HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: msimon@physics.ucla.edu (Simon)
Subject: Re: MISC: purchasing nintendo extender cables
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: UCLA Department of Physics
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 18:28:18 GMT


In <1992Nov18.045956.23213@u.washington.edu> was1@kepler.unh.edu (William A Sanb
orn) writes:


>Would anyone like to get together and order a bunch of nintendo extesnion
>cables for use in interfacing the powerglove to the PC. I have the number of
>the manufacture of the cables but they will not sell individual cables. The

Pacific Computer will sell mail order a package of two cables for just under
$10.  Not the cheapest but maybe easier and faster than the alternatives.
You can reach them at 415 366 0353.   
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: kbeal@amber.ssd.csd.harris.com (Ken Beal)
Subject: Re: TECH: SEGA glasses
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: Harris CSD, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 18:15:14 GMT



Sim Yskes (sim@niscale.LeidenUniv.nl) wrote:

: >I can get SEGA 3D glasses for approximately $38 a pair.  Is this a
: >good price?
: >
: >Scott
: 
: We read this message in the news, and we are wondering where you can
: order those segaglasses in the states. We are looking for a non 800
: number because they cannot be called from out of the USA.

        I can't get the original poster's address from this followup,
so I'll post my question instead: where can you get them, and if it's
local, could you act as a middle-man?

        Note to everyone else: I'm also interested in acquiring a
powerglove, and spent the weekend looking around; there are none in
this area.  If someone could get one for me, I'd be glad to pay
mailing costs and maybe an extra $5 "handling" fee :-).

Kenneth L. Beal, Jr.                    kbeal@amber.ssd.csd.harris.com
"I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous!" - MST3k
"Street person my responsibility." - Indigo Girls
The opinions expressed above are shared.  The preceding sentence is false.
From: coreyt@vax1.mankato.msus.edu
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: 4SALE: PowerGloves for $35!
Date: 23 Nov 92 15:41:53 GMT
Article-I.D.: vax1.1992Nov23.094153.1
Organization: Mankato State University
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu


For Sale:
          3 Nintendo Powergloves - $35 each.

E-mail me at coreyt@vax1.mankato.msus.edu

and leave mail if you're interested.  
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: Micky Brus <RPHMBRUS@idbsu.idbsu.edu>
Subject: Re: 4SALE: PowerGloves
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 19:10:40 GMT



I got your message re the power glove sale.  Would absolutely love to get
one.  Please mail to Micky Brus

                     4538 W Quail Ridge Dr.
                     Boise, Idaho  83703

                     208-343-5202
                     Rphmbrus@idbsu.idbsu.edu

I'll get you 45 in the mail asap.  Thanks.

Micky Brus
From: ryaker@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Richard Yaker)
Subject: Re: JOB: Newbie Post/ Job Hunting
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: Amdahl
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 20:53:36 GMT



I am a software engineer, working presently in UNIX development
 I planning to relocate to the Los Angeles, and if possible change the
focus of my career.  I am extremely interested in Virtual Reality, I
have been reading materials on VR and will soon start working on some
Homebrew VR to get up to speed.  I am interested in pursuing a career
in VR, especially but not limited to distributed simulations
(networked virtual worlds).

I would be interested in getting info on companies working on
development of Virtual Reality software in Southern California.

I can fax or email, a resume upon request, if there are any openings
now available.  --
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: jpc@tauon.ph.unimelb.edu.au (John Costella)
Subject: Re: INDUSTRY: Future short/long term economic forecasts?
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 01:29:04 GMT


> What, in your expert opinions, are the future economic prospects for
> the field of virtual reality?

> Therefore my guess at the future of virtual reality is this: There
> is the possibility for a career in it, but the career may take another
> 20 years to even begin :) Or else careers may begin soon.... what do
> you think?

> [MODERATOR'S NOTE: I don't think so...it's more like five years -- or
> maybe tomorrow, IMHO.  But what do you all think? -- Bob Jacobson]

IMHO:

It'll be a talking point in the public till about mid 1993, then it will
be boring.
Lots of false starts and bankruptcies will be the norm for a while.
Newsworthy applications will be reported on "Beyond 2000" type TV shows
increasingly over the next few years.
By about 1996, some sort of VR-related hardware will start selling
like hotcakes. High-end workstations will already have it as standard.
By 1999, VR hardware and software will be bundled in with all computers
on the commodities market.
More vendors will make big losses and go under.

