DOSBox and Fractint - need testing
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you. Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works. DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200 Feedback much appreciated. Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here. Tim
One DOSBox note that may save some frustration. The keystroke ctr-F10 toggles whether the mouse is active inside DOSBox. If you lose the mouse outside of DOSBox, that keystroke will get it back. On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 4:32 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you.
Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip
Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works.
DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200
Feedback much appreciated.
Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here.
Tim
Hi Tim, I hope you had a nice turkey day! Pretty quiet here, but we're surviving. I have been running under SVN Daun. Thanks for the heads-up! I tried your setup and it seemed to run fine - indistinguishable from the other version to me. I haven't given it much of a workout yet - ie. I haven't tried it with the sound parameters - but will report what I find. I have already plugged my old values into the dosbox-x.conf file so it points to the right area for my setup. Thanks again! Bill Jemison Audio Fractals <https://sites.google.com/site/audiofractals/home> On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 3:44 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
One DOSBox note that may save some frustration. The keystroke ctr-F10 toggles whether the mouse is active inside DOSBox. If you lose the mouse outside of DOSBox, that keystroke will get it back.
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 4:32 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you.
Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip
Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works.
DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200
Feedback much appreciated.
Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here.
Tim
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Forgot to ask...I'm using Ver 20.04.14. Is that the latest? On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 5:48 PM Bill Jemison <bill.jemison@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tim,
I hope you had a nice turkey day! Pretty quiet here, but we're surviving.
I have been running under SVN Daun. Thanks for the heads-up! I tried your setup and it seemed to run fine - indistinguishable from the other version to me. I haven't given it much of a workout yet - ie. I haven't tried it with the sound parameters - but will report what I find. I have already plugged my old values into the dosbox-x.conf file so it points to the right area for my setup.
Thanks again!
Bill Jemison Audio Fractals <https://sites.google.com/site/audiofractals/home>
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 3:44 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
One DOSBox note that may save some frustration. The keystroke ctr-F10 toggles whether the mouse is active inside DOSBox. If you lose the mouse outside of DOSBox, that keystroke will get it back.
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 4:32 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you.
Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip
Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works.
DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200
Feedback much appreciated.
Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here.
Tim
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never mind...duh...I see it now in your first message On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 5:51 PM Bill Jemison <bill.jemison@gmail.com> wrote:
Forgot to ask...I'm using Ver 20.04.14. Is that the latest?
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 5:48 PM Bill Jemison <bill.jemison@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tim,
I hope you had a nice turkey day! Pretty quiet here, but we're surviving.
I have been running under SVN Daun. Thanks for the heads-up! I tried your setup and it seemed to run fine - indistinguishable from the other version to me. I haven't given it much of a workout yet - ie. I haven't tried it with the sound parameters - but will report what I find. I have already plugged my old values into the dosbox-x.conf file so it points to the right area for my setup.
Thanks again!
Bill Jemison Audio Fractals <https://sites.google.com/site/audiofractals/home>
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 3:44 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
One DOSBox note that may save some frustration. The keystroke ctr-F10 toggles whether the mouse is active inside DOSBox. If you lose the mouse outside of DOSBox, that keystroke will get it back.
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 4:32 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you.
Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip
Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works.
DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200
Feedback much appreciated.
Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here.
Tim
_______________________________________________ Fractint mailing list Fractint@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint
Bill and all, Just to give a bit of information. Look at this wiki page: https://www.dosbox.com/wiki/SVN_Builds So "SVN" means builds that incorporate the latest changes in the subversion repository, giving a heads up on upcoming features, because the "official" releases are slow in coming (like, ummm, fractint). Notice that SVN Daum is no longer recommended because it is not maintained. I chose DOSBox-X at https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x/releases, partly because the 1600x1200 VESA mode works. And, as you can see, DOSBox-X is hot off the press. After I get a few more reports on the performance of the DOSBox/Fractint zip file, I will add documentation and modify the website to acknowledge the dosbox/fractint combination in one package. Gosh, the "does Fractint run under 64bit Windows" emails keep coming, I just got another in the last hour. Jonathan's SDL version does run natively under Windows, but he is focussing on running SDL under Linux, and the Windows SDL version still has bugs. In related news, I am going over my equipment, and I do have a build environment under XP that would allow me to build a new DOS version. I could create a "release" version that would be essentially unchanged except for the help file. Tim On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 6:49 PM Bill Jemison <bill.jemison@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tim,
I hope you had a nice turkey day! Pretty quiet here, but we're surviving.
