October 2002 - Fractint - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Fractint] Re: Fractint and Windows XP
by BillatNY＠aol.com 21 Oct '02

21 Oct '02

In a message dated 10/20/2002 1:05:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tgparker(a)worldnet.att.net writes: > What are your default desktop video settings when in Windows XP? You can > determine that by right-clicking your mouse on a blank part of your > standard desktop and then clicking your "settings" tab. Is there a > possibility in XP that you can't exceed the default video settings of your > desktop? i.e. if your default video settings are at 640x480 you can't > access 800x600, also check the settings of your Fractint.exe "Dos box". My screen resolution in XP is set at 800 x 600 so that can't be it. I looked at the settings of the DOS box. The only setting I can see that directly addresses resolution is on the Compatability tab. There is a box to check off that says "Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution." I have it unchecked. (I've tried it both ways and it doesn't change anything.) The memory settings of the DOS box are set at the defaults. Per Steven Hessler's info posted here last week, these shouldn't matter. Bill Rossi

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Re: Why use Fractint, and P4-DOS7
by JackOTradez 20 Oct '02

20 Oct '02

Replying to Tony Parker post: I use Fractint because it is still the most accurate of the rendering progs, and it can zoom far deeper and with higher iteration count, both of which are most important to me. Also, it is easy to create batch files to run Fractint in auto mode and create animations, which is what my programs do. As for your bare-bones Pentium-4 idea, I advise otherwise! I spent much of last year using 3 systems and various operating system/configurations to optimize Fractint. I conclusively found that the Pentium-3 works better than Pentium-4. Presumeably, something to do with the chip/instruction set etc.; Pentium-4 does not like DOS. Use a Pentium-3. Also, run Fractint in native DOS (not a windoze shell), loaded without TSR's, himem or emm386 or windows drivers. Clean DOS works best. I created a separate bootable partition and did a "sys c:" command from a boot floppy to create a clean DOS OS for Fractint, and have been using it for all my animations.

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FOTD 20-10-02 (Four Legs [8])
by Jim Muth 20 Oct '02

20 Oct '02

FOTD -- October 20, 2002 (Rating 8) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Curiously, now that I know how to control the inflow of junk e-mail when I don't want it, I actually have fun, when I'm in the mood, reading some of the pathetic stuff. Much of my junk e-mail informs me (presumably by law) that I have opted in to a mailing list to receive absolutely unwanted things such as free passwords to dirty web sites. And I would like to have a dollar for every time I have been relieved of the non-existent debt that I cannot pay. ;-) This flood of e-mail concerns me. I fear I might be developing amnesia, or perhaps even a multiple personality, for I have no memory of opting in to receive anything whatsoever. In fact, I would not know where to go to opt in even if I wanted to. Where are all these opt-in lists found? Wait! I know what happened! The cats did it! Now we can get on to the fractal business. ;-) Yesterday's fractal rated a lowly 4, so today I have doubled my effort and produced a fractal that, despite the somewhat gaudy background, still rates an 8. By doing so, I have atoned for my misdeed of losing the image that was supposed to be the FOTD for October 19. The high rating of today's image comes largely from the coloring, which I spent extra time in doing, and also because, unlike yesterday's image, which looked like just another M-set midget, today's image is unlike anything that, as far as I know, exists in the classic M-set. The parent fractal consists of a large cluster of Mandeloid- shaped bays with some huge fractal rings much farther to the east. Today's image lies in the center of a valley of one of the Mandeloids. The formula behind the image combines negative portions of Z^(-1.23), Z^(-12.3), and (1/C). For some reason, combining powers of Z whose absolute value differs by a factor of 10 seems to result in unusually interesting fractals. Of course, it could also be chance. I have named the image "Four Legs", because the four prominent appendages somewhat resemble barbecued chicken legs. The render time of 26 minutes is a bit too much, so a download of the completed GIF image is recommended. The GIF file may be found at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> The weather Saturday here at the Fractal Eclectic Emporium was cloudy, with a temperature of 61F 16C and just enough rain to keep the grass too wet for its final trimming of the season. That made me happy, but the cats complained loudly that they could not go into the yard without getting their paws wet. They must think that, because I control their food supply, I also control the weather. I stifled their complaints with a treat of tuna. Today is once again starting cloudy, but so far it has not rained. With the breeze drying the grass, the dynamic duo might manage a trip into the yard with dry paws before the day is finished. As for me, I feel lazy. Most likely for the rest of the day, I'll do little but forget the grass and explore for fractals. But I shall return on schedule in 24 or so hours. Until then, take care, and be at one with your fractals. Jim Muth jamth(a)mindspring.com jimmuth(a)aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Four_Legs { ; time=0:26:04.16--SF5 on a p200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=+3.84799783165988600/-0.020054445050299\ 35/3.936102e+007/1/50/1.36853965361505292e-006 params=-6/-1.23/-1/-12.3/0/0 float=y maxiter=3600 inside=0 logmap=561 periodicity=10 colors=000xIcwJdwKewLfwMgwNgwOiwPhwQkwRiwSmwTjwUow\ VjwWnvWivXlvXkuYjuZitZht_gt_fs`es_dsadqZbpX`nUZmSX\ lQWjNUiLSgIQfGOeENk9Wq5cv1kr4in6hj8fgAecDc_FbXHaTJ\ _PLZLOXIQWESUAUT7WSCXTGYULZVP_WU`XY`XZbZZd_Ze`Zga_\ hb_jc_kd_me`og`ph`ri`sjaukavlaxmaynbqhcicjFKeUTfMO\ gEJh7Ef8Fd9Fb9G`AGZAGXBHVCHUCISDIQDIOEJMFJKFKIGKHG\ KIFJJEIJDHKCHKBGLAFM9FM8EN7DN7DPPCReCTvCWuBZuBauAd\ uAgtAjt9mt9ot9ntAk``k``k`akaakablablbblbclbclcdlcd\ lcdTOeUPdUPdUQdUQcURcVRcVScVScVSbVTbVTbWTbWRaWPaWL\ aWMaWN`XO`XP`XQ_XR_XS_YT_YVZYWZYYZYZZZ`YZ`YZaYZaYZ\ bXZbX_bX_cW_cW_dW_dW`eV`ZV`fV`fV`gUagUagUahUahTaiT\ aeTbjSbjSbkSbkSblRcmRcnRcpRcqQcsQdrQdrQdwPdyPdzPcw\ AbtBaqB`nC_kCZhDYeDZdEZcEZcFZcF_cG_c__c``ca`cb`cc`\ cdaceacfadgbehbfibgjbhkcjmckoclqdmsdnudowBnzDmzEmz\ FmzGmzHmzImzJmzKmzLmzNmzOmzPmzQmzRmzSmzTmzUmzVmzXm\ zYmzZmz_mz`mzJmzQmzWmzamz } frm:MandelbrotMix4 {; Jim Muth a=real(p1), b=imag(p1), d=real(p2), f=imag(p2), g=1/f, h=1/d, j=1/(f-b), z=(-a*b*g*h)^j, k=real(p3)+1, l=imag(p3)+100, c=fn1(pixel): z=k*((a*(z^b))+(d*(z^f)))+c, |z| < l } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================

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Re: [Fractint] Re: Fractint on XP
by gnome＠hawaii.rr.com 20 Oct '02

20 Oct '02

>Hans-Joachim: > >I think can put an upgrade replacement P3/800mhz CPU chip on my old P2/450. >Are you saying that Fractint will run faster on that than on my 1Gig & 2Gig >P4? Hmmmmm. It could well do so, because the P4 is optimized for 32-bit code, not the 16-bit code Fractint uses. You might check places lke Tom's Hardware Guide or ExtremeTech for tests and reviews on that topic. IIRC, the AMD processors run 16-bit code much faster than the P4s do. >BTW there's a way to edit msdos.sys to boot directly to the DOS 7.0 command >prompt. I forgot the exact commands but I'm someone on this mail list knows >the code..... I'd use OpenDOS or DRDOS instead, then you don't have to hassle with msdos.sys and you don't have to waste disk space on all the other Windows files that would be installed on it. David gnome(a)hawaii.rr.com

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Re: [Fractint] Re: Fractint on XP
by Hans-Joachim Metzger 20 Oct '02