OK, so picking the Melbourne Cup winner for the first time ever went
to my head. <grin>

John

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
John P. Costella              School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
jpc@tauon.ph.unimelb.edu.au         Tel: +61 3 543-7795, Fax: +61 3 347-4783
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: MITZEL@CCSUA.CTSTATEU.EDU (BEVERLY MITZEL - )
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: SCI: VR AND DIVING
Date: 16 Nov 92 14:08:26 GMT
Organization: University of Washington
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu



Hello,

It seems to me, that the two are not similar at all!  In scuba diving,
as you know. objects at depth appear 25% larger, and visabiltiy (on a
good day) is around 100 feet.  (Here in New England, you're lucky if
you get 20!)  My field of view in VR has only been limited by where I
choose to look!  Although I am an avid diver, the freedom that I feel
"flying" through a virtual space in no way compares to diving in the
open ocean.  VR, at least for me, is effortless.  Scuba diving
requires much practice and persistance to master "neutral" buoyancy.

I think that a Virtual Dive would probably meet or exceed the
expectations of novice divers or divers-to-be, BETTER than the actual
experience.

Beverly Mitzel
Central Ct. State University
New Britain, Ct
ccsua.ctstateu.edu
From: 70233.1552@CompuServe.COM (Mark T. Pflaging)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: TECH: Improved PC C++ Glove Driver!
Date: 20 Nov 92 22:55:22 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Nov21.051631.25551
Organization: University of Washington
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu


        Hail and well met!
        As you may or may not know, o2glove is a C++ Power Glove
driver/demo for any PC (via parallel port) that I wrote (with a lot of
cooperation/code borrowing from other people).
        This is to let everybody know that there is a maintenance release
available for o2glove, called o21glove.zip.  That is because it's Revision
2.1.  It is available via anonymous FTP from sunee.uwaterloo.ca in the
pub/glove directory.  The differences between V2.0 and V2.1 are relatively
minor.  Here is a list of the chnages:

        1) Erroneous PGPINS.GIF no longer here.
        2) Now compiles under Borland C++ 3.1.
        3) If there is no glove attached, any key will get you out.
        4) The last "piece" of the thumb is now present.
        5) Timings are printed even if glove is not found.
        6) Glove's arrow keys now change the color of the moving cursor.
        7) Smoothing functions can be turned off from glove.ini.
        8) 'makefiles' now work.

        Most importantly, the driver compiles for Windows!!  The full demo
is not in place for Windows yet, but there is a simplified demo that works
under Windows & DOS.

        If my gut feeling is correct, there are a lot of you out there who
would love to use the power glove with MS Windows.  Now the real
development work can begin, because the difficult part - making the glove
driver work under Windows - has been accomplished.  Don't expect to see
much with this release; all it does is print all the data received from
the glove to a text window.  Also, though it appeared to work fine on my
computer (486/33, Windows 3.1), there is no guarantee that this version
of the Windows glove driver will work on every computer (I'm keeping my
fingers crossed.)  I'll post any problems I encounter here.
        (The worst part was that I couldn't detect under Windows whether
the "glove interrupt vector address", [which I changed to 250 from 128],
is actually unused or not.  I override it anyway, and there could be
unforseen consequences of this.)
        Yes, I'm working on getting two gloves hooked up also.
        If anyone copies this code to other anonymous FTP locations, plase
tell us about it.  Also, can somebody put it on karazam?  Can somebody
also make it available via list server?

                        -Mark T. Pflaging
From: jpc@tauon.ph.unimelb.edu.au (John Costella)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: TECH: Ftp site for Galilean Antialiasing
Date: 23 Nov 92 17:03:48 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Nov23.160641.24886
Organization: University of Washington
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu



For all those folks whose servers spat the dummy at the size of my
postings on Galilean Antialiasing, you can now get the files by 
anonymous ftp from 

                tauon.ph.unimelb.edu.au

The fully-concatenated version of the LaTeX source file of the paper,
its PostScript counterpart, the GALCUBE uuencoded and pkzipped .exe
file, and the GALCUBE docs, are in the directory

                pub/incoming/jpc

I will continue to meet the steady stream of e-mail requests for 
these files, since not everybody can get ftp to work, although
I would appreciate it if seekers would first try the anonymous
ftp method, so that I don't spend all day file-shuffling. :)

The files of the paper itself are, of course, also in the current
Papers directory of the Sci-VW archives at ftp.u.washington.edu. The
tauon version may be be withdrawn at some stage.

John

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
John P. Costella              School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
jpc@tauon.ph.unimelb.edu.au         Tel: +61 3 543-7795, Fax: +61 3 347-4783
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: JGUSCOTT@kentvm.kent.edu
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: PUBL: Technophilia
Date: 21 Nov 92 18:02:54 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Nov22.040239.6643
Organization: Kent State Univ.
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu


 
I am writing a book called Technophilia, which is a sourcebook/guide
covering the following topics-
 
* Affordable Virtual Reality
* Nootropics
* The Computer Underground
* Industrial and Cyberculture
* AI/Robots/A-life
* Brain Machines
 
If you have a publication, zine, group, FTP site, etc, and would like to
be included in the book, please e-mail me at the below address.
If you are interested in the above, feel free to send me comments,
suggestions, or ideas (ie, what you would like to see that you haven't
in other books).
Basically, I'm trying to make this book as practical as possible for
the average person.  Street-tech and homebrew suggestions/contributions
are especially encouraged.
I've been working on this book for about a year now, and hope to have it
off to publishers by January.
Thanks for everyone's help!
 
