HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: tyrone@wmsa.att.com (Tyrone Shiu)
Subject: INFO: on PCVR magazine.
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: AT&T
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 16:31:25 GMT


I didn't get any more info on PCVR magaizine other than the one from
moderator.  A few people have asked me about PCVR magaizine. Here is the
orginal mail message:

PCVR is a magazine dedicated to Virtual Reality and the IBM PC.  We
target our articles to the home experimenter.  The articles concentrate
on ideas you can use and build, not reviews of expensive out-of-reach
VR equipment.

The publishing schedule for the year 1992 is:

        Jan/Feb -       Powerglove Interface
        Mar/Apr -       Powerglove Software
        May/Jun -       Sega 3D glasses and HMDs
        July/Aug-       Rend386
        Sep/Oct -       Head tracking technology
        Nov/Dec -       3D sound

We are in the process of setting the schedule for 1993.

**** The current issue is number 4. ****



** The first two issues are trial issues and are available for

                $3.00 US/Canada, $5.00 Overseas each

** Back issues are available for 

   $4.50 US/Canada, $6.50 Overseas each

** Subscriptions are available for

                $26.00 US/Canada, $38.00 Overseas


We accept Check/Money Order/Visa/MasterCard.  Send to:

PCVR
1706 Sherman Hill Rd #A
Laramie, Wyoming  82070

For those using Visa/MC, please include the following information:

                * Your Name
                * Card Type - Visa or MasterCard
                * Cardholder's name as it appears on the card
                * Card Number
                * Expiration Date
                * Authorization Signature Required
From: bh644@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Mark T. Pflaging)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: INFO: Argh...that damned POWERGLV.ZIP...
Date: 16 Oct 92 02:07:16 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Oct16.170829.7280
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu



In a previous article, dstampe@psych.toronto.edu (Dave Stampe) says:

>
>spittman@nyx.cs.du.edu (Steve Pittman) writes:
>>
>>
>><sigh> for seemingly a couple of months now, I've been talking about this
>>POWERGLV.ZIP...you all know what it is, you all want it badly (or so my
>>e-mail reflects...:)..heh...but I can't seem to deliver.
>
>Arrghhh... I REALLY ought to do something about this.  All the stuff is
>available by FTP in source-code form from sunee.uwaterloo.ca in the pub/glove
>directory.  The problem is that the glove code as published in Virtual
>REality Playhouse is PAINFULLY out of date.  I had a file there that had
>an interrupt-driven glove and Sega driver, but it seems to have been
>lost.  Maybe I should put a new one there with gesture recognition.
>
>Then again, if you have a 386, you should be working with REND386 anyway.
>
>

        Why not give o2glove.zip a try available in sunee.uwaterloo.ca
pub/vr directory??  It has several advantages over anything Dave has
done to date.

                -Mark

-- 
    !~\         /~!
    !     \ /     !    A"A  |~~~\ |  /
    |      V      |   A___A |___/ |K      bh644@cleveland.freenet.edu
    !             !   A   A | \   |  \
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: pulkka@cs.washington.edu (Aaron Pulkka)
Subject: Re: TECH: Nintendo Power-Glove: What's it do?
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 21:14:30 GMT



A post incorrectly gave the address to subscribe to the glove-list..
The correct address is: listserv@nas.nasa.gov (not .com) Again, put
this in body: subscribe glove-list <email address>

Good luck,

        Aaron




-- 
Graduate student (graphical human interfaces & robotics)
Comp Sci & Engr Dept       +--------------\     
Univ of Washington, FR-35  | Aaron Pulkka  >    pulkka@cs.washington.edu
Seattle, WA 98195          +--------------/
From: "Richard M. Coffey" <c-crm@math.utah.edu>
Subject: PHIL: Wait a minute!
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 00:11:56 GMT



In response to dwharper@eos.ncsu.edu:

>"this is the 90's -- we aren't paranoid anymore; WE WERE RIGHT ALL
>ALONG." (Hunter S. Thompson)

Hey, wez humans is as greedy as they come.  So unless everyone on this
internet believes in a sharing society, (oh-no: socialism! 8-) I think
you should leave your best ideas in your mind, unless you get a
copyright or something.

