE=$10:#INTUITICKS=$400000
  AddIDCMP #MOUSEMOVE+#INTUITICKS

.main
  Repeat
    ev.l=WaitEvent
    If ev<>#MOUSEMOVE AND ev<>#INTUITICKS Then Gosub addevent
  Until ev=$200
Free Window 0
Free Screen 0
End

.addevent
 If MenuHit=0 AND ItemHit=3 Then Gosub about
Return

.about
  Title$="About"
  BodyText$="Jurassic Pack Pro-Poller V1.0|19(C)95|By KillJoy/BDZ"
  GadgetText$="OK"
  result=Request(Title$,BodyText$,GadgetText$)
Return

Now, when I select About from the menu, and press OK, the About
requester keeps popping up. It disappears and returns again! It just
won't end! What am I doing wrong here?

Please, reply to my email adress, as I am not a member of this mailing-
list.

Roy Antonsen aka // A1200T - EMail: [e-mail]
  KillJoy/BDZ. \x/ THOR 2.01 - Current time:29-Aug-95 21:23:20


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 1995 10:07:35 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
To: Kosiva stylianh <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: 3D stuff...



On Tue, 29 Aug 1995, Kosiva stylianh wrote:

> I know that the 'Seek n Destroy' as well as the 'Guardian' were written in BlitzII. The question is:BlitzII doesnt have any 3D handling commands... How did they make it?
> Mark Papadakis
>
>
>
Neither of those games were written in Blitz. Don't beleive anything you
read in magazines!

Simon


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 1995 10:11:33 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
To: Josh Jacobsen <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Buffers...



On Tue, 29 Aug 1995, Josh Jacobsen wrote:

> I'm having ridiculous problems with Blitz2... Every time I select
> "Compile/Run" from the menu, it resets all my buffers (under options).
> While this is moderately annoying on my A2000, it's absolutely frustrating
> on my A1200, where the computer crashes whenever the buffers are
> improperly set.
>
Ummm, using 2 pass compiling Blitz will make sure all relevant buffers
are as small as possible except for string workspace which the programmer
has the last say. If your object maximums are being overwritten something
you are doing something way wrong. The only thing I know that resets
object maximums is to reloadlibs from compiler menu which I find a
ginormouse pain in the butt but Mark says no change...

Simon


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 95 01:16 BST-1
From: Graham Kennedy <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Fixer for Triton demo programs

For all those people attempting to get the triton demo proggies working
here is a fixer you can run against each of them to convert the internal
library number into the one you have assigned to the FDconvert program.

I have avoided anything fancy so it should be ok with all blitz releases.

No promises, as I've just knocked it together, but it worked for me.

---------------- start of fixer program ------------------(start cut here)
; Library Converter
; Quick hack, by [e-mail]
; this seems to work OK, but no promises.

WBStartup

WbToScreen 0
WBenchToFront_

MaxLen path$=160
MaxLen fname$=64

here:

Print "Enter the Value you used in FDConvert (1-255) :"
lib=Edit(3):If lib<1 OR lib>255 Then NPrint "Enter a number between 1 and 255":Goto here
nlib.l=(lib+256)*128

NPrint "Select cancel on Filerequester to exit"
ifn$="wibble"
While(ifn$<>"")

  ifn$=FileRequest$("Select A file to Convert",path$,fname$)

  If ifn$<>""
    If ReadFile(1,ifn$)
      ok=WriteFile(2,ifn$+".new")
      Print "Converting (",ifn$,")......"
      FileInput 1:FileOutput 2
      While(Eof(1)=0)
        a$=Inkey$(1)
        If Asc(a$)=135
          ; found a triton command, lets convert it
          cmd=(Asc(Inkey$(1)) AND 127)
          newcmd.l=(nlib OR cmd)
          a$=Mki$(newcmd)
        End If
        Print a$
      Wend
      DefaultOutput
      NPrint "Complete"
    End If
    DefaultInput
    CloseFile 1
    CloseFile 2
  End If
Wend
End
------------------- end of fixer program ----------------- (end cut here)

Hope this is of use.

