From: newcomb@enews.nrl.navy.mil (Dale Newcomb)
Subject: All sorts of stuff...
Organization: Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 20:26:17 GMT

First- It seems that we are reaching a fork in the road. I don't know
much about networking so I don't know for sure, but won't a networked VR ToolKit be written quite differently than a single-user one? I
would think that commands coming over the net would be handled very
differently than ones that are coded into application files. Now maybe
they can both use the same basic Tool Kit functions (and if so, we
should then get on with deciding upon these functions) I don't know.
If they can't, we should then decide whether to 1)Go with the single-
user application, 2)Go with the multi-user networked environment ,
3)Go with a single-user environment that accepts commands from the net
or 4)Split up and do all of them. If, in fact, we can use the same Tool Kit for both, them 4) wouldn't be so bad, it would be just like having some people using PowerGloves and others using a Mouse. Those
who propose the networked idea (Will??) can hopefully enlighten us on the major differences between these options.

Second- What's the differnce in adding new code to accept new types
of configuration files and adding new code to accept new data within the one configuration file?? Updating the code is still necessary, so why have so many config files?? I have not seen any commercial products that have more than one configuration file, I think that it
would just be unecessary. Then again, no one's saying that everyone has to have the same scheme for configuring their system, so I guess it can be left up to your preference.

Third- A week or so back, I asked everyone in the group to mail me a short message about their VR experience so that I could post a summary of who our group is made up of. I have gotten some good responses so far, but far from everyone in the group. Even today, I
see posts from Will Overington, David Barchas, Thierry Reigner, and
John Whitehead none of whom have sent me anything (hint hint), so for
all of you who haven't yet (for whatever reason, I know some of you weren't here when I posted the message) please send me a brief description of your VR or related experience, your interests for the group, and the platform (386 PC, Mac, SGI, Amiga ...) you are working on, I will later post a summary, hopefully by mid-next week. Those of
you that have sent me mail, thank you. If you didn't tell me the platform you are working on, you may want to just send me a little one-line message so I can update your info. 

Fourth- Since a number of people have already asked me for this type of info, I figured I'd post it for everyone.

A good book for introduction to graphics - Computer Graphics: 		Principles and Practice by Foley, van Dam, etc.
	Second Edition (I haven't read it yet, but my co-workers
	swear by it so I'm about to)

Good source of info for VR for beginners (non-technical) -
	Virtual Reality Playhouse by ???
	Comes with disk(PC) containing some good VR games and demos.
	~$25US (I have read this one, not bad for beginners, has
	good info including hooking up the PowerGlove and Sega 		Glasses to the PC.)_

Where to find VR games/demos via ftp - 
	sunee.uwaterloo.ca (129.97.50.50)
		/pub (misc directories on pglove, raytracing, et al.)
        	/pub/vr
	milton.u.washington.edu (128.95.136.1)
       	 	- home of sci.virtual-worlds, huge faq w/ great info!
        	/public/virtual-worlds
	karazm.math.uh.edu (129.7.128.1)
       		- home of the glove list, nice code
        	/pub/VR
	ftp.apple.com (130.43.2.3)
       		- sites list, Macintosh vr, CAD projects info
        	/pub/vr
	sugrfx.acs.syr.edu (128.230.24.1)
        	- virtual reality demos, iris info, glasses, mirrors 		some of milton.u.washington.edu, uforce info
        	/pub/vr 
	paladine.ece.jcu.edu.au (137.219.19.8)
	ftp.brl.mil
	sunee.waterloo.edu
	wuarchive.wustl.edu
	src.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.2.1)
        	- great usenet archives including stuff from sci.v-w, 		also has info on ISIS and a VR app for ISIS
        	/usenet/comp.archives/auto/comp.sys.isis
        	/usenet/comp.archives/auto/sci.virtual-worlds

	Good games/demos/info include: Castle Wolfenstien 3D (WOLF3D),
		Catacombs (CATABS13), REND386, FAQ from sci.virtual-
		worlds, Virtual Reality Studio Demo (VRSDEMO), and
		many others.

Inexspensive magazine for "homebrew VR" - PCVR magazine
	1706 Sherman Hill RD. #A
	Laramie, Wyoming  82070

	email: gradecki@rodeo.uwyo.edu for more info (and tell him
		that I referred you to him)

	PHONE/FAX:    (307) 742-7675
		 
	I am not affiliated with this magazine, I just like it. I've
	looked at a few of the other mags out there and for the money
	PCVR is great AND it was the only one I saw that was geared 
	towards "HomeBrew VR" and goes into much of what this group
	is all about. The other nice thing is that it includes a disk
	with all of the souce code talked about in the articles. If
	you check around, almost all the other mags run you about $100
	per year, PCVR is under $30 per year ($26 I think).

That's all for now, hope the info helps everyone who wants it.

			


					Dale Newcomb, Jr.

					Naval Research Lab, DC.