HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ma9tn@sunlab1.bath.ac.uk (T Nettleship)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: LoadRGB8() ????
Keywords: amiga graphics technical programmer AGA
Date: 5 Nov 92 16:03:37 GMT
Organization: Bath University Computing Services, UK


Having read about the new AGA chipset and it's new graphics
modes, I have decided to modify a fractal program of my own
to use the 256 colour register mode.

I have one problem with the conversion. I can open an 8-bitplane
screen at the appropriate resolutions, and render to it. This
works fine. However, I can't load the new AGA 24-bit palette
registers.

I use the graphics library call LoadRGB4(), but this only uses
12-bit colours, so I am losing a lot of colour definition. What
I want to know is what is the library offset / registers definition
for a corresponding 24-bit regs function (which I assume will
be called LoadRGB8())?

I am not a registered developer, and so have no access to 
Commodore Autodocs / Includes for V3.xx. Could some kind soul 
either EMail me with the details or post them. (poss. a Commodore
person?)

I am in a bit of a hurry, as I would like to take a working
version of the program to the Future Entertainment Show in
London this Saturday and bug the guys on the Commodore stand
till they let me try it out!

Regards,

Tom Nettleship. (ma9tn@uk.ac.bath.ss1)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: casey@lexmark.com (Patrick Casey)
Subject: Re: LISP - Don't use it.
X-Disclaimer: These views are the poster's and not necessarily those of Lexmark
Reply-To: pacasey@lexmark.com
Organization: Lexmark International, Lexington KY
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 19:30:47 GMT

In article <BxBn4w.7oM@fc.hp.com> koren@fc.hp.com (Steve Koren) writes:

>  Well, I'd encourage anyone who is going to use a script language similar in
>  style to ARexx to use LISP instead.  I think ARexx is in no way, shape, or
>  form even in the same league of language as LISP.  In fact, I really really
>  wish that the concept have ARexx (inter process communication language) 
>  had been done in LISP instead.  It would, I think, make essentially the
>  perfect language for such a thing.  I've actually toyed around with the

I'm curious as to why you think this.  I don't disagree -- it's just
that I find myself in the situation where I've fallen in love with GNU
Emacs and like learning ELisp, but I still like ARexx, and would
probably prefer to write scripts in it, since it's more like a
"conventional" language (whatever that means).

Or let me put it this way.  I had to recently write some programs of
some sort to process files in various ways, finding certain keywords,
and then converting everything after that from decimal to hex, etc.
and I chose to use ELisp since it provided ways to search for the
keywords and then modify text (and binary data).  But when a co-worker
asked why I didn't do it in Perl or C or REXX, I couldn't really give
him a decent answer (other than I thought it would be more difficult
to search in "fuzzy" ways for the keywords in those languages).

So, I'd like to know reasons why other people like ELisp, or Lisp!
Thanks!

Patrick
--
Patrick A. Casey      pacasey@lexmark.com         Hi, I.S. big brothers!
From: Neil_Bortnak@tvbbs.wimsey.bc.ca (Neil Bortnak)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: BlitterCalc
Distribution: world
Date: 6 Nov 92 00:29:25 PST
Organization: Tunnel-Vision BBS!

     Not to long ago I finished working on a set of routines dubbed
'BlitterCalc'. It was a system in which a programmer could basically
specify in pixels what and where he wanted something to blitted and the
routines would churn out all the blitter registers (masks, control,
modulos, everything). It was like saying, "Computer, blit an object 20
pixels wide by 34 pixels high from bitmap 12 at co-ordinates X56,Y89 to
bitmap 5 at the co-ordinates X5,Y97. It is 3 bitplanes and I want it
cookie-cutted" and presto there are all the values (All the hub bub about
bitplanes and source co-ordinates and the source bitplane could all be
stored in an object structure). I hand verified its results about 5 times
and they came out correct so I figured it was done. After that I began to
work on a server to use the BlitterCalc's generated structures to actually
preform a blit while the cpu was still mucking about (like a transparent
process) all in a non or fully multi-tasking enviornment. Eventually I was
going to incorporate it all into a shared library that could install the
BlitServer (the name of the actual blitting system) when the library is
opened and so on and so on. I haven't fininshed the blitserver but am
itching to release something. So what would everybody think about me
releasing a shell for all these routines so programmers can quickly
calculate all their blitter values. Or should I just release it as a shared
library (all the routines are position-indepenent and completely system
friendly) for the programmer use. Or a link module or at all? What do you
guys think and how would you best like it released???