All the best





Graham K.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 95 01:16 BST-1
From: Graham Kennedy <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Triton prob ...

In-Reply-To: <[e-mail]>

>    Damn, damn, damn .....
>
>    I d/loaded Triton to give it a whirl but came across a
>problem when I tried to FDConvert the lib file. Running FDConvert
>with FDConvert triton_lib.fd just throws up some error message
>about FDinfo and command line switches.
>    Could someone *please* offer soothing words of advice on how
>to get the damned thing to operate so's I can run the utility,
>install Triton and play with it myself :))
>
>TIA
>
>Chris ...

Firstly, Install triton itself (I think the 'libs:triton.library' file is
required when you run the FDconv program, could be wrong tho.)

Hokey dokey.. here's wot I did..
from the shell
FDconv triton_lib.fd
Then (I think) it says something about a library, enter
triton.library
(remember case is important)
then it asks for a library number from 1-255, if you have no 3rd party
extensions enter 14 here. (if you don't use a 14 you will have probs with
the demo programs.. I'll try and write a library fixer for the demo progs
tonight.
This should create the library OK.
you then need to run the makedeflibs program to (surprisingly) make the
deflibs file (although I do advise you to back up your current deflibs
just in case).

Hope this helps.





Graham K.


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 1995 11:50:49 -0700 (MST)
From: "ROBERT B. PIGFORD" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Ode to Blitz



Rich Elmore's email address is <[e-mail]>

And now, here's something we think you'll _really_ like...


There once was a program called Blitz
Which everyone said was a hit
The software was bought
And on my shelf it did rot
Said me to myself "This the pits!"

This software, it seems, will not run
As the version is not the new one
Rev one point nine's out
They say there's no doubt
This latest is oh so much fun.

A call to the US rep made
He emails me a full upgrade!
It won't reconstruct
The archive's defunct
We're back to square one, I'm afraid.

I send email back to the dude
No reply, not a word, how rude!
All I want is what works
Nothing fancy, no perks
(Easy now, don't come unglued!)

So high on my shelf the box sits
Useless dead trees and full disks
Confidence gone,
Simon's promises a yawn
About that box full of nothing but shit!

B^)

--
- Rob.                       D/S Phoenix Scottish Pipe Band
[e-mail]         Phoenix, Arizona
                             [phone]


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 1995 22:16:24 +0300 (EETDST)
From: Mikko Makela <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Urgent: developer status, how much ?

I need some facts for this lobbying which I'm trying to
do with AT: how much is developer status currently ?
What does one get with it ? How much are RKMs ?
Overall: how much money does one have to spend to
effectively learn Amiga programming skin deeper nowadays ?

--
|==============================================================
| Mikko Makela, University of Helsinki, Computer Science      |
| email: [e-mail]                              |
| I model chaostheory on my desk.                             |
|==============================================================


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 95 21:31:34 CET
From: Philipp Lonke <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Fixer for Triton demo programs

Hi Graham, you wrote in <[e-mail]> on Aug 30:

> For all those people attempting to get the triton demo proggies working
> here is a fixer you can run against each of them to convert the internal
> library number into the one you have assigned to the FDconvert program.
>
> I have avoided anything fancy so it should be ok with all blitz releases.

For all those, who want it easier ;)

The library ID I used was 14. I sent to Mikko the ascii listings with
a short key to programming-guide. so they will be on x2ftp soon.