I have been running under SVN Daun. Thanks for the heads-up! I tried your setup and it seemed to run fine - indistinguishable from the other version to me. I haven't given it much of a workout yet - ie. I haven't tried it with the sound parameters - but will report what I find. I have already plugged my old values into the dosbox-x.conf file so it points to the right area for my setup.
Thanks again!
Bill Jemison Audio Fractals <https://sites.google.com/site/audiofractals/home>
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 3:44 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
One DOSBox note that may save some frustration. The keystroke ctr-F10 toggles whether the mouse is active inside DOSBox. If you lose the mouse outside of DOSBox, that keystroke will get it back.
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 4:32 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you.
Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip
Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works.
DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200
Feedback much appreciated.
Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here.
Tim
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<c> color cycle brings up the DOSBox-x configuration screen. On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 6:16 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Bill and all,
Just to give a bit of information. Look at this wiki page:
https://www.dosbox.com/wiki/SVN_Builds
So "SVN" means builds that incorporate the latest changes in the subversion repository, giving a heads up on upcoming features, because the "official" releases are slow in coming (like, ummm, fractint). Notice that SVN Daum is no longer recommended because it is not maintained. I chose DOSBox-X at https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x/releases, partly because the 1600x1200 VESA mode works. And, as you can see, DOSBox-X is hot off the press.
After I get a few more reports on the performance of the DOSBox/Fractint zip file, I will add documentation and modify the website to acknowledge the dosbox/fractint combination in one package. Gosh, the "does Fractint run under 64bit Windows" emails keep coming, I just got another in the last hour. Jonathan's SDL version does run natively under Windows, but he is focussing on running SDL under Linux, and the Windows SDL version still has bugs.
In related news, I am going over my equipment, and I do have a build environment under XP that would allow me to build a new DOS version. I could create a "release" version that would be essentially unchanged except for the help file.
Tim
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 6:49 PM Bill Jemison <bill.jemison@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tim,
I hope you had a nice turkey day! Pretty quiet here, but we're surviving.
I have been running under SVN Daun. Thanks for the heads-up! I tried your setup and it seemed to run fine - indistinguishable from the other version to me. I haven't given it much of a workout yet - ie. I haven't tried it with the sound parameters - but will report what I find. I have already plugged my old values into the dosbox-x.conf file so it points to the right area for my setup.
Thanks again!
Bill Jemison Audio Fractals <https://sites.google.com/site/audiofractals/home>
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 3:44 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
One DOSBox note that may save some frustration. The keystroke ctr-F10 toggles whether the mouse is active inside DOSBox. If you lose the mouse outside of DOSBox, that keystroke will get it back.
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 4:32 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you.
Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip
Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works.
DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200
Feedback much appreciated.
Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here.
Tim
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In fact, any use of a "c" - even when naming par files brings up the DOSBox-x configuration dropdown. On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 9:50 PM Bill Jemison <bill.jemison@gmail.com> wrote:
<c> color cycle brings up the DOSBox-x configuration screen.
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 6:16 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Bill and all,
Just to give a bit of information. Look at this wiki page:
https://www.dosbox.com/wiki/SVN_Builds
So "SVN" means builds that incorporate the latest changes in the subversion repository, giving a heads up on upcoming features, because the "official" releases are slow in coming (like, ummm, fractint). Notice that SVN Daum is no longer recommended because it is not maintained. I chose DOSBox-X at https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x/releases, partly because the 1600x1200 VESA mode works. And, as you can see, DOSBox-X is hot off the press.
After I get a few more reports on the performance of the DOSBox/Fractint zip file, I will add documentation and modify the website to acknowledge the dosbox/fractint combination in one package. Gosh, the "does Fractint run under 64bit Windows" emails keep coming, I just got another in the last hour. Jonathan's SDL version does run natively under Windows, but he is focussing on running SDL under Linux, and the Windows SDL version still has bugs.
In related news, I am going over my equipment, and I do have a build environment under XP that would allow me to build a new DOS version. I could create a "release" version that would be essentially unchanged except for the help file.
Tim
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 6:49 PM Bill Jemison <bill.jemison@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tim,
I hope you had a nice turkey day! Pretty quiet here, but we're surviving.
