August 2017 - Fractint - mailman.xmission.com

Update to SDL version
by osuchj＠mediacombb.net 02 Oct '17

02 Oct '17

Folks, I've updated the experimental SDL version on the Developers website. It now runs a disk video mode, but only once, then it crashes. Jonathan

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Re: [Fractint] Update to SDL version
by Jonathan Osuch 30 Aug '17

30 Aug '17

> Harold, > I note that your SDL Fractint looks for color maps (with the <E> > command) in the Fractint directory, rather than the \maps\ directory, > as DOS Fractint does. > However, it loaded several different 256-color color-maps I copied > into the main Fractint directory like a champ! Make sure the directory that you have Fractint in is NOT on the Desktop. I don't know why it causes a problem, but it does. Jonathan

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Re: [Fractint] Update to SDL version
by Jonathan Osuch 29 Aug '17

29 Aug '17

Tim, > I'm more or less home-bound because of Tracy here in Houston, but > (knock on > wood) high and dry with power and internet. We are housing some > friends who > were flooded out nearby. Despite near constant light rain, Braes > Bayou has > not gone up again so far. Currently it is right at the top of it's > channel. > We are up quite a bit from there, but Saturday morning to water had > crept > up our street to near our house. The storm is moving with (bad > metaphor > alert) glacial slowness. We are relieved to hear you are safe. Thanks for the update. Jonathan

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Re: [Fractint] Update to SDL version
by David Jones 29 Aug '17

29 Aug '17

On Aug 29, 2017 03:14, Timothy Wegner <tim(a)tswegner.net> wrote: > > David asked: > > But how could you have too much time on your hands right now?< > > Still raining in Houston more or less continuously, and not a good idea to > try and go anywhere. By the looks of it things will be better by Thursday. Sorry, forgot you were in Houston. David W. Jones gnome(a)hawaii.rr.com authenticity, honesty, community http://dancingtreefrog.com

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Re: [Fractint] Update to SDL version
by David Jones 29 Aug '17

29 Aug '17

On Aug 28, 2017 13:54, Timothy Wegner wrote: > > Alex asked: > > Care to elaborate why Mercury is difficult to model? Is Mercury hard to > > model because of its proximity to an enormous gravitational mass? > > > > I think you have it right, close to the Sun. Explosions are constantly > happening on the sun, shooting matter up into space. Each time this happens > Mercury's orbit is perturbed. > > Tim Relativity also kicks in on Mercury's orbit due to being so deep in the sun's gravity well. David W. Jones gnome(a)hawaii.rr.com authenticity, honesty, community http://dancingtreefrog.com

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Re: [Fractint] Update to SDL version
by Timothy Wegner 29 Aug '17

29 Aug '17

I briefly tried Jonathan's latest sdl version ( http://fractint.net/ftp/experimental/SDL2-fractint-20.05alpha.zip) including disk video and had no immediate troubles. Probably time to make a PAR file with a variety of things to test for regression purposes. Note that Jonathan has not been changing the file name when he re-uploads. I'm more or less home-bound because of Tracy here in Houston, but (knock on wood) high and dry with power and internet. We are housing some friends who were flooded out nearby. Despite near constant light rain, Braes Bayou has not gone up again so far. Currently it is right at the top of it's channel. We are up quite a bit from there, but Saturday morning to water had crept up our street to near our house. The storm is moving with (bad metaphor alert) glacial slowness. There probably plenty of tie-ins between Hurricane' and fractals. The connection on my mind right now has to do with the trials and tribulations of prediction. The NOAA does pretty well with some very sophisticated mathematical models, but is hard put to know even which direction the storm will go a few days ahead. Look a week ahead and chaos reigns. I was thinking of a similar theme during the eclipse when of course everyone was rightfully impressed with the ability to predict a eclipse within seconds. That ability is entirely conditioned by the short time frame. I am not sure how far out one has to go for the eclipse events to appear chaotic. I've seen estimates of 5 million years or so. In greater than 5 million years or so we have no idea when the eclipses will be, and the problem is not computation power, but rather the limit of precision of models of planetary bodies, especially Mercury. Tim On Sun, Aug 27, 2017 at 10:03 AM, Jonathan Osuch <osuchj(a)mediacombb.net> wrote: > Folks, > > > I've updated the experimental SDL version on the Developers > > website. It now runs a disk video mode, but only once, then it > > crashes. > > The disk video modes are now fixed and the file has been updated on the > website. > > Jonathan > > _______________________________________________ > Fractint mailing list > Fractint(a)mailman.xmission.com > https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint >

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Predicting eclipses
by Timothy Wegner 28 Aug '17

28 Aug '17

This is what I get for hurriedly researching statements. I guessed a few thousand years might make solar eclipse prediction difficult. Then I did a quick search and saw the figure 5 million years. I didn't read far enough into the article, turns out that a few thousand years may be right. See: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/137350/how-far-ahead-can-we-pre… Tim

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Re: [Fractint] Update to SDL version
by Jonathan Osuch 27 Aug '17

27 Aug '17

Folks, > I've updated the experimental SDL version on the Developers > website. It now runs a disk video mode, but only once, then it > crashes. The disk video modes are now fixed and the file has been updated on the website. Jonathan

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Fractint build environment with XP under VirtualDisk
by Timothy Wegner 20 Aug '17

20 Aug '17

It's been quite a while since I had a build environment for the DOS fractint. My last one was lost when my oldest home-built PC running Windows XP died (though the disks are fine). So today I finally decided to do something about it. I'm not going to give all the steps because I doubt they apply to many (if any) of you, but if anyone is interested, ask. I still have my original Windows XP professional disc, as well as a service pack 2 slipstreamed copy I made many moons ago (and have forgotten how that was done) and a service pack 3 upgrade I downloaded. 1. I installed my Windows XP SP2 DVD into Oracle VirtualDisk under Windows 10. 2. I upgraded XP to Service Pack 3. 3. I validated the Windows XP copy with Microsoft even though I still had 30 days. Tedious but no problems, had to copy a lot of numbers. 4. I copied my c and assembler compiler directories c:\c700 and c:\masm611 from the dead machine hard drive. Thankfully there was no need to reinstall since the originals are on on zillions of floppies, and I don't even know if they are readable! 5. I set environment variables for INCLUDE, LIB, and PATH for both the C/C++ and MASM611 6. I copied the source files for fractint over, deleted any object code, created a DOS window, and inside the source directory invoked makefrac.bat. Voila! After about a minute, everything compiled, and the fractint.exe executable ran perfectly. All the VESA video support worked fine under VirtualDisk, even better than on the old dead XP machine. This is a terrific environment for maintaining the DOS Fractint. Flush with success, I tried the same thing on an older Windows 7 machine that has Microsoft's built in XP Mode. I could not get it to work for reasons I don't understand (makefrac.bat gave errors). I have limited scientific interest in that platform since I have virtual XP under Windows 10 working. Next step will be to get an SDL build environment working. Note that for different reasons than Jonathan, I too have limited hours to spend on fractint, so there's no telling when I'll get to this. Jonathan has a demanding job. I am happily retired, with a very full life. I guess that's a good thing. That said, the above steps rebuilding the DOS version build environment took the better part of a Saturday, and I have SDL on my mind, so will try to get to it. Tim

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Re: [Fractint] Fractint build environment with XP under VirtualDisk
by David Jones 20 Aug '17

20 Aug '17

On Aug 20, 2017 10:51, Timothy Wegner <tim(a)tswegner.net> wrote: > > Albrecht wrote: > > > I have one problem though: > > The native reso of my Monitor/Tv is 1920/1080 which > > is also used by XP in fullscreen mode, but > > the Fractint font size is too small for reading from my ususl > > viewing distance. How can you increase it ?? > > > >> > > I see what you mean. One can set the font of the DOS window (right click on > top bar, properties), but Fractint takes it over when it runs. If anyone > knows the answer let us know. Didn't DOS have a "mode" command that set the text screen stuff like color/monochrome and number of rows/columns? Ah, yes: https://www.computerhope.com/modehlp.htm Maybe try running that with appropriate settings before running Fractint? David W. Jones gnome(a)hawaii.rr.com authenticity, honesty, community http://dancingtreefrog.com > _______________________________________________ > Fractint mailing list > Fractint(a)mailman.xmission.com > https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint

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