[didn't I wrote that already in a mail? I get older ;)



--
Philipp Lonke * http://www.rhein-main.de/people/phips/index.htm *
"Lehrerkommödie: Die Armut der Lehrer, während die Staaten Unsummen für
die Wehrmacht hinauswerfen. Da sie nur Lehrer für 600 DM sich leisten
können, bleiben die Völker so dumm, daß sie sich Kriege für 60
Milliarden leisten müssen." (Ch. Morgenstern, "Aphorismen")


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 1995 11:09:55 +0200 (METDST)
From: Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer <[e-mail]>
To: Blitz-List <[e-mail]>
Subject: BitmapInput-BUG,ColSplit

I wonder why nobody encounters that bug, but I have serious probs with it
and it stops me from finishing a game that I have been playing around with
for more than 2 years now (not because of the complexity but more because
of long interruptions through school/university...):

THE BUG: Simply try to use BitmapInput in Blitzmode and then Edit$ to get
a string. It prints the prompt and then halts the system _completly_!
I am confused by the last docs in the BUM-magazine, where it says that
Blitz leaves the Keyboard-Interrupt on and you don't have to use Blitzkeys
anymore (or something like that). I finally got that to work with Blitz1.8,
but now with 1.9 it crashes again:( Any glorious ideas??:)
BTW I still use the old Slice-Lib, because I don't want to rewrite these
routines anymore - I want to finish that game now. Anyway, can this be the
cause for the crash?

ColSplit: I have got no reply to that question yet:(, but could someone ex-
plain me how I can _remove_ a Colsplit? I only want to use one at the end
of a level, and later restore the display to normal. Should I do a ColSplit
with the same rgb-numbers for every line to remove the effect?
Please help..!

Gregor B. Rosenauer
Vienna, Austria
E-Mail: [e-mail]

* Let us finally bear in mind that it is easier to *
* spend two dollars than to save one. (W. Allen)   *


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 1995 09:46:33 +0000 (GMT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: BitmapInput-BUG,ColSplit

Gregor B. Rosenauer wrote:

 > ColSplit: I have got no reply to that question yet:(, but could someone ex-
 > plain me how I can _remove_ a Colsplit? I only want to use one at the end
 > of a level, and later restore the display to normal. Should I do a ColSplit
 > with the same rgb-numbers for every line to remove the effect?
 > Please help..!

 I had this problem with one of my games.  All I did was to save the area
 of memory (in which the ColSplits are stored) into an array at the start
 of the program (ie. before any ColSplits have been used).  Then poke this
 array back again to reset the screen to normal.  It's not a very nice
 was of doing it I admit, but it seems to work OK.

 I'll try to find the bit of code tonight, but it's pretty easy to do
 anyway.

 BTW Gregor, I couldn't reply to your email address
 '[e-mail]' for some reason - it says 'User Unknown'


 Matthew

 ______________________________________________________________________
//////// Matthew O'Donnell |||||||||||||| [e-mail] \\\\\\\
------------------------------------------------------------------------




From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: 31 Aug 95 15:32:00 BST
From: Mr M L Funnell <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: SIGNOFF

SIGNOFF [e-mail]



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:26 1995
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 95 23:06 BST-1
From: Graham Kennedy <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re[2]: Fixer for Triton demo programs

In-Reply-To: <[e-mail]>

>For all those, who want it easier ;)
>
>The library ID I used was 14. I sent to Mikko the ascii listi=
>ngs with
>a short key to programming-guide. so they will be on x2ftp so=
>on.
>
>[didn't I wrote that already in a mail? I get older ;)

Although, I think the RI CDlib extension also uses 14, so you could get a
clash.



Graham K.



From: JONNY (BEC) 01232 894383 <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <950901083813.21403e3b@bfsec>
Subject: amiga mailing lists
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Sender: [e-mail]
Precedence: bulk
Status: RO


anybody know of any other amiga mailing list addresses ?

cheers
Jonny


From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:27 1995
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 1995 03:29:20 +1200 (NZST)
From: Simon <[e-mail]>
To: Gregor Bernhard Rosenauer <[e-mail]>
Cc: Blitz-List <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: BitmapInput-BUG,ColSplit

I think you need blitzkeys on still for edit$, also make sure
bitmapoutput is fine as well. Best thing is a small test program, if you
can't get the test program going post it here, and though shalt fix it.