I have been running under SVN Daun. Thanks for the heads-up! I tried your setup and it seemed to run fine - indistinguishable from the other version to me. I haven't given it much of a workout yet - ie. I haven't tried it with the sound parameters - but will report what I find. I have already plugged my old values into the dosbox-x.conf file so it points to the right area for my setup.
Thanks again!
Bill Jemison Audio Fractals <https://sites.google.com/site/audiofractals/home>
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 3:44 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
One DOSBox note that may save some frustration. The keystroke ctr-F10 toggles whether the mouse is active inside DOSBox. If you lose the mouse outside of DOSBox, that keystroke will get it back.
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 4:32 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you.
Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip
Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works.
DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200
Feedback much appreciated.
Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here.
Tim
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Bill wrote: In fact, any use of a "c" - even when naming par files brings up the
DOSBox-x configuration dropdown.
My setup (which is exactly as I distributed it) the "c" key works as expected for me. Could you try a fresh unzip of my file and see if the "c" key works as expected with uzipped Fractint and DOSBox unchanged as opposed to your setup? Bill, you are going way above the call of duty for this because you are not the target audience (though your expert efforts are VERY much appreciated by me). My purpose for providing the dosbox/fractint zip file is to provide a quick answer to the question "Oops, can I run Fractint under 64 bits Windows?" My setup provides no value added for someone with your experience in both Fractint and DOSBox; I just distribute stock versions of both, integrated in one package. The good news is that as near as I can tell, running my versions of Fractint and DOSBox does not interfere with other installations of either package that the user might have.
From your experience, it looks like I need to find out what triggers "c" working with DOSBox vs being passed through to Fractint. So far I have heard back from several folks who were asking about running on Windows, and they reported no problems, but then I am quite certain they weren't testing as thoroughly as you are!
Thanks for your help. Tim
Tim - your setup seems to work just fine...no issues with "c" and works in 1600x1200 (my monitor won't display full size, but it generated and displays fine). I'm not sure what is going on with my setup, but I'll see what I can find. FWIW, I am using Win10 64bit Bill On Sat, Nov 28, 2020 at 7:44 AM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Bill wrote:
In fact, any use of a "c" - even when naming par files brings up the
DOSBox-x configuration dropdown.
My setup (which is exactly as I distributed it) the "c" key works as expected for me. Could you try a fresh unzip of my file and see if the "c" key works as expected with uzipped Fractint and DOSBox unchanged as opposed to your setup?
Bill, you are going way above the call of duty for this because you are not the target audience (though your expert efforts are VERY much appreciated by me). My purpose for providing the dosbox/fractint zip file is to provide a quick answer to the question "Oops, can I run Fractint under 64 bits Windows?" My setup provides no value added for someone with your experience in both Fractint and DOSBox; I just distribute stock versions of both, integrated in one package. The good news is that as near as I can tell, running my versions of Fractint and DOSBox does not interfere with other installations of either package that the user might have.
From your experience, it looks like I need to find out what triggers "c" working with DOSBox vs being passed through to Fractint. So far I have heard back from several folks who were asking about running on Windows, and they reported no problems, but then I am quite certain they weren't testing as thoroughly as you are!
Thanks for your help.
Tim _______________________________________________ Fractint mailing list Fractint@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint
Tim - I did a hard reboot, and the "problem" with the "c" disappeared. I should have tried that before reporting it, but anyway, it doesn't appear to be a problem after all. Bill Jemison On Sat, Nov 28, 2020 at 7:44 AM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Bill wrote:
In fact, any use of a "c" - even when naming par files brings up the
DOSBox-x configuration dropdown.
My setup (which is exactly as I distributed it) the "c" key works as expected for me. Could you try a fresh unzip of my file and see if the "c" key works as expected with uzipped Fractint and DOSBox unchanged as opposed to your setup?
Bill, you are going way above the call of duty for this because you are not the target audience (though your expert efforts are VERY much appreciated by me). My purpose for providing the dosbox/fractint zip file is to provide a quick answer to the question "Oops, can I run Fractint under 64 bits Windows?" My setup provides no value added for someone with your experience in both Fractint and DOSBox; I just distribute stock versions of both, integrated in one package. The good news is that as near as I can tell, running my versions of Fractint and DOSBox does not interfere with other installations of either package that the user might have.
From your experience, it looks like I need to find out what triggers "c" working with DOSBox vs being passed through to Fractint. So far I have heard back from several folks who were asking about running on Windows, and they reported no problems, but then I am quite certain they weren't testing as thoroughly as you are!