20 Oct '02

After my experiences with Virtual PC 4.3 reported earlier, I've been following Nick's suggestion to try Virtual PC 5.0 which, according to him, is supposed to be faster than the previous version. DOS under or in Virtual PC 5.0 IS in fact significantly faster than in 4.3 - but only where video is not involved (or only involved in text mode). In other words: Unfortunately, the calculation of fractals in Fractint in DOS in Virtual PC 5.0 in Windows XP on a 2 GHz Pentium4 is still SLOWER than, for example, on a 700 MHz Pentium III. (This is "empirical evidence". I don't know why this is so. But there have been hints that the chip instructions and DOS are not really on good terms...) So, for the time being there does not seem to be a reasonable or convenient way to run Fractint under the Windows XP OS software. At least there is a way to exploit the benefits of some fast pieces of hardware. I've tried Tony's idea: Installing Fractint on a (newly created) small FAT 16 partition (2 GB max), booting with a DOS floppy and running makefcfg. Result: Almost everything I was looking and hoping for. It is FAST!. It is considerably faster than on my 700 and 800 MHz Pentium IIIs. And I managed to generate the following video modes including 1600x1200x 256 - in fact this a copy of the fractint.cfg produced with makefcfg (my card being a NVidia GeForce4 MX 460): ; FRACTINT.CFG File ;key name of adapter/mode | AX | BX | CX | DX |mode| x | y |clr| comments ;========================================================================== ======= F2 ,VESA Color Palette Mode ,4f02,130, 0, 0, 28, 320, 200, 256,VESA mode from OEM NVidia F3 ,VESA Color Palette Mode ,4f02,134, 0, 0, 28, 320, 240, 256,VESA mode from OEM NVidia F4 ,VESA Color Palette Mode ,4f02,131, 0, 0, 28, 320, 400, 256,VESA mode from OEM NVidia F5 ,VESA Color Palette Mode ,4f02,100, 0, 0, 28, 640, 400, 256,VESA mode from OEM NVidia F6 ,VESA Color Palette Mode ,4f02,101, 0, 0, 28, 640, 480, 256,VESA mode from OEM NVidia F7 ,VESA Color Palette Mode ,4f02,103, 0, 0, 28, 800, 600, 256,VESA mode from OEM NVidia F8 ,VESA Color Palette Mode ,4f02,105, 0, 0, 28,1024, 768, 256,VESA mode from OEM NVidia F9 ,VESA Color Palette Mode ,4f02,107, 0, 0, 28,1280,1024, 256,VESA mode from OEM NVidia F10 ,VESA Color Palette Mode ,4f02,147, 0, 0, 28,1400,1050, 256,VESA mode from OEM NVidia SF1 ,VESA Color Palette Mode ,4f02,145, 0, 0, 28,1600,1200, 256,VESA mode from OEM NVidia SF2 ,VESA RGB 565 ,4f02,10E, 0, 0, 28, 320, 200, 64k,VESA mode from OEM NVidia SF3 ,VESA RGB 565 ,4f02,135, 0, 0, 28, 320, 240, 64k,VESA mode from OEM NVidia SF4 ,VESA RGB 565 ,4f02,132, 0, 0, 28, 320, 400, 64k,VESA mode from OEM NVidia SF5 ,VESA RGB 565 ,4f02,13D, 0, 0, 28, 640, 400, 64k,VESA mode from OEM NVidia SF6 ,VESA RGB 565 ,4f02,111, 0, 0, 28, 640, 480, 64k,VESA mode from OEM NVidia SF7 ,VESA RGB 565 ,4f02,114, 0, 0, 28, 800, 600, 64k,VESA mode from OEM NVidia SF8 ,VESA RGB 565 ,4f02,117, 0, 0, 28,1024, 768, 64k,VESA mode from OEM NVidia SF9 ,VESA RGB 565 ,4f02,11A, 0, 0, 28,1280,1024, 64k,VESA mode from OEM NVidia SF10,VESA RGB 565 ,4f02,148, 0, 0, 28,1400,1050, 64k,VESA mode from OEM NVidia CF1 ,VESA RGB 565 ,4f02,146, 0, 0, 28,1600,1200, 64k,VESA mode from OEM NVidia CF2 ,VESA xRGB 8888 ,4f02,10F, 0, 0, 28, 320, 200, 16m,VESA mode from OEM NVidia CF3 ,VESA xRGB 8888 ,4f02,136, 0, 0, 28, 320, 240, 16m,VESA mode from OEM NVidia CF4 ,VESA xRGB 8888 ,4f02,133, 0, 0, 28, 320, 400, 16m,VESA mode from OEM NVidia CF5 ,VESA xRGB 8888 ,4f02,13E, 0, 0, 28, 640, 400, 16m,VESA mode from OEM NVidia CF6 ,VESA xRGB 8888 ,4f02,112, 0, 0, 28, 640, 480, 16m,VESA mode from OEM NVidia CF7 ,VESA xRGB 8888 ,4f02,115, 0, 0, 28, 800, 600, 16m,VESA mode from OEM NVidia CF8 ,VESA xRGB 8888 ,4f02,118, 0, 0, 28,1024, 768, 16m,VESA mode from OEM NVidia Hope this helps. Hans-Joachim