All the stuff we talk about doesn't "really" make anyone money.  We're
just trying to get some sort of standard, and trade general ideas.

Of course, some of the messages have profitable ideas in them.  I hope
no one has ripped off those ideas.  Wouldn't it be nice...

<<<<<< SHORT SPELL OF DAYDREAMING... >>>>>>>

OH! sorry.

Anyways, since we belong to a capitalistic based economy; money is the
object of motivation. Therefore,

PSYCHE!

---Richard---
-the doorman-
CARPE <filename, etc.>
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: John Eagan <76130.2225@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Re: Sci-VW: TECH: Good Questions needing Answers
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 23:21:52 GMT



Jeremy Auman [slb96@cc.usu.edu] writes:

> (stuff del.)....Also, is there a cheap HMD out there anywhere?  The
>cheapest I have seen is about $1,500 dollars.  I don't have that much
>yet.

Neither do I. :-(  There is a rumored project to create a cheap HMD for
"home entertainment" (the Nintendo/Sega Genesis domain, I guess), being
worked on by Texas Instruments and AGE (the folks who turned the VPL
Dataglove into the Powerglove for Mattel). I haven't seen or heard much of
anything about this, though, since reading about it in the November 91
issue of CyberEdge Journal. 

>My final question is for the Rend386.  Will it only run on a
>386 computer?  I have an IBM 286 12.  Kind of old, but I am working on
>upgrading.

You'll have to wait for the upgrade. Until about a month ago I was
struggling along with a 12MHz 286 as well. You can't run Rend386 on it,
period. It's not just a matter of being really slow or something, it just
simply flat out _won't run_, Dave and Bernie used 386 32 bit instructions
to get the speed up, it requires a 32 bit processor to function. Don't
feel too bad, though. If you don't have one of these "baby"
small-footprint backplane-board boxes, and can drop a standard size
motherboard into your old box with no problem, I upgraded  to a
386dx-40MHz motherboard for $225 (RAM not included).

 _________________________________________________________________
| John Eagan                                                      |
| VR section leader                                               |
| Graphics Developers Forum                                       |
| CompuServe                                                      |
| compuserve:76130,2225                                           |
| internet:76130.2225@compuserve.com                              |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| "when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro"                 |
|                           - Hunter S. Thompson                  |
|_________________________________________________________________|
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: castelin@ecn.purdue.edu (Sanjay J Castelino)
Subject: PUBS: Publications worth reading?
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 15:00:28 GMT



Hi , I am relatively new here and I was wondering if I could get a
list of recent (or older) publications on VR that are worth reading. I
have Rheingold and also Cyberspace, and I flicked through VR
playhouse. I know Linda Jacobson has a book out, the name however I
cannot remember at this time. But any other publications which would
be good reading I am interested in.

thanks in advance...


                        Sanjay

castelin@ecn.purdue.edu
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: thinman@netcom.com (Technically Sweet)
Subject: Re: Sci-VW: TECH: Sound API?
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 22:47:32 GMT



There is no possibility of a universal low-level API for the various
types of sound hardware available.  Various kinds are quite unique.
You can't talk to a sampler the way you talk to an FM synthesizer.
Check out a pro-level MIDI sequencer package.  It's really amazing the
amount of custom info they have for each supported synth.

An object which has sounds as part of it will have to query the deck
and find out what kind of sound hardware is available, and if it knows
how to make sound X on that hardware, great.

I haven't considered the issues you raised but have concentrated on
nitty-gritty aspects.  There are really two target deck configurations
here: immersive & non-im.  The former needs a 3D audio system
integrated with head-tracking; the former gets by fine with stereo
speakers on the sides of the monitor.  Head-tracking is not needed
here; it is in fact a bad idea.  So, straight stereo placement
algorithms are fine.  