Thanks for your help.
Tim _______________________________________________ Fractint mailing list Fractint@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint
Tim, Could you point me to a good tutorial on working with DOSBox in Windows 10? I have a lot of legacy PC games that I would like to run which would require some sort of speed control. Thanks, Bud ----- Original Message ----- From: "Timothy Wegner" <tim@tswegner.net> To: "Fractint and General Fractals Discussion" <fractint@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, November 27, 2020 2:43:23 PM Subject: Re: [Fractint] DOSBox and Fractint - need testing One DOSBox note that may save some frustration. The keystroke ctr-F10 toggles whether the mouse is active inside DOSBox. If you lose the mouse outside of DOSBox, that keystroke will get it back. On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 4:32 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you.
Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip
Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works.
DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200
Feedback much appreciated.
Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here.
Tim
_______________________________________________ Fractint mailing list Fractint@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint
I have never read any DOSBox tutorials, so sorry for this obvious suggestion, try googling "dosbox tutorial" 😅 If you find a good tutorial, let us know here. That said, the DOSBox version I am currently using is a "svn" version (with changes that have not yet been released), as well as a few enhancements. It is called DOSBox-X, and their wiki page is here: https://dosbox-x.com/wiki/ I added a readme to my zip file and in the directory https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/ on the web, and made small changes to fractint.net. Tim On Sat, Nov 28, 2020 at 7:43 PM mchris@value.net - Webmail <mchris@value.net> wrote:
Tim,
Could you point me to a good tutorial on working with DOSBox in Windows 10? I have a lot of legacy PC games that I would like to run which would require some sort of speed control.
Thanks, Bud
----- Original Message ----- From: "Timothy Wegner" <tim@tswegner.net> To: "Fractint and General Fractals Discussion" < fractint@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, November 27, 2020 2:43:23 PM Subject: Re: [Fractint] DOSBox and Fractint - need testing
One DOSBox note that may save some frustration. The keystroke ctr-F10 toggles whether the mouse is active inside DOSBox. If you lose the mouse outside of DOSBox, that keystroke will get it back.
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 4:32 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you.
Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip
Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works.
DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200
Feedback much appreciated.
Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here.
Tim
_______________________________________________ Fractint mailing list Fractint@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint
_______________________________________________ Fractint mailing list Fractint@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint
Thanks Tim. Your links to the DOSBox and DOSBox-X Wikis were good places to start. I was pleased and somewhat surprised to see that Windows 10 is supported. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Timothy Wegner" <tim@tswegner.net> To: "Fractint and General Fractals Discussion" <fractint@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, November 28, 2020 6:16:35 PM Subject: Re: [Fractint] DOSBox and Fractint - need testing I have never read any DOSBox tutorials, so sorry for this obvious suggestion, try googling "dosbox tutorial" 😅 If you find a good tutorial, let us know here. That said, the DOSBox version I am currently using is a "svn" version (with changes that have not yet been released), as well as a few enhancements. It is called DOSBox-X, and their wiki page is here: https://dosbox-x.com/wiki/ I added a readme to my zip file and in the directory https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/ on the web, and made small changes to fractint.net. Tim On Sat, Nov 28, 2020 at 7:43 PM mchris@value.net - Webmail <mchris@value.net> wrote:
Tim,
Could you point me to a good tutorial on working with DOSBox in Windows 10? I have a lot of legacy PC games that I would like to run which would require some sort of speed control.
Thanks, Bud
----- Original Message ----- From: "Timothy Wegner" <tim@tswegner.net> To: "Fractint and General Fractals Discussion" < fractint@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, November 27, 2020 2:43:23 PM Subject: Re: [Fractint] DOSBox and Fractint - need testing
One DOSBox note that may save some frustration. The keystroke ctr-F10 toggles whether the mouse is active inside DOSBox. If you lose the mouse outside of DOSBox, that keystroke will get it back.
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 4:32 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you.
Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip
Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works.
DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200
Feedback much appreciated.
Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here.