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Fractint RAM/Disk mode
by Bill Jemison 19 Oct '02

19 Oct '02

<<Please explain further what you mean by: "with V20 on" ?>> I meant with version 20.0 and later. As I said, 20.0 and later versions have a much larger diskvideo capability than the 4096x4096 was posted earlier. If it is, indeed, 32,000 x 32,000 (which sounds right to me), that just confirms my point. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Jemison" <fishburnIII(a)compuserve.com> To: <fractint(a)mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2002 2:47 PM Subject: [Fractint] Fractint RAM/Disk mode <<... use a RAM/Disk video mode. Remember, Fractint can do images of <<4096x4096 like this!!! actually, the upper limit is much greater than that with v20 on. I don't remember just what the limit is now, but I have done 16000x12000. ---------------- Bill

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Fractint RAM/Disk mode
by Bill Jemison 19 Oct '02

19 Oct '02

<<... use a RAM/Disk video mode. Remember, Fractint can do images of <<4096x4096 like this!!! actually, the upper limit is much greater than that with v20 on. I don't remember just what the limit is now, but I have done 16000x12000. Bill

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julia mandelbrot toggle proposal
by Tim Wegner 19 Oct '02

19 Oct '02

I received an interesting letter from a fractint user Jurgen Wilke in Osnabrueck, Germany. The letter included a floppy disk. I have placed a zip file of the floppy disk at: http://www.fractint.org/ftp/experimental/wilke.zip I would appreciate it if someone would download this file, follow his instructions, and let me know what you think. It involves both running Fractint and a small pascal program - but you don't have to be a programmer to follow his detailed instructions. (I can decipher the calculation the pascal program is doing, but I am missing the big picture of what he is trying to do.) If you don't have Microsoft Word, the instructions are repeated in the pascal source code file, which can be viewed with any text editor. There are a few example images in the archive that look quite interesting. He is proposing to enhance the julia/fractint toggle in Fractint, but I need someone more patient than I am to help me out to understand what he proposes. Also, do any of you live near Osnabrueck? Tim

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Fractint RAM/Disk mode
by Marc Schreier 19 Oct '02

19 Oct '02

Dear Fractint users, recently I had the same problem with my GF3Ti and the most interesting video modes that don't work. But: the good old VGA modes and some SVGA modes still work, you have to find out which on your system. Say your machine works well @ 1024x768. Then find an interesting fractal region and then use a RAM/Disk video mode. Remember, Fractint can do images of 4096x4096 like this!!! QAll you have to do is to edit the FRACTINT.CFG and to add your favorite image size. Regards Marc

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FOTD 19-10-02 (Atomic Atom [4])
by Jim Muth 19 Oct '02

