denis@gec-rl-hrc.co.uk (Denis Howe (G13) x2220) (12/05/90)
I have used quite a few of the binaries posted here and have no objection to this continuing but I can appreciate the concern of those who don't want to pay to receive large files they don't want. One obvious alternative is to post only a description of the programs to the group and for people to request the stuff from the author if they want it. Perhaps our friend Albert in Newcastle could comment on how up to date and complete the archive there is? On the subject of if/when to scrap eunet.micro.acorn, is there no established usenet practice in such cases?
ra2@doc.ic.ac.uk (Roger Attrill) (12/18/90)
Conrad - see below mathew@mantis.UUCP (mathew) writes: >> >Some of us are on UUCP sites. Some of us have to pay to download news. >> >> Sure, you have said that before. >> >> Currently the number binary postings in comp.sys.acorn is close to zero >> articles per day (in fact: one binary since comp.sys.acorn was newgrouped). Yes, mine! >> Kinda strange to start a new group with an expected traffic volume of zero >> articles a day, right? True, binaries have never exactly flooded eunet.micro,acorn, but what there is, is usually fairly good quality. > > Perhaps they are being polite and not posting binaries to a discussion group? Absolutely right, I don't intend to post any more binaries, until this is all sorted out. I mean, *where* would I post them. I got my wrist slapped when I posted !Mandy. (Hi Mathew!). OK! It was a pretty poor prototype of a program, but that wasn't why! > I suggest that all readers of comp.sys.acorn who WOULD post binaries instead > post a message saying "I would have posted <program name> in the binaries > group". That way we'll quickly get an idea as to whether the demand's there. The demand is here. I WOULD have posted version 2.00 of !Mandy. Speeded up by a factor of six or so, with low zoom value images drawn in as little as 3 seconds. Now run from desktop, it is a fully multitasking program, with a much nicer feel than rotten old version 1.00. Now also includes fractal landscapes. Julia Sets are now done in the same vein as Brots (Not Animated). Images are now drawn by a nifty stack-based edge-detecting method. There's also one or two other bits and pieces I WOULD have posted such as routines to replace OS_Heap commands, which speed up block allocation by a factor of two or so. I've not done proper benchmarks on them yet. They *double* the speed of my ray-tracer, I know that much. Maybe a uuencoded version of !sparkplug ought to be posted as well for our new readers who haven't got !spark. (!sparkplug is PD isn't it?). David Pillings' software isn't as popular overseas as it is in Europe. (Excuse me while I laugh!) What we don't want though, is people unloading their harddisks into a binaries newsgroup just in order to make the traffic. > If it turns out that there isn't enough demand, how about keeping > eunet.micro.acorn for binaries, and leaving comp.sys.acorn for discussions? No way! c.s.a was created to make the readership world wide. Why should only europeans be so privileged as to get the binaries. OK! maybe privileged isn't quite the right word, but you get the drift. If there are people out there who WOULD post post binaries then let's here from you. (rkl,rw,jk,as,ps,cs et al.) Theres my 2 cents worth. Some response WOULD be nice, WOULD'nt it? For those of you who have't got access to eunet.micro.acorn, you're not missing anything. It hasn't got binaries either !!! Merry Christmas Everyone, Roger. > mathew. > -- > Mantis Consultants, Unit 56, St. John's Innovation Centre, Cambridge. CB4 4WS. > mathew@mantis.co.uk \\ "CP/M is to metric as cockroaches are to a Timex watch" 'Rolex' surely!! > ukc!ibmpcug!mantis!mathew -------------------\\ - booter@catnip.berkeley.ca.us MESSAGE FOR CONRAD HUGHES That should get them going! Unfortunately I couldn't un!spark your stuff. I tried half a dozen different variants of uudecoders, but none resulted in a valid !sparkive. Meanwhile, I've made massive improvements to !Mandy (which I WOULD have posted. Ha! Ha!). I'm still interested though, - is it asking too much to send them again? You know !RGB_Spr is mine don't you? Yes, I'm interested in anything to speed it up. Remember, !RGB_Spr is reading byte by byte from disk. Maybe some benchmarking is necessary here. Have I seen Rayshade??? It *IS* Rayshade. A machine code re-write to be precise and *far* better than the PD version. Seeing as I can't mail you (sysadmin unwavering and heartless here), perhaps you'd like to send me a couple of disks and your address. You could put the brot stuff on there. I've got Knuths' 'Seminumerical methods' as well, but his MIX code is awesome to fathom out. You're better off going by the algorithms. Good luck. Merry Xmas, Rog. Roger C. Attrill 29 Humbolt Road Fulham London W6 8HQ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- | Roger C. Attrill | I don't always think therefore I'm not necessarily. | | ra2@doc.ic.ac.uk | | | Imperial College | and other variations on a theme. | =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- disclaimer: All opinions are codswallop.