John Guscott
JGUSCOTT@KENTVM.KENT.EDU
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: Eric McKee Fisk <ef12+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: INFO?: compass directional chip
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 20:30:45 GMT


I need a chip that senses compass directions.  I heard of something like this
on a VR bboard- if anyone has info, please return ASAP.  (I'd rather not
have to buy a compass and wire it up in some lame way.)
From: kbeal@amber.ssd.csd.harris.com (Ken Beal)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: PHIL: Virtual Communities & Rights
Date: 19 Nov 92 17:20:42 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Nov21.051030.24460
Organization: Harris CSD, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu


Rick Horowitz (Rick.Horowitz@lambada.oit.unc.edu) wrote:
: Although I don't imagine I will ever run afoul of the University
: guidelines for security, obscenity, etc., so I don't think I would
: ever create a security risk, the way the current policy is written,
: this will not ensure that my mail and files will not be invaded by superusers
: who have taken it upon themselves to abrogate any rights I may have as
: a citizen of the United States of America, in which country the
: physical systems which instantiate the virtual communities through
: which I move exist, and thus will not ensure that, without due process,
: they will not violate specifically my rights to privacy.

Just a thought/question related to a tiny piece of your post: if
the system resides in the USA, then could the superuser who wants to read
your mail but not break any laws do the following:

        log onto a Canadian system
        telnet back, logging in as superuser, then read it?

I realize this is somewhat nitpicking (but that's what we pay lawyers for :-),
but it could present a problem.

Wrt the rest of your post: I think you have an interesting idea, but I think
you'll have an *incredibly* hard time convincing the establishment of that.
They bought the system, they should be able to do what they want with it.
(Their words.)  It all boils down to resource accumulation: who gets to control
what's there?  I think the advent of nanotechnology* will cure that to some
degree, because then there will be more abundance than we could think possible,
but there will still be people who want to be in control, people on power
trips, that sort of thing.

* How many VR people follow developments in nanotechnology?  I try to follow
both, but am leaning more towards nanotech first.  Why?  Because once nanotech
has been achieved, VR will be quite *simple* to do, and do well.  (But then
I realize that parallel development helps, too -- with VR, nanotech researchers
could be modeling molecules they're interested in instead of having to
build them outright.)

Just my 2 cents...
--
Kenneth L. Beal, Jr.  kbeal@amber.ssd.csd.harris.com | Use OS/2 2.0! :-) often.
"I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous!" - MST3k  | Learn.  Keep moving.
"Street person my responsibility." - Indigo Girls    | Better yourself.
The opinions expressed above are shared.  The preceding sentence is false.
From: sim@niscale.LeidenUniv.nl (Sim Yskes)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: TECH: SEGA glasses
Date: 15 Nov 92 21:08:21 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Nov16.095750.10195
Organization: University of Washington
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu



>I can get SEGA 3D glasses for approximately $38 a pair.  Is this a
>good price?
>
>Scott

We read this message in the news, and we are wondering where you can
order those segaglasses in the states. We are looking for a non 800
number because they cannot be called from out of the USA.

Gr. Sim
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: jimh@surreal.asd.sgi.com (Jim Helman)
Subject: Re: TECH: DataGlove packet rate
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: Home for Degenerate Physicists
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 19:33:02 GMT



cdshaw@cs.ualberta.ca (Chris Shaw) writes:

   Our study of this problem, published in the User Interface Software
   and Technology 1991 Conference (ACM UIST'91) indicates that using
   continuous mode can reduce lag by up to 50 milliseconds.

Useful paper.  Anyone interested in tracker latency, should also check
out this year's UIST Proceedings.

   The key point to note here is that you should always try to eliminate
   needless synchronization of the visual update upon other updates, such
   as tracker update. Polling the tracker requires you to hang around
   waiting for the latest data to show up. You can't always guarantee
   that you can fill this time with something useful.

You certainly don't want to sit around waiting for the tracker or any
other input device to sample, compute and return data.  But I'd also
argue that you don't want to run in continuous mode for two reasons:

        1) Temporal jitter: You'll have a variable time between
        the last sample of the tracker and the time at which
        the corresponding image is drawn.  Synchronization can
        eliminate this temporal jitter.

        2) Interrupts: Especially on a uniprocessor machine,
        I sure don't want my CPU getting a zillion unnecessary
        serial interrupts and waste time bouncing between the
        kernel and my rendering code.

A better solution would:

        1) Multiprocess: Handle serial interrupts and tracker
        input on a separate CPU, if available, and communicate
        the results through shared memory.

        2) Just in time: Make the request to the tracker so
        that the data is returned "just in time" to set the
        view and object transformations for the next frame.
        This keeps your latency minimized, eliminates the
        temporal jitter, and reduces unnecessary interrupts.
        If you're running at a fixed frame rate, e.g. using
        something like IRIS Performer (plug!), knowing when to
        issue the request to the tracker is fairly
        straightforward.

In general, synchronization is a good thing as long as it doesn't slow
you down.  Otherwise, you will have temporal jitter and need
interpolation or prediction to compensate.

rgds,

-jim helman

jimh@surreal.asd.sgi.com
415/390-1151
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: MACDONAN@UK.AC.BHAM.IBM3090
Subject: INFO/CONF?: art and technology
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: The University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 15:09:43 GMT


Please post ideas for a conference on art and technology, especially
re the performing arts......thanks
From: tolman@asylum.cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: INDUSTRY: Future short/long term economic forecasts?
Date: 18 Nov 92 06:09:36 GMT
Organization: University of Utah, CompSci Dept
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu



  What, in your expert opinions, are the future economic prospects for
the field of virtual reality?  (I am curious, because I am thinking of
banking a career on it, and I would like to hear opinions)

  Virtual reality at the present moment is limited to exploratory
research in a few labs, the defense contract simulations and to some
hopeful game systems which may or may not pan out.  Therefore, it may
be difficult to even obtain a job in the field at all... unless there
are a lot of underground projects in the works that I am unaware of.

  It seems likely a game system will hit the personal market soon, in
the next 1-4 years.  It is not clear if this system will be adequate
to attract a decent starting base, or whether it will flash in the pan
like the Atari 2600 basically did.  Worse (for job hunters) many
systems will come out and most will go under with one or two surviving
(probably footed by the big players)

  Virtual reality in business will probably lag for years, unless some
specific packages come out that in some way greatly inhance
productivity.

  Therefore my guess at the future of virtual reality is this: There
is the possibility for a career in it, but the career may take another
20 years to even begin :) Or else careers may begin soon.... what do
you think?


[MODERATOR'S NOTE: I don't think so...it's more like five years -- or
maybe tomorrow, IMHO.  But what do you all think? -- Bob Jacobson]
From: jpc@tauon.ph.unimelb.edu.au (John Costella)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: TECH/INFO: VGA to NTSC / Color Viewfinders
Date: 22 Nov 92 23:21:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Nov22.210325.840
Organization: University of Washington
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu



> I'm not satisfied yet (though what I have so far is really NEAT!!) ..I
> need to get VGA output to a TV (2 TV's, but I'll worry about that)...
> can I find a VGA-NTSC converter (CHEAP) to do this!?!?!

Well a crowd in Sydney sells a little gadget that converts VGA to PAL
(which, the documentation states, is butchered to NTSC for the US
market :), one of which I bought about year ago. It was about A$200
then (equals approx. US$136 ... and dropping <sigh, our poor
dollar:>), but is only a little box the size of a matchbox or two. It
plugs into the VGA port and has an RCA output for regular PAL/NTSC, as
well as an output for high-definition TV (the name of which escapes
me, because no-one has hi-def TV anyway :).

Methinks that this simple gadget would probably be going for US$50 in
the US by now, which is probably cheaper than even building your own.
Sorry, though: for obvious reasons, I don't know where you can get
one.

John

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
John P. Costella              School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
jpc@tauon.ph.unimelb.edu.au         Tel: +61 3 543-7795, Fax: +61 3 347-4783
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: wggray@mailbox.syr.edu (William G. Gray)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: TECH: Optical computing & VR?
Date: 23 Nov 92 03:24:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Nov23.161359.25359
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu



        I was just wondering if anyone out there has heard of any
        developments in the field of optical computing. There's
        a guy at M.I.T. (forgot his name) who supposedly created
        the (first working) model of an optical computer. Some of
        the articles I read a while ago set the market date for
        such computers a few years from now. Can anyone give any
        more info on this? BTW, what kind of an impact do you
        think it will have on VR?

        --Wild Bill
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: Ben Delaney <bdel@well.sf.ca.us>
Subject: Re: SCI: Three dimensional sound?
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 19:08:52 GMT



That's not a new system its the Convolvotron, avaialble commercially
from Crystal Riever Enginreering, Groveland Calif. Pos Sci listed it
among the 100 best products for 1992.