Tim
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Hi Tim, It's been a while since I fired up Fractint, but might be just the thing to fill the excess pandemic 'stuck-at-home' hours. Unzipped your archive onto a non-system SSD drive ("J:" partition) and ran the 'run_dosbox_fractint.bat' file. Seems to work fine out-of-the-box with the 1600x1200 Vesa Standard interface, though very slow compared to the old Daum setup I've kept all these years, so probably some tweaking and re-configuration is in order. Have to flog the memory banks a bit to figure it out... No trouble with "c" or any of the command keys I've tried so far. Have not tested anything related to sound yet. OS: Windows 10x64, build 20H2 Ryzen 3700X CPU AMD X570 chipset 32 GB DDR4 ram AMD Radeon RX580 display adapter with 2 BenQ GW2765 27" monitors On 11/27/2020 5:32 PM, Timothy Wegner wrote:
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you.
Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip
Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works.
DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200
Feedback much appreciated.
Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here.
Tim _______________________________________________ Fractint mailing list Fractint@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint
Phil - On my Intel NUC, the 1600x1200x256 mode default Mandelbrot takes about 1:04 seconds with both DOSB0x-X and Daum. In any case, it is slow. To be honest, if I was into generating Fractals (never have been, for me it's the math and coding, though I admire the fractal artists here) I would probably find a native Windows fractal generator. That said, it gives me pleasure that it is so easy to run the truly ancient Fractint via DOSBox, which was first created thirty years ago. Maybe speed is not of the essence, I can imagine if I were a fractal artists running Fractint along side other work and not worrying about speed, as long as the fractal didn't take days or weeks! Bill - Thanks for checking the "c" keystroke issue. Now, like you, I am curious, about the "c" keystroke malfunction, but relieved that the default setup doesn't exhibit the problem. Some DOSBox versions, such as DOSBox-X provide an installation. I ran it for DOSBox-X and answered some questions, but then discovered it works fine just copying the result; if it didn't, I couldn't make a zipped-up distribution the way I did. Other versions (e.g. Daum) provide both an installation and a portable fixed setup. Two other notes: 1. I discovered to my horror that the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/dos/fractint-20.04p14.zip does not include fractint.cfg. I will remedy that. Amazing that it has been out there five years and no one complained. 😅 2. The one change I might make to my DOSBox/Fractint zip file is to edit fractint.cfg to include all the video modes DOSBox supports on top. By the way, I noticed that the VESA truecolor modes work, although I have no idea what those are good for, fractint doesn't really expolit truecolor. I will go ahead and modify the web site and write some instructions for DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip, which is not to say it is locked in stone if issues come up. And just to repeat, this is NOT targeted for experts who already have Fractint running via DOSBox, it's just meant to be a low resistance way to get started. Thanks folks! I am still intrigued why I have gotten Tim On Sat, Nov 28, 2020 at 10:22 AM Phil <phd8601@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tim,
It's been a while since I fired up Fractint, but might be just the thing to fill the excess pandemic 'stuck-at-home' hours.
Unzipped your archive onto a non-system SSD drive ("J:" partition) and ran the 'run_dosbox_fractint.bat' file. Seems to work fine out-of-the-box with the 1600x1200 Vesa Standard interface, though very slow compared to the old Daum setup I've kept all these years, so probably some tweaking and re-configuration is in order. Have to flog the memory banks a bit to figure it out...
No trouble with "c" or any of the command keys I've tried so far. Have not tested anything related to sound yet.
OS: Windows 10x64, build 20H2 Ryzen 3700X CPU AMD X570 chipset 32 GB DDR4 ram AMD Radeon RX580 display adapter with 2 BenQ GW2765 27" monitors
On 11/27/2020 5:32 PM, Timothy Wegner wrote:
Lately I have been getting emails from folks who long ago used Fractint, and wanted to try it again, only to discover it doesn't run under Windows. My guess is that these folks have lots of time on their hands because of the pandemic, which is why I am suddenly hearing from folks. Of course there are various other possibilities, including the SDL version Jonathan is working on, but my general answer has been to suggest they run the DOS version with DOSBox. I had generally recommended a version called DOSBox SVN Daum on a Chinese site. But today I learned that it is no longer maintained and is not recommended. So I found a much more recent DOSBox version, and set up some files that should make it very easy to use with Fractint. I would like some folks to try it. I have not yet written a readme or other instructions, but they are pretty simple. I would love some folks here to try it and and tell me if it works for you.
Download the file https://fractint.net/ftp/current/DOSBox/DOSBoxX_Fractint.zip
Unzip the zip archive to a directory on your Windows machine. You will see the directory DOSBoxX_Fractint containing a batch file, a directory for DOSBox-X and a directory for Fractint. You should be able to locate the batch file in Windows explorer and run it. DOSBox should come up running Fractint. Let me know if this works.
