HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dseal@armltd.co.uk (David Seal)
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Re: Puzzle
Date: 11 Dec 92 15:37:13 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: A.R.M. Ltd, Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambs, UK

In article <DBH.92Dec10095556@wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk> dbh@doc.ic.ac.uk (Denis
Howe) writes:

>I love these puzzles and am always on the look out for more.  Here's a
>good one a friend made up:
>
>A man (with no parachute) drops a thousand feet onto a field and walks
>away unhurt.  How come?
>
>Is this the right group?  (You may consider that as part of the puzzle
>if you like :-).

No, this is *not* the right group. This group is meant to deal with perfect
information, pure strategy games. These things are puzzles, not games; the
whole point of them is that you *don't* have perfect information; and they
are much more tests of deduction and lateral thinking than of strategy.

The group you want is "rec.puzzles". As a bonus (:-), I'll give you a free
hint: look up these puzzles in the rec.puzzles FAQ list *before* you post
them. Most of these situation puzzles have been posted there several times
already, and people tend to get a bit peevish about the amount of
repetition...

David Seal
dseal@armltd.co.uk

All opinions are mine only...
From: stripes@pix.com (Josh Osborne)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Re: Xtank screen too big..
Date: 16 Dec 92 13:07:41 GMT
Organization: Pix Technologies -- The company with no adult supervision

In article <9212160258.AA27872@csugrad.cs.vt.edu> rsuri@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Rajiv Suri) writes:
>I get the following message when I try to play xtank:
>
>Warning: Parent window does not fit on screen.
>
>Do you know how to remedy the problem?  I am using a DECstation 5000/20 running
>Ultrix 4.2A.  

Get a graphics card that has more pixels, or live with it, or do the major mods
to xtank to make it work on small screens.
-- 
           stripes@pix.com              "Security for Unix is like
      Josh_Osborne@Real_World,The          Multitasking for MS-DOS"
      "The dyslexic porgramer"                  - Kevin Lockwood
We all agree on the necessity of compromise.  We just can't agree on
when it's necessary to compromise.       - Larry Wall
From: stripes@pix.com (Josh Osborne)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Re: Xtank....
Date: 17 Dec 92 18:58:51 GMT
Organization: Pix Technologies -- The company with no adult supervision

In article <AA05049.9212170020.KingsX@uk.ac.city> ac116@city.ac.uk (Mr T...Too You!) writes:
>Hi,,,
>my problem is that i keep getting the
>'Someone has no X resources' message
>and the game refuses to grab game defaults
>from the players XDefaults file..

The game can't read the players .XDefaults files, it doesn't know _who_
the players are (as in their UID), and even if it did the file may not be 
accessable (because of permisions, or because it is on a diffrent machine
that you don't have NFS access to).

You need to use the xrdb program.  Read the man page for it carefully, because
it effects _all_ X programs, and it makes editing the .Xdefaults file a little
harder.
-- 
           stripes@pix.com              "Security for Unix is like
      Josh_Osborne@Real_World,The          Multitasking for MS-DOS"
      "The dyslexic porgramer"                  - Kevin Lockwood
We all agree on the necessity of compromise.  We just can't agree on
when it's necessary to compromise.       - Larry Wall
From: nabil@ogicse.ogi.edu (Aaron Nabil)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Re: 3d tank??
Date: 19 Dec 92 01:01:19 GMT
Article-I.D.: ogicse.47519
Organization: Explosive Space Modulators - R - Us

battlec@cs.rpi.edu writes:
>What are those 3d view controls? do they work on a sparcstation?
>How do you do it??

It's a red/green stereo image, ie, you need those old godzill-vs-horgon
bicolor cardboard glasses that you got at a theater.

Oh yeah, and a 20 mike tab of LSD.  Drop the acid, put on the glasses,
and in about 5 minutes it switches into 3d mode.

And yes, it works on a sparcstation.

-- 
Aaron Nabil
nabil@cse.ogi.edu
From: benh@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Ben Harrison)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Re: Xtank....
Date: 18 Dec 92 12:19:06 GMT
Organization: /home/benh/.organization
In-reply-to: moore@src.bae.co.uk's message of 18 Dec 92 11:32:17 GMT

In article <9212181132.AA13948@sun19.src.bae.co.uk> moore@src.bae.co.uk (Chris Moore) writes:
Just set up xtank (again -- the versions keep changing...) on a Sparc
station, X11R4, B&W screens.  Everything went fine... Except:

When I added a player via 'Text Entry', and then we played a game, and
then he quit with 'Q' from either the scoore screen or the game
screen, not only did he still appear in my 'Player' list, but when
I attempted to add another player, I got a core dump.