There are three simple ones available: volume panning, phase-based
placement, and the Doppler effect.  All three are very easy
computationally.  Formulae for these, and more complex elevation-based
methods, are in "Elements of Computer Music" by F.  Richard Moore,
Chapter 15, "Spatial somethingorother".  The current crop of stereo
CD-quality sound cards for the PC are capable of these effects.  The
Gravis Ultrasound is probably the one to pick (wait until it goes
through initial product shakedown) as it allows you to load up 32
sound samples and plays them for you.

It was in thinking about sound I/O, texture-mapping, and real-time
video, that I realized the need for a new metaphor for real-time
software.  The traditional real-time OS provides a clockworks
metaphor.  We need a system based on hydraulics or chemical
processing.  That's why I'm using a dataflow-based system.

The Macintosh Sonic Finder (runs on system 6) is very interesting.  It
adds sound cues to the Mac interface with only one outstanding sample
running at a time; no mixdowns.

Brenda Laurel reported (in a lecture at Stanford) that Atari computer
game research showed sound to enhance the perceived visual quality of
the game.  Not the overall experience!  Subjects rated the game
visuals better when the sound was turned on.
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: ellis@artichoke.cis.ohio-state.edu (steven lawrence ellis)
Subject: Re: MEDIA: Business Week Cover Story on Virtual Reality
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: The Ohio State University Dept. of Computer and Info. Science
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 19:57:23 GMT



In article <1992Oct4.055701.112@u.washington.edu>
strength@milton.u.washington.edu (Julian Bleecker) writes:

>In article <1992Sep28.080420.13819@u.washington.edu> "Dan D.
>Gutierrez" <73317.646@CompuServe.COM> writes:
>
>>To ALL VR'ers:
>>
>>Check out the current, October 5 1992, issue of BusinessWeek.  Its
>>front page feature article is "Virtual Reality".  Nothing new said in
>>the article for most of us here, but a great introduction to the
>>industry for all others.  Pass it along to your friends and family.
>>Finally, an article bringing VR to the masses!

There was an interesting VR article a couple of years ago in Rolling
Stone that introduced me to VR.  I was around the beginning of 1990 if
anyone is interested.  Also a good vehicle to "bring VR to the
masses."

New to group - Steven Ellis
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: chadwell@utkvx1.utk.edu (Chadwell, Leonard)
Subject: Re: TECH: Single Screen HMD.
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: University of Tennessee Computing Center
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 02:05:00 GMT



In article <1992Oct1.075914.6518@u.washington.edu>,
dstampe@psych.toronto.edu (Dave Stampe) writes...

>The Video Wizard is $169, it does VGA-to-NTSC conversion.  Available
>from New Electron Sales, Inc, P.O. Box 666, Niagara Falls, NY 14302.
> 
>I've yet to find a source for those Citizen monitors.  If I had one, I
>could probably figure out how to hook it to a VGA card.  But no
>sources yet...

The place I read about them was in "Video" magazine or some such.
Lots of camcorder stuff.  Several ads had them listed in price
$119-$159.  Check the camcorder magazines and look through the
advertisements.  They should have several listings for them.

Leonard Chadwell (CHADWELL@UTKVX.UTK.EDU)
From: truk@leland.Stanford.EDU (Kurt Schwehr)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: TECH/INFO: SONY HMD
Date: 16 Oct 92 00:51:55 GMT
Article-I.D.: leland.1992Oct16.005155.3312
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu


In article <Bw3IKz.7Bo@beach.csulb.edu> cpalmer@piggy.cecs.csulb.edu (Charles Pa
lmer) writes:
>
>McCay demonstrated an underwater ROV using an HMD. The interesting  
>part was the SONY logo over both eye pieces. Is it a SONY product or  
>just two adapted WATCHMANs?
>
>-Bill

  The HMD display is built from the viewfinders from two sony camcorders.
It was custom built by Joe Deardon, a contractor.  It is B/W.  The group
had a new HMD built by Bill Polhemus that it color.  It uses a fiber
optic transmition system.  It is a nice concept.  The fibers do cause a
"bricking" problem which is funky.