DOSBox is the DOSBox-X version 0.83.7 compiled Oct 31, 2020, and Fractint is version 20.04.14. The VESA video modes should work up to 1600x1200
Feedback much appreciated.
Hope everyone is healthy, my family is fine here.
Tim _______________________________________________ Fractint mailing list Fractint@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint
I recently got back into Fractint because it does some fractals that no one else does. I had an old Win7 box that I had retired, brought it back to life, installed the XP that runs under Win7 and it cranks out Fractint just fine. I tried a DOS emulator under Win X, but it was gruesomely slow. Not only did it emulate the old system, it ran it as slowly as it ran on old boxes! I will try the DOSBox-X to see how fast it does run. Here's a link to some of the animations I did with WinFract and Fractint: http://www.transobfuscationalpolyreality.com/fractanim.html R- "Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next." Arundhati Roy Ric Speed <mailto:westwind@swcp.com> westwind@swcp.com <mailto:westwind@windfromwest.com> westwind@windfromwest.com
On Sat, Nov 28, 2020 at 5:01 PM <westwind@windfromwest.com> wrote:
I recently got back into Fractint because it does some fractals that no one else does. I had an old Win7 box that I had retired, brought it back to life, installed the XP that runs under Win7 and it cranks out Fractint just fine.
I tried a DOS emulator under Win X, but it was gruesomely slow. Not only did it emulate the old system, it ran it as slowly as it ran on old boxes! I will try the DOSBox-X to see how fast it does run.
You piqued my interest. I also have an old slower machine that runs XP that runs Fractint natively, and it ran the default 1600x1200x256 Mandelbrot in 8.5 seconds, compared to 64 seconds under DOSBox. So the DOSBox scheme is not for serious fractal artists like yourself who want to crank out many high rez fractals. Then it dawned on me that DOSBox is meant for games, that in many cases need to be speed limited. In just a few minutes I was able to speed up the 1600x1200 fractal by 60 times. Go to the DOSBox-X CPU menu, and click "edit cycles" and set it to a really big number like 500000. This reduced the generation time from over a minute to .4 seconds. I challenge folks here to come up with an optimized run-as-fast-as-possibleDOSBox setting for Fractint. Tim
Somewhere in my collection, I think I have an OpenDOS install disk image. I wonder how fast Fractint would run under that installed on bare hardware? Last OS I used before Linux was OS/2 Warp. It ran Fractint very well in a window on the OS/2 Workplace Shell. On November 28, 2020 4:47:47 PM HST, Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
On Sat, Nov 28, 2020 at 5:01 PM <westwind@windfromwest.com> wrote:
I recently got back into Fractint because it does some fractals that no one else does. I had an old Win7 box that I had retired, brought it back to life, installed the XP that runs under Win7 and it cranks out Fractint just fine.
I tried a DOS emulator under Win X, but it was gruesomely slow. Not only did it emulate the old system, it ran it as slowly as it ran on old boxes! I will try the DOSBox-X to see how fast it does run.
You piqued my interest. I also have an old slower machine that runs XP that runs Fractint natively, and it ran the default 1600x1200x256 Mandelbrot in 8.5 seconds, compared to 64 seconds under DOSBox. So the DOSBox scheme is not for serious fractal artists like yourself who want to crank out many high rez fractals.
Then it dawned on me that DOSBox is meant for games, that in many cases need to be speed limited. In just a few minutes I was able to speed up the 1600x1200 fractal by 60 times. Go to the DOSBox-X CPU menu, and click "edit cycles" and set it to a really big number like 500000. This reduced the generation time from over a minute to .4 seconds.
I challenge folks here to come up with an optimized run-as-fast-as-possibleDOSBox setting for Fractint.
--- David W. Jones gnome@hawaii.rr.com authenticity, honesty, community http://dancingtreefrog.com Sent from my Android device with F/LOSS K-9 Mail.