-- Via DLG Pro v0.995

*--------------------------------------------------------------------*
|   // Neil Bortnak Surrey,BC  Assembler/C Programmer  | "Anarchy is |
| \X/   UUCP: @TVBBS.wimsey.bc.ca   FIDO: 1:153/910    |  Prison" :) |
*--------------------------------------------------------------------*
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: walker@twix.unx.sas.com (Doug Walker)
Subject: Re: Student Package (in Canada) for SAS/C 6.0???
Originator: walker@twix.unx.sas.com
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 13:50:00 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.
Keywords: SAS C


In article <Bx9s7s.717@ccu.umanitoba.ca>, ummuir05@ccu.umanitoba.ca (John Derek Muir) writes:
|> 
|> 	I'm a the University of Manitoba, and frankly, I'm bored with
|> pascal!  I need a decent C compiler, and SAS/C seems to be the thing to
|> get...  BUT, it costs $400.00 (cdn$) at the local dealer!  How can they
|> expect a student to pay that much?  Does anybody know if you can buy a
|> SAS/C with a 'student' deal?

Yes, Canadians can get a student discount if they contact 
SAS Institute directly:

SAS Institute, Inc.
Book Sales
SAS Campus Drive
Cary, NC 27513
USA

Phone (919)677-8000
Fax   (919)677-8123

The student discount price is US$197.50.

|>   John D. Muir                 ummuir05@ccu.umanitoba.ca

-- 
  *****
=*|_o_o|\\=====Doug Walker, Software Distiller====== BBS: (919)460-7430 =
 *|. o.| ||                                          1200/2400/9600 Dual
  | o  |//     For all you do, this bug's for you!
  ====== 
usenet: walker@unx.sas.com                            bix: djwalker 
Any opinions expressed are mine, not those of SAS Institute, Inc.
From: philipm@cs.kuleuven.ac.be (Philip Marivoet)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: LISP - Don't use it.
Date: 9 Nov 92 21:51:30 GMT
Organization: Dept. Computerwetenschappen

Is there a PD LISP available for the Amiga ? Not that I intend to use it for
any useful things but it would be handy to test out some programs I have to
write.

-Ives
From: vexar@watserv.ucr.edu (Joe C Solinsky)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Where do I find the Enforcer via FTP?
Date: 11 Nov 92 21:59:54 GMT

Send replies to vexar@watserv.ucr.edu
From: den@cci632.cci.com (Dennis J. Buttery)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: Listview -vs- Intuiticks
Date: 9 Nov 92 21:31:03 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: [Computer Consoles, Inc., Rochester, NY

>
>If you try to limit your postings to 80 colums (instead of hundreds),
>more people could read them...  Now back to the question:
>
Sorry, I wasn't aware that was happening!  Everything looked fine from
my end of things.  Hope this is better, I am using hard returns now!!

>>I took a romp through the RKM's and found that the IDCMP_LISTVIEW flag
>>is sub-defined with the INTUITICKS flag.  My question is...  How can I use
>>Listview gadgets without getting this stream of INTUITICKS waking up
>>the application??????
>
>You must be able to handle INTUITICKS.  Fortunately, a well-written
>event loop has no problem handling (in your case, basically ignoring)
>INTUITICKS at the relatively slow rate (10 a second) that they arrive.
>
>Unless you're doing something upon every message without first checking
>to see if it's a class you really care about, there shouldn't be a problem.

I am handling the INTUITICKS as they are received.  It just doesn't seem very
practical though to have my application wake-up each time one is received.
Especially, since they are only there because of the Listview gadget.
BTW - I am using the GT_GetIMsg function in place of the regular GetMsg. which
I thought was designed to consume these unwanted event signals??

                                           -DJB-
Organization: Middle East Technical University - Computer Center
Date: Friday, 6 Nov 1992 11:11:27 TUR
From: <E63256@TRMETU.BITNET>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject:    BOB size changing between DrawGList calls

I use system Bob routines for animations. (Double buffered)
The image, shadow pointer and x,y coordinates (planeonoff,planepick also)
can be modified dynamically between calls to DrawGList.
The system does not seem to allow a change in width/height fields.
(Because -I think- system does not keep track of old size as in the
case of x,y coordinates)
Do you know any trick to overcome this problem. Otherwise I have to write
my own animation routines.

Thanks in advance.

* Erhan OZTOP *
From: christim@ifi.uio.no (Christian Moen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: GTB 37.176 ListView Enforcer hits
Date: 5 Nov 92 14:14:02 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
Originator: christim@kolsaas.ifi.uio.no

Currently I'm using the GadToolsBox 1.4 (37.176) for my GUIs,
but I've had some major problems recently.