-Kurt.
-- 
Kurt D. Schwehr                                Phone: 415-497-4876
Email: truk@leland.stanford.edu                Undergrad - Junior
Smail: P.O. Box 11067, Stanford, CA. 94309     CS + Geology
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: cyberoid@u.washington.edu (Bob Jacobson)
Subject: CONF: National Comm Forum, Chicago, Oct 13, 92 televirtuality panel
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: WORLDESIGN, Inc.
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 22:53:50 GMT



At the NCF, the largest domestic (U.S.) gathering of telephone
companies and people, John Trimble ("Virtual Wheelchair" at SIGGRAPH),
Hines Medical Center, Chicago; Carl Loeffler ("Virtual Art Museum"),
Carnegie-Mellon U, Pittsburgh; and I will be leading an afternoon
panel on televirtuality and its implications for the
telecommunications industry.  If you're attending the conference and
have an interest in this topic, please stop by.

Bob Jacobson
From: Bruce.K.Johnson@dartmouth.edu (Bruce K. Johnson)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: APPS: Need papers on VR and Scientific Visualization
Date: 10 Oct 92 20:34:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Oct11.183919.12690
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu



I am collecting information for a presentation on Scientific
Visualization.  I would like to include reports about how Virtual
Reality is being (or can be) used in this field.  If anybody has or
knows of any papers or tech reports on Virtual Reality applications in
Scientific Visualiztion I would greatly appreciate hearing about them.

email me at 

BRUCE.JOHNSON@DARTMOUTH.EDU

THANKS.
From: piggy@hilbert.cc.utas.edu.au (La Monte Yarroll)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: JOBS: What's a VR programmer? (was Re: JOBS: Salaries...)
Date: 14 Oct 92 23:04:05 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Oct16.170256.6213
Organization: University of Tasmania, Australia.
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu


"John Curtis, Hort+Research CRI, Hamilton, NZ" <CURTISJ@ruakura.cri.nz> writes:

> Being a "VR programmer" is a myth - programmers in computer graphics
> have been around for ages.  e.g. If I created a 3-D model 25 years
> ago to print on a plotter, refined it 15 years ago to work on a
> screen, refined it further to work a colour screen 10 years ago,
> tomorrow I can plug in a HMD and it's still the same program.  "VR
> programmers" are simply adapting graphics to another (essentially
> identical) output format.  Audio processing is likewise, an old
> technology simply moving with the times to make use of DSPs etc.

Your own account shows that there IS such a thing as a VR programmer.
Let me provide an analogous argument: (in case you can't tell:  :-)

Being an "Automotive engineer" is a myth - designers in locomotion
have been around for ages.  e.g. If I created a smooth log with round
sticks under it 10 millenia ago to run on smooth bedrock, refined it 6
millenia ago with axels to run over more surfaces, refined it further
3 millenia ago with a beast of burden to run on deliberate tracks,
tomorrow I can drop in a 12 cylinder engine and synthetic rubber tires
to run on a race track.  "Automotive engineers" are simply adapting
locomotion to another (essentially identical) transport base.  Rocket
technology is likewise an old technology simply moving with the times
to make use of liquid fuels, etc.

The point is this:  a "widget worker" has to keep current in widget
technology.  This is true, and always has been, for every field--not
just VR.

>I'll climb down from my soapbox now.  Thank you.

"Why do people stand on soapboxes?"
"So you don't hit the crowd when you start taking pot shots."  :-)

--
La Monte H. Yarroll     Home:           piggy@baqaqi.chi.il.us
   Work:                piggy@hilbert.maths.utas.edu.au
   AKA:                 piggy@gargoyle.uchicago.edu
   Once upon a time:    postmaster@clout.chi.il.us
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: tsa@cellar.org (The Silent Assassin)
Subject: EDUC:  Programs at Colleges?
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: The Cellar BBS and public access system
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 03:43:49 GMT



Hello.  I am currently a junior in High School, and I am very
interested in VR.  What colleges out there have good/any virtual
reality stuff?  Are there any colleges that have classes in VR at an
undergraduate level?