I changed the cycles= command in dosbox-x.conf to cycles=max. On my system that changes cycles to 54337. Using a higher number reduces the calculation time further as reported by Fractint's tab screen, but I wouldn't trust the tab screen value anyway when the CPU is pushed to the limit. If anyone discovers other DOSBox-X parameters that should be tweaked to let Fractint run as fast as possible, please let me know. Tim
Indeed. I tried several different CPU cycles using the DOSBox CPU dropdown and the generation times (actual) vs. what Fractint reported varied wildly. My setup defaulted to cycles 3000 and the reported time and the real time were pretty close. I then tried max, which on my system is reported as approx 22000. I say approx because it varied during two different tests. the first time is was 21692 and the second was 22214. and both times Fractint reported around :09 vs actual :08.5. So I then doubled the CPU to 44000 and Fractint reported :04.39 vs. actual of :08.5. I tried 500000 and Fractint reported :00.39 vs actual :07.94. I even tried 1,500,0000 cycles and got Fractint reported :00.17 vs. :09.37 actual. Summary: CPU cycles Fractint time Actual time 3,000 :01:05.74 :01:06.37 22,000 (max) :00:08.79 :00:09.19 44,000 :00:04.39 :00:08.5 500,000 :00:00.39 :00:07.94 1,500,000 :00:00.17 :00:09.37 I hope this table comes out ok. My conclusion is that for CPU cycles, the best setting is "max". I think that the various speeds that I measured with my stopwatch show no consistent variations in speed after the max setting is exceeded. On Sun, Nov 29, 2020 at 4:28 PM Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
I changed the cycles= command in dosbox-x.conf to cycles=max. On my system that changes cycles to 54337. Using a higher number reduces the calculation time further as reported by Fractint's tab screen, but I wouldn't trust the tab screen value anyway when the CPU is pushed to the limit. If anyone discovers other DOSBox-X parameters that should be tweaked to let Fractint run as fast as possible, please let me know.
Tim _______________________________________________ Fractint mailing list Fractint@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint
I got Fractint to run using the DOSBox-X, however, as each animation may have thousands of frames, I prepare a .bat file of calls to Fractint and run that. The DOSBox setup just runs the program. Is it possible to have the DOSBox run a .bat file and feed Fractint? R- "Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next." Arundhati Roy Ric Speed <mailto:westwind@swcp.com> westwind@swcp.com <mailto:westwind@windfromwest.com> westwind@windfromwest.com _____ <https://home.mcafee.com/utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-e mail&utm_content=emailclient?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=s ig-email&utm_content=emailclient> Scanned by McAfee <https://home.mcafee.com/utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-e mail&utm_content=emailclient?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=s ig-email&utm_content=emailclient> and confirmed virus-free.
Been a long while since I ran any sort of DOSBox, but doesn't it just leave you at a DOS prompt? Then you could run a BAT file, right? On November 29, 2020 2:46:34 PM HST, westwind@windfromwest.com wrote:
I got Fractint to run using the DOSBox-X, however, as each animation may have thousands of frames, I prepare a .bat file of calls to Fractint and run that. The DOSBox setup just runs the program. Is it possible to have the DOSBox run a .bat file and feed Fractint?
R-
--- David W. Jones gnome@hawaii.rr.com authenticity, honesty, community http://dancingtreefrog.com Sent from my Android device with F/LOSS K-9 Mail.
At the end of the DOSBox .conf file there is a section for you to run bat files as well as do the mounting of drives, etc. That section in the file that Tim supplied contains this in the [autoexec] section: **************************** [autoexec] # Lines in this section will be run at startup. # You can put your MOUNT lines here. mount c ../fractint c: fractint **************************** Bill Jemison Audio Fractals <https://sites.google.com/site/audiofractals/home> On Sun, Nov 29, 2020 at 7:57 PM David W. Jones <gnome@hawaii.rr.com> wrote:
Been a long while since I ran any sort of DOSBox, but doesn't it just leave you at a DOS prompt? Then you could run a BAT file, right?
On November 29, 2020 2:46:34 PM HST, westwind@windfromwest.com wrote:
I got Fractint to run using the DOSBox-X, however, as each animation may have thousands of frames, I prepare a .bat file of calls to Fractint and run that. The DOSBox setup just runs the program. Is it possible to have the DOSBox run a .bat file and feed Fractint?
R-
--- David W. Jones gnome@hawaii.rr.com authenticity, honesty, community http://dancingtreefrog.com
Sent from my Android device with F/LOSS K-9 Mail.
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R- wrote
I got Fractint to run using the DOSBox-X, however, as each animation may have thousands of frames, I prepare a .bat file of calls to Fractint and run that. The DOSBox setup just runs the program. Is it possible to have the DOSBox run a .bat file and feed Fractint?