Observations: some of the new pixmaps suck.  The menus are having
problems, especially when clicking on the last items.  The dotted
lined walls are working fine.  The new menus are neat, but I think it
is time to restandardize the weapons, armor, etc, especially in terms
of their order (should reflect their usefulness) and parameters,
especially weight and price.  Of course, first we need a better
scoring system, but that's been discussed countless times...

And a server client separation (now been discussed for *years*) would
contribute greatly towards lots of things.  Is anyone actually working
on this anymore, or has it died out, like the 3D stuff?

I hate to say it, but what Xtank *really* needs is to be rewritten
from scratch, based on the current ideas...  But I doubt *anyone* has
time for that...

--- Ben Harrison ---
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
From: Chris Moore <moore@src.bae.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 11:32:17 GMT
To: stripes@pix.com (Josh Osborne)
Cc: xtank@eng.umd.edu
Subject: Re: Xtank....


stripes@pix.com (Josh Osborne) said:

> In article <AA05049.9212170020.KingsX@uk.ac.city> ac116@city.ac.uk (Mr T...Too You!) writes:

> |Hi,,,
> |my problem is that i keep getting the
> |'Someone has no X resources' message
> |and the game refuses to grab game defaults
> |from the players XDefaults file..

> The game can't read the players .XDefaults files, it doesn't know _who_
> the players are (as in their UID), and even if it did the file may not be 
> accessable (because of permisions, or because it is on a diffrent machine
> that you don't have NFS access to).

> You need to use the xrdb program.  Read the man page for it carefully, because
> it effects _all_ X programs, and it makes editing the .Xdefaults file a little
> harder.

We used to have the same problem with the 'Someone has no X resources'
message.  Everyone here does the xrdb from .xinitrc, so that's not the
problem.  The message would only appear when we tried to add in a player on
one particular Sun (I forget which, but it was always the same one).  It
was independent of who was logged onto that Sun.

We never solved the problem, except by learning not to use that Sun to play
xtank any more.

Chris.
--
moore@src.bae.co.uk   /      Chris Moore      \
                     / Sowerby Research Centre \
                     \  British Aerospace PLC  /
tel: +44 272 363375   \      BRISTOL, UK      /
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
From: jda1@cec2.wustl.edu (Jeremy David Ackerman)
Subject: Re: a few more questions(see the other post)
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 19:39:19 GMT

I am attempting to compile xtank on an RS/6000 under
AIX and am having some difficulty. Any tips or ideas
would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

JEre
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 17:39:07 -0500
From: battlec@cs.rpi.edu
To: xtank@eng.umd.edu
Subject: 3d tank??

What are those 3d view controls? do they work on a sparcstation?
How do you do it??
From: yohan@atlantis.ksu.ksu.edu (Jonathan W Newton)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Modifying Stats for Playability
Date: 14 Dec 1992 13:32:29 -0600
Organization: Kansas State University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: atlantis.ksu.ksu.edu


I have been less than satisfied with the weapons of xtank.  Due to the advantages
of the acid sprayer's price, weight, space, and heat (none), it is the only
weapon to use when designing a tank.  The limited range and bullet speed of an
acid sprayer come no where near balancing out its advantages, except maybe in
games against very smart robots or games where the relative shooting is off.

A friend and I are working on a set of statistics that attempts to make all
weapons fairly equal.  This involves taking into consideration the damage done
per $, weight, and space, plus considering the heat sinks required to make full
use of the tanks arsenal.

I am looking for anyone who has done anything along these lines.  If you have,
could you please post or mail the the stats.

Thanks,

Jon
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 21:58:26 -0500
From: rsuri@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Rajiv Suri)
To: xtank@eng.umd.edu
Subject: Xtank screen too big..

I get the following message when I try to play xtank:

Warning: Parent window does not fit on screen.

Do you know how to remedy the problem?  I am using a DECstation 5000/20 running
Ultrix 4.2A.
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
From: ac116@city.ac.uk (Mr T...Too You!)
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 00:20:25 +0000
X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.2.2 4/12/91)
To: xtank@eng.umd.edu
Subject: Xtank....

Hi,,,
my problem is that i keep getting the
'Someone has no X resources' message
and the game refuses to grab game defaults
from the players XDefaults file..
can you help..please 
thankxs

-- 
************************************************
* if you haven't guessed yet...                *
*         				       *
*  Tarkan....(or Bambi )                       *
*                         at: ac116@city.ac.uk *
********************************auto*signature**
From: Simon.N.Smith@cm.cf.ac.uk (Simon N Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Current work on xtank
Date: 14 Dec 92 11:40:39 GMT
Organization: University of Wales College of Cardiff, Cardiff, WALES, UK.

A previous article (Kurt Lidl's) mentioned that xtank is going through a
metamorphasis - can anyone who's involved in the work give us a few details
about what's being done and what we can look forward to in the next release?
After all, it is nearly Christmas, and this can be something we can get a
bit excited about (!?)

Cheers,

Simon

-- 
Simon N. McIntosh-Smith, PhD candidate    |  Email : Simon.N.Smith@cm.cf.ac.uk
Department of Computing Mathematics,      |  Phone : +44 (0)222 874000
University of Wales, College of Cardiff,  |  Fax   : +44 (0)222 666182
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom            |
From: lidl@rodan.UU.NET (Kurt J. Lidl)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Bitmaps for xtank
Date: 15 Dec 1992 03:18:14 -0500
Organization: AlterNet -- Falls Church, Virginia, USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: rodan.uu.net

For the person who asked about adding new bitmaps for Xtank:

At this time, if you look in the Utils directory, there
are a couple of sample programs to give you a head start.
There should also be the raw Panzy bitmaps, which we included
to make the process a little easier for others to figure out.

----

In the future, rather hand hand-generating the bitmaps, and
the minimum needed number of different rotations, there is
chance we will go to a different programmatically generated
set of bitmaps.  One of the things this will buy is a
nice, uniform set of bitmaps at all rotations, the ease of
adding more rotations per tank body (for smoother animation),
and the ability to support either larger or smaller displays
with less trouble.

I have my heart set on doing this, as it gives me a chance to
learn a big new hairy system of doing this, and it virtually
assures me that no new bodies will be added to Xtank anytime
soon :-)  I've got my eye on the technology, and I've got
victim smart person around  to pick his brain on the matter...

I hope to have the basic bodies coverted over for the 2.0
release, due sometime late next year.

-Kurt

Xtank -- we will ship no release before its time...

-- 
/* Kurt J. Lidl (lidl@uunet.uu.net)   | Unix is the answer, but only if you */
/*                                    | phrase the question very carefully. */
/* Don't even think of confusing my opinions with my employer's opinions!   */
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
From: hevans@estwm8.dnet.estec.esa.nl (Hugh D.R. Evans (ESA/ESTEC/WMA Netherlands))
Subject: Building xtank under VMS.  has it been done?
Reply-To: hevans@estcs1.dnet.estec.esa.nl
Organization: European Space Research and Technology Centre
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 18:16:41 GMT



Subject says almost everything.  If it has been done, can someone point
me at the
sources (executable), if not, any idea how difficult it is to port?

Hugh.

hevans@estwm8.dnet.estec.esa.nl
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: now what?
From: crreadle@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu
Date: 18 Dec 92 03:21:13 EDT
Organization: Miami University, Hamilton campus

so now ive got these two HUGE files in my account....
what do i do with them? (there r all kinds of tar files and whatnot)
btw, i am not very familiar with my ultrix system so...pleez EXPLAIN things

thanx

-jugglre
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
From: stripes@pix.com (Josh Osborne)
Subject: Re: Current work on xtank
Organization: Pix Technologies -- The company with no adult supervision
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 23:07:18 GMT

In article <1992Dec14.114040.992@cm.cf.ac.uk> Simon.N.Smith@cm.cf.ac.uk (Simon N Smith) writes:
>A previous article (Kurt Lidl's) mentioned that xtank is going through a
>metamorphasis - can anyone who's involved in the work give us a few details
>about what's being done and what we can look forward to in the next release?

Well, I am currently working on a Light Weight Xtank Protocall (LWxP) that 
should drasticly reduce the ammount of network bandwidth it takes to play 
xtank (my goal is to get xtank to the point where it can run over PPP on
as V.32bis modem, no V.42bis (too much latency)).  It looks like it is doable,
but all I have now is a protocall (most of one anyway), and a decoder for it 
(I feed it a saved file).  I still have to make it draw things, write the
server side, and flesh out the protocall (or help someone else do it).

With a little luck we will have a psudo-client-server xtank in '93.

>After all, it is nearly Christmas, and this can be something we can get a
>bit excited about (!?)

Hmmmm, it is really, really unlikely there will be a release before Christmas,
or even in '92, but Jan '93, there's a possability...
-- 
           stripes@pix.com              "Security for Unix is like
      Josh_Osborne@Real_World,The          Multitasking for MS-DOS"
      "The dyslexic porgramer"                  - Kevin Lockwood
We all agree on the necessity of compromise.  We just can't agree on
when it's necessary to compromise.       - Larry Wall
From: lidl@rodan.UU.NET (Kurt J. Lidl)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Re: a few more questions(see the other post)
Date: 11 Dec 1992 16:22:59 -0500
Organization: AlterNet -- Falls Church, Virginia, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: rodan.uu.net

In article <1992Dec11.030929.1613@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu> crreadle@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu writes:
>a few other questions....(pertaining to the post on the other xtank board...
>what system does it run on?

unix.

it probably runs out of the tar file on the following machines:
sun3
sun4
vax
decstation
386bsd

others with some hacking.

>do i need to set type to i to ftp it...

Of course.

>(to vax or unix)(those r the two systems i have available)(and a pc :)
>thats all i guess

Try azathoth.sura.net, in the xtank directory, maybe even the
pre-compiled release will work for you.

-Kurt
-- 
/* Kurt J. Lidl (lidl@uunet.uu.net)   | Unix is the answer, but only if you */
/*                                    | phrase the question very carefully. */
/* Don't even think of confusing my opinions with my employer's opinions!   */
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
From: stripes@pix.com (Josh Osborne)
Subject: Re: Xtank....
Organization: Pix Technologies -- The company with no adult supervision
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 02:57:18 GMT

In article <BENH.92Dec18071906@linc.cis.upenn.edu> benh@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Ben Harrison) writes:
[...]
>Observations: some of the new pixmaps suck.  The menus are having

That's because we are programmers, not artests.  Go find an artest and
get them to contribute...

>problems, especially when clicking on the last items.  The dotted
>lined walls are working fine.  The new menus are neat, but I think it
>is time to restandardize the weapons, armor, etc, especially in terms
>of their order (should reflect their usefulness) and parameters,

Well, now that we have the new .V format we can move the order of things
at will (only breaking the .v files in the process...).

>especially weight and price.  Of course, first we need a better
>scoring system, but that's been discussed countless times...

Yep, and never come up with a better one.  We have to figure out a better
way to score (not just a list of what's wrong with the current way) before
it can be fixed.

>And a server client separation (now been discussed for *years*) would
>contribute greatly towards lots of things.  Is anyone actually working
>on this anymore, or has it died out, like the 3D stuff?

I have written more client-server code for xtank in the last 2 weeks then
I have written code at work.  So, I guess the answer is "no, this is the
farthest from dead it has been in years".

>I hate to say it, but what Xtank *really* needs is to be rewritten
>from scratch, based on the current ideas...  But I doubt *anyone* has
>time for that...

I don't think you want us to do this.  (a) if we did it would end up all in
C++  (b) I doubt it would be a tank game (I have a few other games in mind
for when I finally leave xtank).
-- 
           stripes@pix.com              "Security for Unix is like
      Josh_Osborne@Real_World,The          Multitasking for MS-DOS"
      "The dyslexic porgramer"                  - Kevin Lockwood
We all agree on the necessity of compromise.  We just can't agree on
when it's necessary to compromise.       - Larry Wall
From: lidl@rodan.UU.NET (Kurt J. Lidl)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Re: Xtank....
Date: 18 Dec 1992 13:57:42 -0500
Organization: AlterNet -- Falls Church, Virginia, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: rodan.uu.net

In article <BENH.92Dec18071906@linc.cis.upenn.edu> benh@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Ben Harrison) writes:
>In article <9212181132.AA13948@sun19.src.bae.co.uk> moore@src.bae.co.uk (Chris Moore) writes:
>Just set up xtank (again -- the versions keep changing...) on a Sparc
>station, X11R4, B&W screens.  Everything went fine... Except:

You know Ben, I'm rather irritated with reading mail like this from
you.  I don't recall ever seeing a single patch from you in the last
two years (or so).  I've seen lots of commentary and lots of bitching,
but no constructive code fixes.

>I hate to say it, but what Xtank *really* needs is to be rewritten
>from scratch, based on the current ideas...  But I doubt *anyone* has
>time for that...

Put up or shut up.  Just leave me out of your version.

-Kurt
-- 
/* Kurt J. Lidl (lidl@uunet.uu.net)   | Unix is the answer, but only if you */
/*                                    | phrase the question very carefully. */
/* Don't even think of confusing my opinions with my employer's opinions!   */
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Re: a few more questions(see the other post)
To: Xtank Mailing List <xtank@eng.umd.edu>
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 92 10:37:45 PST
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]
From: Darren Senn <sinster@scintilla.capitola.ca.us>

** Kurt J. Lidl said:
> In article <1992Dec11.030929.1613@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu> crreadle@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu writes:
> >a few other questions....(pertaining to the post on the other xtank board...
> >what system does it run on?
> 
> unix.
> 
> it probably runs out of the tar file on the following machines:
> sun3
> sun4
> vax
> decstation
> 386bsd

Don't forget Linux.  :)

-- 
Darren Senn                                    Telephone:       (408) 454-9074
Internet: sinster@scintilla.capitola.ca.us         Snail:      129 Goss Avenue
I'm a .sig virus -- copy me and join the fun!             Santa Cruz, Ca 95065
From: yohan@atlantis.ksu.ksu.edu (Jonathan W Newton)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Xtank bitmaps
Date: 14 Dec 1992 13:19:53 -0600
Organization: Kansas State University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: atlantis.ksu.ksu.edu


Does anyone have some advice for making new bitmaps for bodies, bullets, etc.
and integrating them into xtank?

Thanks,

Jon
From: brian@pdx.csd.mot.com (Brian Vandewettering)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.play
Subject: Re: xtank:what is it?y
Date: 18 Dec 92 23:10:47 GMT
Article-I.D.: pdxvme.1420
Organization: Motorola, Beaverton, OR

In article <1992Dec17.015452.1636@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu>, crreadle@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu writes:

> yeah, but what if u cant program in C?

Then you ain't sh*t.  ;-)  

> -jugglre

-brian

-- 
"It cannot be presumed that any clause in the Constitution is intended to
be without effect..."

- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.play
Subject: Re: xtank:what is it?y
From: crreadle@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu
Date: 17 Dec 92 01:54:52 EDT
Organization: Miami University, Hamilton campus

In article <BzB1BE.E67@pix.com>, stripes@pix.com (Josh Osborne) writes:
> In article <cboerm48.724401047@ursa> cboerm48@ursa.calvin.edu (Christopher Boerma) writes:
>>crreadle@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu writes:
>>
>>>What IS xtank anyway??? is it anything like omega?
>>
>>Hmm, not sure. I've never played omega, but xtank is an awesome game.
> 
> Omega was a computer game for the Amiga (and mabie others).  The game concept
> is simmilar, here are a few of the diffrences:
> 
>  Omega more resembled a boardgame, xtank resembles an arcade game
> 
>  Omega allowed robot tanks, but had it's own basic like language; xtank
>  allows robots to be written in C, or any C linkable language.
> 
>  Omega could only handle one humon at a time, xtank currently allows up to 16.
> [...]
> -- 
>            stripes@pix.com              "Security for Unix is like
>       Josh_Osborne@Real_World,The          Multitasking for MS-DOS"
>       "The dyslexic porgramer"                  - Kevin Lockwood
> We all agree on the necessity of compromise.  We just can't agree on
> when it's necessary to compromise.       - Larry Wall


yeah, but what if u cant program in C?

-jugglre
From: okes@essex.ac.uk (Simon Oke)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.play
Subject: Re: xtank:what is it?
Date: 16 Dec 92 17:08:28 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Essex, UK.
In-reply-to: cboerm48@ursa.calvin.edu's message of 15 Dec 92 06:30:47 GMT

In article <cboerm48.724401047@ursa> cboerm48@ursa.calvin.edu (Christopher Boerma) writes:

[no indentation here folks]

--
Oh, I hate tryin' to be witty in these things!	   |
So I'm even going to try. And if you don't like it,|
Tough! 	(Thank you had have a nice day)	         |    cboerm48@calvin.edu
																    |

With the built-in tab damage (tm) this *has* to be bait of the highest order.

--
Simon Oke, 3rd year Computer Science
undergraduate at the University of Essex, UK.
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.play