[MODERATOR'S NOTES: Some info is in the archives, at

        milton.u.washington.edu   /public/virtual-worlds/schools

but we might as well get current info, too.  Please post here.  -- Bob
Jacobson]
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: belgrado@mble.philips.be
Subject: WHO: VR in Belgium and at Philips ?
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: MBLE , Brussels, Belgium
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 15:39:11 GMT



Hi,

Does anybody know who is involved in VR in Belgium ?  I would like to
get in touch with those people.  Also if anyone knows if Philips, the
electronics company, has any VR-related projects ?

[MODERATOR'S NOTE:  We do have some Belgian correspondents.  I will
let them know of your interest.  Also, I personally approached Philips
at a very high level in 1990, regarding its interest in VR, and got a
fairly impolite "No" -- the managers I was addressing fell asleep on
me!  :-)  But things change....  -- Bob Jacobson]
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: shayden@bnr.ca (Steve (S.) Hayden)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: PHIL: VR Salaries
Date: 14 Oct 92 02:39:39 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Oct15.223150.22358
Organization: University of Washington
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu



    Regarding VR Technologists salaries, let's not forget to pay
    for experience and education.  Just like normal hardware and
    software development your rate of pay should be dependant on your
    credentials and background.  And of course let's not forget
    WHERE you are trying to make a living.

    Steve,  my thoughts only!
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: thinman@netcom.com (Technically Sweet)
Subject: Re: SCI: Object behavior in VR
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 19:55:57 GMT



On Oct 6, 11:05pm, Dave Stampe wrote:

} I'm not sure either Scheme or Forth are a good idea.  The problem can
} be summarized: is it efficient and is it required?

Dave then goes on to explain that the world simulation system needs to
be very efficient and so it will consist of an animation database that
the programmer creates and starts rolling.  Agreed.

Then we parted company.  He explained that the software written by the
apps programmer which does this creating-and-starting should ALSO be
written in C for efficiency.  Why?  It will only be run once.  It will
not be in the loop.  Why does it need to be efficient?  Why does it
have to be compiled, thus taking up lots of precious DOS RAM?  Why
does it have to be written in C aka Portable Assembler?

If it's written in Scheme, the deck can download it interactively over
the network and run it immediately.  To do this with a C program, you
would have to call the C compiler as a sub-program and then load in
the resultant binary.  This is not a reliable method.  How can you
debug the code in the target deck?  With an interpreted language, this
is fairly trivial.  After running the program, I should be able to
throw it away.  Scheme makes this very easy to do.  How do I know what
to throw away in the C binary?

Another issue is that comm bandwidth is precious over phone lines, so
we'll probably want to download programs that create larger programs
and run the output.  Rodney Brooks' AI group has a high-level language
for describing robot behavior, which is compiled into LISP or various
assemblers.  There's no way to monitor, debug, or profile this if the
downloaded program, and the generated program, are in C.

I've since realized that Smalltalk is probably the best language for
doing a "virtual desktop" aka a 3D real-time work environment, since
user interface prototyping is exactly what Smalltalk was o developed
for.  GNU Smalltalk has a nice C extension interface, and comes with a
DOS port (I think).  It should make a very nice front end for Rend386.

About being understood by the vast majority of programmers: If You
Build It, They Will Come.  If it's really awesome, and the source code
is fairly simple and understandable, they'll make the effort to learn
a new language.  The ray-tracer gang has proven that the input
language can be a pain in the neck and they'll still take the time to
learn it :-) A good programmer can be fluent in a new language in a
week.
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: barchasd@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (David Barchas)
Subject: TECH: Which PC to get?
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 00:43:05 GMT



I recently have come into some money and have finaly decided to break
out of the Amiga world and start doing some experimenting with VR in
the IBM world.  I have my sights set on a 486DX/50 but I have run into
some confusion.  Which would be better for VR a local bus architecture
or ISA or EISA?  I know that local bus is faster for graphics apps.
but I am not to sure about the compatability with previous hardware.
Which one is better and how compatable is it?  Thanks in advance.


David Barchas (barchasd@mentor.cc.purdue.edu)|   "Oops..."
Purdue University - Computer Science         |        famous last words.
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds