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