When I click in a listview-gadget created by the GTB-C-source-
generator, I get Enforcer hits. I didn't get such hits using the
1.3 version. The GT_SetGadgetAttr function with the GTLV_Labels tag
doesn't seem to work either.

Have anybody else in NetLand experienced such problems ?

- christian moen - e-mail: christim@ifi.uio.no -
From: heinz@edohwg.adsp.sub.org (Heinz Wrobel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re:  Comeau C++
Date: 1 Nov 92 13:50:57 GMT
Organization: Edotronik GmbH

In article <OA92-910-201_1552947b@piraya.bad.se> Mark_Cassidy@f201.n910.z92.badnet.bad.se (Mark Cassidy) writes:
>/**/
>say 'Hello, World!'
>
>25 bytes with ARexx :-))

/**/
say 'Hallo, Welt!'

24 bytes in german! :-)))
(Kind of ridiculous, isn't it? :-)

--
Heinz Wrobel, Edotronik GmbH (ECG018)
FAX +49 89 850 51 25 / TEL +49 89 850 25 20 (HOME!&VOICE, sometimes...)
From: Bob_Rye@guru.apana.org.au (Bob Rye)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: SAS/C 6 ctrl-c killer?
Distribution: world
Date: 6 Nov 92 19:28:21 +1100
Organization: Guru Meditation BBS


Hello all, I have just converted my source file over to SAS/C version 6,
and have finally got it compiling without error! The problem is that the
ctrl-c break checking is still working even though I have used:

int CXBRK(void)                                                            
{                                                                          
return(0);
}

and chkabort() in the same way. How do I stop SAS/C 6 from reading ctrl-c
breaks? Thanks in advance!

Bob!
----
+--------------------------------+---------------------------+
| It was every man's fantasy: to | Bob Rye                   |
| be kept by a woman whose skirt | FidoNet  3:633/359.7      |
| is as short as the lifespan of | TriNet   42:8699/8.7      |
| the man that she chooses...    | AmigaNet 41:300/359.7     |
|                     - Al Bundy | bob_rye@guru.apana.org.au |
+--------------------------------+---------------------------+
 

-- Via DLG Pro v0.995
From: ccongdon@us.oracle.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: RACTER Anyone?
Date: 10 Nov 92 07:20:57 GMT
Organization: Oracle Corporation, USA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by an unauthenticated user
              at Oracle Corporation.  The opinions expressed are those
              of the user and not necessarily those of Oracle.

Does anyone know if RACTER has been ported to the Amiga, or if any attempt has
been made to create a public-domain RACTER look-alike?   I would be very
interested in the source or company that sells such a program.

For those who do not know, RACTER is an "artificial intelligence" program that
borders on the dangerous.  One minute you'll be talking to it and it will seem
like a simple computerized conversationalist, the next minute it will be off on
a tangent that sort of makes sense if you are, well, a little odd.   I'm just
waiting for someone to build this into a D&D parser - you might never leave the
first room!

RACTER goes far beyond simple computer converstationalists like ELIZA or
DOCTOR.  It makes the "psychotoic" program in GNU-Emacs looks positively stiff. 
In short, a fascinating (and not easy) exercise in programming.  Anyone seen
it?
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: dave@news.ccutah.edu (dave martin)
Subject: Re: SAS/C 6.00 & ANSI & Strict and C='s includes (no prototypes)
Organization: University of Utah Computer Center
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 16:52:13 GMT

walker@twix.unx.sas.com (Doug Walker) writes:
: 
: In article <1992Nov5.075836.27904@lmpsbbs.comm.mot.com>, rittle@supra.comm.mot.com (Loren James Rittle) writes:
: |> In article <1992Nov4.192404.1147@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca> mctaylor@mta.ca writes:
: |> >Why does my program get lots of warnings when I use ANSI and Strict for
: |> >the messages, not from my program but from within the C= includes. The
: |> 
: |> Because the fine people at C= haven't gotten around to updating the C=
: |> includes to be %100 ANSI compliant.  I hope that the 3.0 includes fix
: |> these problems.  Actually, I'll take the 3.0 includes in any form at
: |> this time... :-)
: 
: Actually, this is not true.  The STRICT option in this case is being
: more picky than ANSI requires.

Well, there are also things like PWrite and PBothReady which cause a warning
about no prototype defined, even without the STRICT option enabled.

dave@csulx.weber.edu (ignore the header address, its probably wrong)

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: u894776@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au (James McCoull)
Subject: Re: New hardware reference guide?
Organization: University of Tasmania, Australia.
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 06:52:52 GMT

Hamish.Macdonald@x400gate.bnr.ca (Hamish Macdonald) writes:

[AGA talk]

>What about those wanting to write their own operating system?

