xfractint questions and quirks
Hi, I've been playing with xfractint 20.2.04 for about a week. (I've used Fractint since version 8.) Here is a list of some (strange) things I've observed. (I *did* read the doc and the man-page. The BUGS-section in the man-page points to the README file for a list of bugs, the README file only says: You will almost certainly need to edit the directories at the top of the makefile! I downloaded the complete mailing-list archives, searched for anything related to xfractint, but didn't find an answer to these problems. I submitted the boundary trace bug to the Fractint Buglist (twice), but so far I teceived no response.) 1. ---------- passes=b does not work, it freezes up xfractint. Sometimes the 'freeze' occurs at the very start, sometimes it draws about three quarters of the fractal, but until now I haven't been able to finish a fractal in boundary tracing mode. All keypresses are useless, both in the fractal xterm-window and in the input/output xterm-window. The windows can be closed by <Alt-F4> or by using the mouse. I started xfractint again, zoomed in on the default mandel and changed passes to tesseral. No problems there. Saved the parameters. Changed passes to boundary tracing, xfractint froze (as expexted). Since I couldn't save the gif in xfractint, I made a screencapture in the Gimp, and saved the file as a gif. Copied the par to an old DOS-only machine. Restored the par in fractint (Version 2002 Patchlevel 4). Saved the parameters for comparison. Changed passes to boundary tracing, no problems, saved the par and saved the gif. I now have a par-file with three entries: - tesseral_linux - tesseral_dos - boundary_dos two giffiles - b_dos.gif (57622 bytes) - b_x.gif ( 8622 bytes) If anyone wants them I can mail them. 2. ---------- Why is the initial colormap different from the DOS-version? It has blues and greens, and white where the default.map has blue. I use xfractint map=default.map to get the old familiar default colors back. 3. ---------- In the DOS version I always had separate directories for par, frm, ifs, l, and map files. In xfractint I have to dump them all in the same dir or they won't be found. Is there no way to use multiple directories in xfractint? 4. ---------- In DOS I could move to another dir or to another drive, xfractint doesn't seem to know there are subdirs in the default dir. 5. ---------- Is it possible to create an xfractint.rc file (like sstools.ini)? I know I can add options on the command-line, but I don't think the command-line is long enough to hold a complete sstools.ini file. 6. ---------- When I use <Page-Up> to call up a zoombox it is not always visible. I tried <Ctrl-Ins> and <Ctrl-Del> to change the colors, no effect whatsoever. I tried <Ctrl-I> and <Ctrl-D> too, still no change of color. When using the mouse, the zoombox is visible. It makes no difference if I use the left or the right button. Manipulating the zoombox while using the mouse seems impossible. As soon as I release the button, the zoom-in is drawn. 7. ---------- Sound doesn't work always. Sometimes it beeps (through the speakers) when an image is completed, sometimes it stays silent. I tried the music pars. Message: Oops. I couldn't understand the argument hertz=220 Any key to continue. 8. ---------- In the Helpscreens: Backspace to get to the Last Topic dooesn't work. The Helpscreens get scrambled after moving from one link to another and after moving around with the cursor-keys. I captured the screen-output in a textfile and added a short description of what I did and what happened. Ths file is also mailable. (5642 bytes) Anyone? But... despite the bug(ette)s, quirks and oddities, I still DO love it! Thanks! Natalie -- Stolen tagline: Linux is like a wigwam, no windows, no gates, apache inside. [ Linux Counter: user 230952 machine: 111180 ]
Natalie wrote:
1. ---------- passes=b does not work, it freezes up xfractint. Sometimes the 'freeze' occurs at the very start, sometimes it draws about three quarters of the fractal, but until now I haven't been able to finish a fractal in boundary tracing mode. All keypresses are useless, both in the fractal xterm-window and in the input/output xterm-window. The windows can be closed by <Alt-F4> or by using the mouse.
Yes, it's broke. It is on my list of bugs to fix.
2. ---------- Why is the initial colormap different from the DOS-version? It has blues and greens, and white where the default.map has blue. I use xfractint map=default.map to get the old familiar default colors back.
Because the default color map in an X-Window is different than in DOS/Win. Put map=default.map in an sstools.ini file. Now, where to put the sstools.ini file, I don't have a clue.
3. ---------- In the DOS version I always had separate directories for par, frm, ifs, l, and map files. In xfractint I have to dump them all in the same dir or they won't be found. Is there no way to use multiple directories in xfractint?
Yes, just like in fractint. Use sstools.ini to define your subdirectories. There is a problem with capital and lower case letters in file names, but that will be fixed in the next patch.
4. ---------- In DOS I could move to another dir or to another drive, xfractint doesn't seem to know there are subdirs in the default dir.
Hmm, somebody should fix that. 8-))
5. ---------- Is it possible to create an xfractint.rc file (like sstools.ini)? I know I can add options on the command-line, but I don't think the command-line is long enough to hold a complete sstools.ini file.
Yes, use sstools.ini.
6. ---------- When I use <Page-Up> to call up a zoombox it is not always visible. I tried <Ctrl-Ins> and <Ctrl-Del> to change the colors, no effect whatsoever. I tried <Ctrl-I> and <Ctrl-D> too, still no change of color. When using the mouse, the zoombox is visible. It makes no difference if I use the left or the right button. Manipulating the zoombox while using the mouse seems impossible. As soon as I release the button, the zoom-in is drawn.
Mouse support is not what it should be, yet. One of these days someone will get to working on it.
7. ---------- Sound doesn't work always. Sometimes it beeps (through the speakers) when an image is completed, sometimes it stays silent.
I tried the music pars. Message: Oops. I couldn't understand the argument hertz=220
Any key to continue.
Sound is not implemented in Xfractint.
8. ---------- In the Helpscreens: Backspace to get to the Last Topic dooesn't work. The Helpscreens get scrambled after moving from one link to another and after moving around with the cursor-keys. I captured the screen-output in a textfile and added a short description of what I did and what happened. Ths file is also mailable. (5642 bytes) Anyone?
Other than the top line being scrambled (it's on the list), the help screens work fine for me. Even the backspace works. Jonathan
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Natalie