New SDL Fractint version from Jonathan
Jonathan fixed some bugs in his SDL version of Fractint. This is a literal port of the DOS version, but runs directly under Windows. I briefly tested it under the latest Windows 10, and it ran like greased lightning compared to the DOS version running under DOSBox. Here's what Jonathan said about it:
I fixed the video resolution change crash and updated the files on fractint.net. There is still an issue when you use the mouse to create a zoom box while the image is still generating. For the most part, everything works. There is a list of issues in the New Features section of help.
Just unzip the directory SDL2-fractint-20.05alpha-2020-12-26 someplace on your Windows machine, browse to it with Explorer, and run fractint.exe https://fractint.net/ftp/experimental/SDL2-fractint-20.05alpha-2020-12-26.zi... Since the list is quiet these days, probably OK to post feedback, tips, and experiences here. Tim
Thank you for the Christmas present :) Alex
On Dec 26, 2020, at 1:37 PM, Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Jonathan fixed some bugs in his SDL version of Fractint. This is a literal port of the DOS version, but runs directly under Windows. I briefly tested it under the latest Windows 10, and it ran like greased lightning compared to the DOS version running under DOSBox.
Here's what Jonathan said about it:
I fixed the video resolution change crash and updated the files on fractint.net. There is still an issue when you use the mouse to create a zoom box while the image is still generating. For the most part, everything works. There is a list of issues in the New Features section of help.
Just unzip the directory SDL2-fractint-20.05alpha-2020-12-26 someplace on your Windows machine, browse to it with Explorer, and run fractint.exe
https://fractint.net/ftp/experimental/SDL2-fractint-20.05alpha-2020-12-26.zi...
Since the list is quiet these days, probably OK to post feedback, tips, and experiences here.
Tim _______________________________________________ Fractint mailing list Fractint@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint
Version for Linux? On December 26, 2020 8:37:06 AM HST, Timothy Wegner <tim@tswegner.net> wrote:
Jonathan fixed some bugs in his SDL version of Fractint. This is a literal port of the DOS version, but runs directly under Windows. I briefly tested it under the latest Windows 10, and it ran like greased lightning compared to the DOS version running under DOSBox.
Here's what Jonathan said about it:
I fixed the video resolution change crash and updated the files on fractint.net. There is still an issue when you use the mouse to create a zoom box while the image is still generating. For the most part, everything works. There is a list of issues in the New Features section of help.
Just unzip the directory SDL2-fractint-20.05alpha-2020-12-26 someplace on your Windows machine, browse to it with Explorer, and run fractint.exe
https://fractint.net/ftp/experimental/SDL2-fractint-20.05alpha-2020-12-26.zi...
Since the list is quiet these days, probably OK to post feedback, tips, and experiences here.
Tim _______________________________________________ Fractint mailing list Fractint@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/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.
David,
Version for Linux?
Yes. https://www.fractint.net/ftp/experimental/SDL2-Xfractint-20.05alpha-2020-12-... Jonathan
On 12/26/20 10:33 AM, Jonathan Osuch wrote:
David,
Version for Linux? Yes.
https://www.fractint.net/ftp/experimental/SDL2-Xfractint-20.05alpha-2020-12-...
Jonathan
Thank you. Tried to retrieve an existing image from the previous 9/15/2019 version and got this message: *** stack smashing detected ***: <unknown> terminated Tried opening a different image and got the same message. Tried to edit a palette and got message: editpal.c out of memory That worked when I tried it again. PageUp doesn't bring up a zoom box. Clicking and dragging with the mouse produced a small, fixed-size box. Dragging the mouse to enlarge it gave me a segmentation fault error. Ideas? -- David W. Jones gnome@hawaii.rr.com authenticity, honesty, community http://dancingtreefrog.com "My password is the last 8 digits of π."
David,
Thank you. Tried to retrieve an existing image from the previous 9/15/2019 version and got this message:
*** stack smashing detected ***: <unknown> terminated
Tried opening a different image and got the same message.
Are you trying to run full screen? Try using one of the video modes on the <DEL> screen. I had tried to get the window resizing to work with the windows manager (drag the corners/sides or click the full screen icon) but ended up crashing more often than not. Gave up on that. If the video mode will load from the <DEL> screen, it should work. In the long ago past, we had always distributed Xfractint as source code due to the many variations in Linux environments. The executable is obviously set up to run on my machine. I didn't add any machine specific optimizations, but I also didn't force a generic compile that should run on a generic architecture. I may have to go back to providing the source for Xfractint. I have created a Make file, so it would be a matter of installing the development packages for GCC, NASM, SDL2, and SDL2-ttf.
Tried to edit a palette and got message:
editpal.c out of memory
That worked when I tried it again.
The palette editor has problems. It hasn't been high on my list.
PageUp doesn't bring up a zoom box.
Clicking and dragging with the mouse produced a small, fixed-size box. Dragging the mouse to enlarge it gave me a segmentation fault error.
PageUp should work. The key repeat you would normally see if you held a key down doesn't work too well (until you release the key). If you left click and hold the mouse, then drag the cursor, the zoom box should expand. It should zoom in as soon as you release the mouse button. Full screen video mode is problematic with regard to zooming with the mouse. Jonathan
On 12/27/20 3:27 AM, Jonathan Osuch wrote:
David, Hi, Jonathan!
Thank you. Tried to retrieve an existing image from the previous 9/15/2019 version and got this message:
*** stack smashing detected ***: <unknown> terminated
Tried opening a different image and got the same message. Are you trying to run full screen? Yes. When you say "full screen", what do you mean? My desktop environment (XFCE4) has an option to turn any window into a "full screen" without borders or window decorations. Is that what you mean? When fractaling, I like the border/decorations out of the way. Try using one of the video modes on the <DEL> screen. I had tried to get the window resizing to work with the windows manager (drag the corners/sides or click the full screen icon) but ended up crashing more often than not. Gave up on that. If the video mode will load from the <DEL> screen, it should work.
Video mode loads fine. I set up a custom one for my 4K display. The default mandelbrot renders almost instantly. Regardless of screen size, I get the stack smashing crash every time I go to reload a saved fractal that was created with the previous SDL XFractint version. I just opened a max-size disk video image I made a few years ago with DOS Fractint and SDL XFractint just rendered it with no problems.
In the long ago past, we had always distributed Xfractint as source code due to the many variations in Linux environments. The executable is obviously set up to run on my machine. I didn't add any machine specific optimizations, but I also didn't force a generic compile that should run on a generic architecture. I may have to go back to providing the source for Xfractint. I have created a Make file, so it would be a matter of installing the development packages for GCC, NASM, SDL2, and SDL2-ttf.
I'm running 64-bit Debian 10, on a 9th-gen i9 laptop using the built-in Intel UHD 630 GPU. The laptop also has an Nvidia GTX 1650 Mobile / MaxQ GPU but I haven't gotten that working with X yet. I've compiled other applications, how does one get and compile the new XFractint source?
Tried to edit a palette and got message:
editpal.c out of memory
That worked when I tried it again. The palette editor has problems. It hasn't been high on my list.
PageUp doesn't bring up a zoom box.
Clicking and dragging with the mouse produced a small, fixed-size box. Dragging the mouse to enlarge it gave me a segmentation fault error. PageUp should work. The key repeat you would normally see if you held a key down doesn't work too well (until you release the key). If you left click and hold the mouse, then drag the cursor, the zoom box should expand. It should zoom in as soon as you release the mouse button. Full screen video mode is problematic with regard to zooming with the mouse.
PageUp brings up a zoom box and keyboard lets me move it around. Mouse selection behaves itself in the default window size (tiny on my display). It seems to be working at 1920x1080, too, now. And its currently rendering (slowly) a zoom at 3840x2160. The CPU's cooking at 4.2GHz. Thank you for pursuing the SDL2 version of XFractint. It's promising that it can handle a 4K display. Happymerrynewchristmasyear! -- David W. Jones gnome@hawaii.rr.com authenticity, honesty, community http://dancingtreefrog.com "My password is the last 8 digits of π."
David,
Are you trying to run full screen?
Yes. When you say "full screen", what do you mean? My desktop environment (XFCE4) has an option to turn any window into a "full screen" without borders or window decorations. Is that what you mean? When fractaling, I like the border/decorations out of the way.
The problem is that (X)Fractint is still really a DOS program. I have put in checks of the event queue for events such as window resizing, but what ends up happening is that Fractint keeps calculating and plotting points on a surface that is being destroyed and recreated at a different size. Can't seem to get it to stop, so I went back to just using the <DEL> screen for changing video resolutions. Which, if you will recall, is far more convenient than changing resolution in xfractint before the port to SDL. If you can create a suitable entry in fractint.cfg, then it should work. To see what is available, temporarily rename fractint.cfg, then run xfractint and look at the <DEL> screen. It isn't possible to save the displayed video modes, yet.
Video mode loads fine. I set up a custom one for my 4K display. The default mandelbrot renders almost instantly.
Regardless of screen size, I get the stack smashing crash every time I go to reload a saved fractal that was created with the previous SDL XFractint version. I just opened a max-size disk video image I made a few years ago with DOS Fractint and SDL XFractint just rendered it with no problems.
I don't see this problem on my machine. I do need to work on the file access routines to get the image loaded faster.
I've compiled other applications, how does one get and compile the new XFractint source?
Try opening a subversion client and exporting from: https://svn.fractint.net/branches/ssg/sdl/ If that doesn't work, I will be creating a source code file and uploading it to fractint.net. After looking at the Make file, I see that I do need to fiddle with it to make it more generic. Jonathan
On 12/29/20 3:18 AM, Jonathan Osuch wrote:
David,
Are you trying to run full screen? Yes. When you say "full screen", what do you mean? My desktop environment (XFCE4) has an option to turn any window into a "full screen" without borders or window decorations. Is that what you mean? When fractaling, I like the border/decorations out of the way. The problem is that (X)Fractint is still really a DOS program. I have put in checks of the event queue for events such as window resizing, but what ends up happening is that Fractint keeps calculating and plotting points on a surface that is being destroyed and recreated at a different size. Can't seem to get it to stop, so I went back to just using the <DEL> screen for changing video resolutions. Which, if you will recall, is far more convenient than changing resolution in xfractint before the port to SDL.
Hmm. Fractint would stop calculating image when it's done, right? So waiting until the image is done at the default setting (640x480, which is almost instantaneous on my laptop) means Fractint shouldn't be drawing anything anywhere. Can it be set to use a buffer instead of a "screen" surface? Or is that just the same thing?
If you can create a suitable entry in fractint.cfg, then it should work.
Thanks, I had done that several versions ago: ,3840x2160 256 color , 8, 3840, 2160,256,DJ added No key assigned to it. I pick it from the Del key list. I just tried it again, twice. First, run XFractint, it finishes the default mandelbrot; reload a saved image; stack smash. Second, run XFractint, it finishes default mandelbrot; use DEL to select my 3840x2160 entry; default mandelbrot renders; reload a saved image; stack smash. I just saved a new 3840x2160 fractal using XFractint. I exited XFractint, checked the image in a view, it looks fine. Started XFractint, selected my 3840x2160 video mode, reloaded the save image: stack smash. Just tried creating and saving a new 1920x1080 fractal in that video mode. Exiting XFractint and viewing it, it looks fine. Starting XFractint again, switching to 1920x1080 video mode and reloading the saved image: smash. Starting XFractint, leaving it at default resolution and trying to reload the same saved image: smash. Last try. XFractint at default resolution and window size. Create new fractal. Save it. Exit XFractint. Restart XFractint, leave it at default resolution and window size, reload saved image: Smash. Apparently on my system, XFractint's not reliably able to save an image that it can reload. My initial thought with the 4K and FHD images were running out of memory... but that shouldn't apply to the default 640x480 video mode. Previous versions handled 25kx25h fractals before, so that mere 4K shouldn't be a memory problem, right?
To see what is available, temporarily rename fractint.cfg, then run xfractint and look at the <DEL> screen. It isn't possible to save the displayed video modes, yet.
Video mode loads fine. I set up a custom one for my 4K display. The default mandelbrot renders almost instantly.
Regardless of screen size, I get the stack smashing crash every time I go to reload a saved fractal that was created with the previous SDL XFractint version. I just opened a max-size disk video image I made a few years ago with DOS Fractint and SDL XFractint just rendered it with no problems. I don't see this problem on my machine. I do need to work on the file access routines to get the image loaded faster.
I've compiled other applications, how does one get and compile the new XFractint source? Try opening a subversion client and exporting from:
https://svn.fractint.net/branches/ssg/sdl/
If that doesn't work, I will be creating a source code file and uploading it to fractint.net. After looking at the Make file, I see that I do need to fiddle with it to make it more generic.
Jonathan
I have the next five days off, I'll see about doing that. Is there a debug mode that might help figure things out? -- David W. Jones gnome@hawaii.rr.com authenticity, honesty, community http://dancingtreefrog.com "My password is the last 8 digits of π."
David,
Hmm. Fractint would stop calculating image when it's done, right? So
waiting until the image is done at the default setting (640x480, which is almost instantaneous on my laptop) means Fractint shouldn't be drawing anything anywhere.
Can it be set to use a buffer instead of a "screen" surface? Or is that just the same thing?
There is a buffer for the raw pixel data. This gets put into a texture buffer, which then gets copied into a rendering buffer, which then gets presented (blitted) to the screen/window. During the calculation of an image, there is a small delay during which the raw pixel data gets updated, then the rest of the buffers get updated. This speeds up image calculation by writing multiple pixels to the screen instead of one at a time. The need for using a texture and a rendering buffer has to do with how/when pixel formats get translated in SDL.
Apparently on my system, XFractint's not reliably able to save an image that it can reload.
Try reducing the absolute path to the executable. Might not help.
My initial thought with the 4K and FHD images were running out of memory... but that shouldn't apply to the default 640x480 video mode. Previous versions handled 25kx25h fractals before, so that mere 4K shouldn't be a memory problem, right?
No, there shouldn't be a memory problem. At least not having to do with the image size. There is probably a memory space that gets overrun. This usually happens with text buffers. I did just run into a problem with the windows version not being able to restore images. I get an error because the line "assert(r < TEXT_HEIGHT)" fails. Could be you are seeing this without getting the error message.
I have the next five days off, I'll see about doing that. Is there a debug mode that might help figure things out?
No, there isn't really a debug mode. I use the Code::Blocks IDE, which lets me debug. There are some debugflags that turn off/on certain Fractint features, but for the problems we are seeing, they won't help. Jonathan
I think I know the answer, but are the Sound functions implemented? Bill Jemison Audio Fractals <https://sites.google.com/site/audiofractals/home> On Sat, Dec 26, 2020 at 1:34 PM Jonathan Osuch <osuchj@mediacombb.net> wrote:
David,
Version for Linux?
Yes.
https://www.fractint.net/ftp/experimental/SDL2-Xfractint-20.05alpha-2020-12-...
Jonathan
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participants (6)
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alex dukay -
Bill Jemison -
david -
David W. Jones
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Jonathan Osuch -
Timothy Wegner