Bill Jemison accurately stated the situation about the changes I made to the DOSBox .conf file. I would just add that if you simply exit Fractint, you are left with a c: prompt, and you can run your batch file. Alternatively, you can edit the entries in the [autoexec] section of the .conf file. Tim
As a (once avid) user for decades, I was hoping this would help with what I was seeing. When I tried setting to 500000 cycles, weird things happened. In the last few days I’ve tried running under DOSBox-X you’ve provided, the VirtualBox .OVA I downloaded from fractint.net <http://fractint.net/>, and two different versions under Windows XP through VirtualBox. The fasted, by far, has been WinFract under XP on VirtualBox. At least I zoom into arbitrary precision and then it gets pretty slow. Maybe I’m doing something wrong. Part of my frustration is Fractint is familiar to me. I’ve tried other tools under Windows, but they lack something. Xaos, while relatively easy to navigate, can’t handle the deep zooms and the palette editing isn’t very intuitive to me. I tried Kalles Fraktaler, but it lacks any kind of intuitiveness and I can’t seem to figure out how to make a “clean” image as all the results appear fuzzy. It appears the Maths Town YouTube channel uses this for their videos, but I can’t figure out how to get the same kind of imagery. Any help would be grateful. Thanks for this wonderful program. Over the years it’s been a source of calm, casual entertainment for me. Not as often as I used to, but I still come back to it. —Aaron Eidinger
On Nov 28, 2020, at 6:47 PM, Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
You piqued my interest. I also have an old slower machine that runs XP that runs Fractint natively, and it ran the default 1600x1200x256 Mandelbrot in 8.5 seconds, compared to 64 seconds under DOSBox. So the DOSBox scheme is not for serious fractal artists like yourself who want to crank out many high rez fractals.
Then it dawned on me that DOSBox is meant for games, that in many cases need to be speed limited. In just a few minutes I was able to speed up the 1600x1200 fractal by 60 times. Go to the DOSBox-X CPU menu, and click "edit cycles" and set it to a really big number like 500000. This reduced the generation time from over a minute to .4 seconds.
I challenge folks here to come up with an optimized run-as-fast-as-possibleDOSBox setting for Fractint.
Tim
Aaron, I do not recommend crazy high values for the cycles variable, cycles=max is safer. On Sun, Nov 29, 2020 at 11:03 PM Aaron Eidinger <xiphiplastron@gmail.com> wrote:
As a (once avid) user for decades, I was hoping this would help with what I was seeing. When I tried setting to 500000 cycles, weird things happened.
In the last few days I’ve tried running under DOSBox-X you’ve provided, the VirtualBox .OVA I downloaded from fractint.net <http://fractint.net/>, and two different versions under Windows XP through VirtualBox. The fasted, by far, has been WinFract under XP on VirtualBox. At least I zoom into arbitrary precision and then it gets pretty slow.
Maybe I’m doing something wrong.
Part of my frustration is Fractint is familiar to me. I’ve tried other tools under Windows, but they lack something. Xaos, while relatively easy to navigate, can’t handle the deep zooms and the palette editing isn’t very intuitive to me.
I tried Kalles Fraktaler, but it lacks any kind of intuitiveness and I can’t seem to figure out how to make a “clean” image as all the results appear fuzzy. It appears the Maths Town YouTube channel uses this for their videos, but I can’t figure out how to get the same kind of imagery.
Any help would be grateful.
Thanks for this wonderful program. Over the years it’s been a source of calm, casual entertainment for me. Not as often as I used to, but I still come back to it.
—Aaron Eidinger
On Nov 28, 2020, at 6:47 PM, Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
You piqued my interest. I also have an old slower machine that runs XP that runs Fractint natively, and it ran the default 1600x1200x256 Mandelbrot in 8.5 seconds, compared to 64 seconds under DOSBox. So the DOSBox scheme is not for serious fractal artists like yourself who want to crank out many high rez fractals.
Then it dawned on me that DOSBox is meant for games, that in many cases need to be speed limited. In just a few minutes I was able to speed up the 1600x1200 fractal by 60 times. Go to the DOSBox-X CPU menu, and click "edit cycles" and set it to a really big number like 500000. This reduced the generation time from over a minute to .4 seconds.
I challenge folks here to come up with an optimized run-as-fast-as-possibleDOSBox setting for Fractint.
Tim
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participants (7)
-
Aaron Eidinger -
Bill Jemison -
David W. Jones -
mchris＠value.net - Webmail -
Phil -
Timothy Wegner -
westwind＠windfromwest.com