I believe it is possible to get the info out of CATS on a need-to-know basis.
If you release any hardware info to the general public, I believe Dave Haynie
and one of his mates come around with a blow torch, and check the melting
point of human toes.
From: jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: sprites in 3.0?
Date: 5 Nov 92 23:03:31 GMT
Reply-To: jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

Todd_Lewis@unc.edu (Todd M. Lewis) writes:
>Jesup) writes:
>>	I've written a trivial little hack (which is NOT guaranteed to work
>>in future versions of the OS) which does most of an UnEnlighten.  It doesn't

>Thanks, Randell.  I guess.  Hmmm.  Are you sure this is a good idea?
>Can't we finally let bad programs die?  Do we really want hackers to
>get RunECS and start playing fancy AGA tricks that break more things
>down the road?  I hate to lose a neat program as much as the next guy,
>but The Rules have been well-known for a long time now.  Perhaps this
>is a good time to raise the level of expectation...

	Yes, well, I must admit that I had to think about it a bit.  However,
there is a fairly large win from this, and even very well-conforming brand-
new programs (such as Megafortress) have had problems due to things like
4x mode requiring 32-bit alignments of bitplane pointers.

	Also, this still doesn't hide that fact that the program got it wrong,
since the user must run the program using Run_ECS.  You can do this anyways
without run_ecs by rebooting and selecting ECS chipset in graphics options in
bootmenu.  That is also a bit of a cop-out, but we needed to have it there
to avoid losing lots of our installed base.

-- 
To be or not to be = 0xff
-
Randell Jesup, Jack-of-quite-a-few-trades, Commodore Engineering.
{uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com  BIX: rjesup  
Disclaimer: Nothing I say is anything other than my personal opinion.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: jmarin@messi.uku.fi (Jukka Marin)
Subject: Re: Floating Point Processors
Date: 10 Nov 92 08:04:28 GMT
Organization: University of Kuopio, Finland

ejames@venus.iucf.indiana.edu (ERIC JAMES) writes:

>  I have been told that the amiga libraries automaticaly detect if you have
>a floating point processor, and uses it if you have it installed.  Dose anyone
>know if this is true or not?

Yes, it is true.

  Jukka Marin
-- 
| Mail:  Jukka Marin         |     E-Mail:           jmarin@messi.uku.fi  |
|        Metsurintie 17 B 8  |     FAX/voice:        +358 71 232 793      |
|        70150 Kuopio        | There's God above computers -              |
|        FINLAND             |                       Love beyond the hate |
From: mlelstv@specklec.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Michael van Elst)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: New hardware reference guide?
Date: 13 Nov 92 02:33:41 GMT
Organization: Max-Planck-Institut f"ur Radioastronomie

In <1950@lysator.liu.se> marvil@lysator.liu.se (Martin Vilcans) writes:
>Coding the hardware is, if not easier to do, easier to learn. And you don't
>need lots of expensive books for it either. And it is actually harder to
>follow the rules of OS programming than the rules of hardware programming,
>so OS-coded demos will _not_ work better than hardware coded ones. Most
>demo coders are not the persons to follow rules.

The last sentence is the whole truth.

>   (And I am a demo coder as well, and have played around a bit with the OS
>and Intuition, so I know what I'm talking about.)

>>The fact is, what ever you can do in the OS in 4 frames using the OS, a good
>>demo programmer would probably do in 100 raster lines, and make it work on
>>any machine.

>Yes, that's right.

This is hardly right. In most cases you will end with a program that
a) runs on some machines only (most likely A500's and A3000's with no expansion)
b) crashes with a new OS version or when started from system that is booted further
   than the initial CLI.
c) does generate bogus displays on either NTSC or PAL systems.
d) risks hardware damage with things connected to the serial or parallel port.

Ah, yes.. that's my experience with the creations from "demo coders".

Regards,
-- 
Michael van Elst
UUCP:     universe!local-cluster!milky-way!sol!earth!uunet!unido!mpirbn!p554mve
Internet: p554mve@mpirbn.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
                                "A potential Snark may lurk in every tree."
From: jdickson@jato.jpl.nasa.gov (Jeff Dickson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: Semaphores and software interrupts
Date: 6 Nov 92 18:00:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: jato.1992Nov6.180031.21994
Distribution: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

In article <36735@cbmvax.commodore.com> mks@cbmvax.commodore.com (Michael Sinz) writes:
>jdickson@jato.jpl.nasa.gov (Jeff Dickson) writes:
>>
>>	Hi all. Is AttemptSemaphore/ReleaseSemaphore safe from within a
>>software interrupt?
>
>No...
>
>Semaphores are task-level semaphores.  As such, they have no protection
>from being interrupted during the semaphore routines themselves and would
>be very unsafe in an interrupt. Also, as an interrupt, how would you hold
>onto the semaphore (what task would be the owner?)
>
Never mind. In trying to answer these questions I realized how absurd the
idea was. Thanks for answering.

>/----------------------------------------------------------------------\
>|      /// Michael Sinz  -  Senior Amiga Systems Engineer              |
>|     ///                   Operating System Development Group         |
>|    ///   BIX:  msinz      UUNET:  mks@cbmvax.commodore.com           |
>|\\\///                                                                |
>| \XX/     "I think not." said Ren'e Descartes, then he vanished.      |
>\----------------------------------------------------------------------/

jeff
From: lawsons@csgrad.cs.vt.edu (Shannon Lawson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Brush to bitplane utility?
Date: 8 Nov 92 22:34:54 GMT
Distribution: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Organization: VPI&SU Computer Science Department, Blacksburg, VA

Is there a PD/Shareware/Freeware/commercial utility for converting IFF
brushes to bitplane data for use in C?  I don't want a brush to image
structure utility.  I know Power Windows does that (but seems to muck up
the palette?).

Thanks!

-----
  Shannon Lawson, Virginia Tech    || E-mail: lawsons@csgrad.cs.vt.edu
  "Knowledge is chimera, for beyond it ever lies other knowledge, and the
   incompleteness of what is known renders the knowing false." - S.R. Donaldson
From: brindley@maxwell.ECE.ORST.EDU (Mike Brindley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: Help - IFF files used to store DOUBLES
Date: 8 Nov 92 18:06:22 GMT
Organization: Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things

In article <shf.720953994@well.sf.ca.us> shf@well.sf.ca.us (Stuart H. Ferguson) writes:
>In <1992Oct27.142015.2635@brandonu.ca> brycerw@brandonu.ca writes:
>> [...]  What is the best format to store DOUBLES in an IFF
>>file to maintain consistency in machine-independence.  These files will
>>inevitably be used on PC's, and vax's, as well as other amigas.
>
>I would use IEEE, since this is a published and common standard.  I believe
>the DR2D format stores IEEE single precision floats.  Unless you need the
>*super* precision of doubles, I would just write singles.  Since you are
>using a math co-processor on your Amiga, the values in memory are IEEE format,
>so you can just dump the bits directly and get a machine-independent
>file.                                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Are you sure that you will get a platform independent disk file?  I know
of one example where the bytes of single precision IEEE f.p. numbers
are stored on disk in the perverse Intel order (least significant byte 
first to most significant byte last).  This format should take a little
bit of byte shuffling to read or produce on a Motorola processor.



-- 
--> Mike Brindley
    brindley@ece.orst.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: dnavas@oracle.uucp (David Navas)
Subject: Re: How to program multi-threaded programs on Amiga ?
Organization: Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores CA
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:53:55 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by an unauthenticated user
              at Oracle Corporation.  The opinions expressed are those
              of the user and not necessarily those of Oracle.

In article <RNlXr*DG7@garfield.fipnet.fi> vsaari@garfield.fipnet.fi (Ville Saari) writes:
>What is the right way for sub-process to exit and how can the main process
>be absolutely sure the sub-process has exited?

To exit, return from the function that CreateNewProc() called....
I ObtainSharedSemaphore() on entry to the subprocess.  And Release() it on
exit.
I attempt to ObtainSemaphore() on exit of the main process....

There is, unfortunately, a hole between the ReleaseSemaphore() and the return
from the entrypoint.  Anyone know how to eliminate this (without a Forbid())?
Also, be careful, there are race conditions on startup (if your main
process attempts to leave before your startup process has ObtainShared()) --
these are possible to fix pretty easily, though....

Actually, the hole I'm talking about is even worse -- my ReleaseSemaphore()
occurs in library code, not user-program code, so what -can- happen is
that the main program attempts to exit, the library code gets an EXPUNGE, and
the sub-process is left executing out of someone else's memory ;)

I think the only way to eliminate this problem is to Forbid() -without-
a matching Permit(), right before your ReleaseSemaphore() (of your
subprocess).
David C. Navas						dnavas@oracle.com
Working for, but not speaking on behalf of, Oracle Corp.