19 Oct '02

FOTD -- October 19, 2002 (Rating 4) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Mandelbrot midgets are sometimes called atoms. Today's image shows one of these atoms, this one in the fractal that results when a negative portion of Z^1.5 is mixed with half as much negative Z^3, and 1/C is added. But this is not all bad, for though the portions are negative, the result is positive. The atom (midget) at the center is the center of attention. It lies in a spiral in a broad blunt valley of the parent fractal, which is a monstrously bloated, oversized thing that cannot be described, and must be seen to be believed. No wonder I named the image "Atomic Atom". When considering what rating I should give the image, I was struck by the fact that, despite the generating formula and grotesque shape of the parent fractal, today's scene could easily lie in the classic Mandelbrot set. It contains little that cannot be found in the well-known East Valley area of the M-set. I could therefore rate it no higher than a 4, which is only a little below average. And now I must make a confession. I actually had found a far better fractal for today's FOTD, but in my haste I shut down the program without saving the image or parameters, and the image went back to that vast reservoir where undiscovered fractals exist. Oh well, no one is perfect. The render time of 7 minutes from the parameter file is a bit slow, but still reasonable, especially considering that it's Saturday, when many are off from work. And as always, the completed GIF image will promptly be available on Paul's FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and on Scott's site at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> The weather Friday here at Fractal Central was a splendid example of Autumn in this part of the world -- deep blue skies filled with fluffy white clouds, invigorating north winds, and a temperature of 59F 15C. The dynamic duo of fractal cats voiced their approval by getting into a noisy quarrel on the porch in the afternoon. Only they know what they started fighting about, but common sense prevailed, and the affair ended before blows were struck. Today is starting cloudy however. I'd better give the grass one final trimming before rain starts to fall. Until tomorrow, take care, and continue taking care. Jim Muth jamth(a)mindspring.com jimmuth(a)aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Atomic_Atom { ; time=0:07:09.46--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=-0.48448032436812880/+0.442663060375871\ 70/5.796793e+009/1/170/-5.33961781627040333e-006 params=-1.4/1.5/-0.7/3/0/0 float=y maxiter=1000 inside=0 logmap=119 periodicity=10 colors=000e0bf0`g0Yh0Wi0Tj1Qk2Ol3Ml4Jj5Oh6Tf7Xd8aa\ 9e_AjYBnWCsUDw0Ix3Ku6Lr9MoCOlFPiIQfLScOT`RUYUWVXXS\ _XPbVN_UHXTBUS5SR0RS4QW8P_BPcFOgINkMNoQMsTLwXLz_Nt\ aOncPheQbgSYiTSkUMmVGoWBq_HncMkgShkXfoacsg`wlYzqWr\ oVknUdlTYkSQjRJhQCgP5fP7hT9jWBlZDmaFoeHqhJskLtnOhm\ RYmUNmXCmSAmN8mI6mE5mDDlCKkBSjBZjATW9NI9I4CJ6EK8HL\ 9JMBLNDOOEQOGSPIVQJXRLZSNaTOcUQeUR`SVWQZRObMMfHKjC\ In8GqQ9Tg24e58d8BcBFbEIaHM`KP_NTZQWYT_XWbWZfVaiXI6\ _G7bF8eD9hCAkAAn9Bq7Ct6Dw4Ez3EdMVJdkKcjLbiMaiLcgbY\ HbZDbZ9cXAdVBeUBfSCfQDgPDhNEiLFjKFjIGkGHlFHmDInBJn\ AJjBIfCHbDGZEFVFERGDOHCKIBGJACK98L84M71M63Q54T56X4\ 7_49c3Af3Cj2Dm2Fq1Gt1Hw1Gw2Fw3Fw3Ew4Ew4Dw5Cw6Cw6Bw\ 7Bw7Hm8Mc8RU9XK9aAAf1Ag2Eh3Hi4Kj5Nj5Qk6Tl7Wm8Zo9aq\ 9dsAguBjwCmyDpzDszBtzAuz9vz8wz7xz6yz7zz8zz9zzAzzBz\ zCzzDzzEzzFzzFzzFzzBzz7zz9zzBzzDzzFzzHzzJzzLzzMzzO\ zzQzzSzzUzzWzzYzz_zz`zzXz } frm:MandelbrotMix4 {; Jim Muth a=real(p1), b=imag(p1), d=real(p2), f=imag(p2), g=1/f, h=1/d, j=1/(f-b), z=(-a*b*g*h)^j, k=real(p3)+1, l=imag(p3)+100, c=fn1(pixel): z=k*((a*(z^b))+(d*(z^f)))+c, |z| < l } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================

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