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:27 1995
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 95 18:47:09 CET
From: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Examples disk

Hi,

today  one  of  our users called me and asked if there exists a list of all
examples  available  for BlitzBasic. Nope, I said, but it's a good idea and
it could be very useful for all.

Therefore  I  ask  you  all  to  send  me all examples you can find on your
harddisks  which  haven't  been  published  yet  in  any way (so don't send
sources which are already one of the BUMs for example :-)))

I will collect them, sort them thematically, build a index file and put the
index file and the archive(s) on the FTP server and on the aminet.

Mikko, is Majordomo able to act like a server for files, e.g. bb2-examples?
That  would  be the easiest way for all I think, as not everbody has access
to  the  FTP or aminet directories. Via this server single sources could be
ordered,  an  index  file  can  be  posted monthly for example. If somebody
searches  for  a  routine how to program a GTListView for example, he might
have  a  look  on  the  index  file and "frequest" it from the BB2 Examples
Server.



Or  does there exist something like this already, and is there somebody who
would help me with this work?


seeya,

Falk

--
Falk Nieder                        _          [e-mail]
                                _ //  [e-mail]
BlitzBasic Distribution Germany \X/   German BB2-BBS: [phone]



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:27 1995
Date: Sat, 2 Sep 95 10:59:21 CET
From: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Triton prob ...

Reply to...
Chris Russell ([e-mail])
Re: <Triton prob ...>
Date: 28.08.95


CR>     Damn, damn, damn .....
CR>
CR>     I d/loaded Triton to give it a whirl but came across a
CR> problem when I tried to FDConvert the lib file. Running FDConvert
CR> with FDConvert triton_lib.fd just throws up some error message
CR> about FDinfo and command line switches.

which version of FDConvert do you use, 2.0? If not, you should organize it
(or I'll email it to you).


ciao,

Falk

--
Falk Nieder                        _          [e-mail]
                                _ //  [e-mail]
BlitzBasic Distribution Germany \X/   German BB2-BBS: [phone]



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:27 1995
Date: Sat, 2 Sep 95 10:59:36 CET
From: Falk Nieder <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Gregor's EMail (Re: BitmapInput-BUG,ColSplit)

Reply to...

[e-mail] ([e-mail])
Re: <Re: BitmapInput-BUG,ColSplit>
Date: 31.08.95

mm>  BTW Gregor, I couldn't reply to your email address
mm>  '[e-mail]' for some reason - it says 'User Unknown'

if he hasn't seen it yet: in his signature he forgets the "e" in front of
the 9425xxx... look at my email address at my university :-)


ciao,

Falk

--
Falk Nieder                        _          [e-mail]
                                _ //  [e-mail]
BlitzBasic Distribution Germany \X/   German BB2-BBS: [phone]



From [e-mail] Sep  3 22:30:27 1995
Date: Sat, 02 Sep 1995 13:15:11 +0100
From: Roy Antonsen <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Requester mayhem


On 31-Aug-95 23:32:00, [e-mail] wrote:
>> GTStrings and GTListviews. This works fine. But how do I read the
>> text that has been entered into the GTStrings and store them in a
>> file?

>With the Blitz command str$=GTGetString$(GTList,id)
Ok, thanks.

>To put them in a file refer to your blitzbasic manual. :)
Yes, I've discovered how to do this actually (I DO have a manual :))

>>   result=Request(Title$,BodyText$,GadgetText$)
>did you open a window? then try r=request(window,title$,body$,gad$)
Yes, I opened a Window, but how does this help from keeping the
requester popping up all the time? Anyway, this gives a Syntax Error
when compiling.

Roy Antonsen aka // A1200T - EMail: [e-mail]
  KillJoy/BDZ. \x/ THOR 2.01 - Current time:01-Sep-95 07:56:30