Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!suna2!knauer
From: knauer@suna2 (Rob Knauerhase)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Modulae demo from FTA
Keywords: Apple IIGS Modulae demo FTA
Message-ID: <1990Aug31.015330.16216@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 31 Aug 90 01:53:30 GMT
References: <13715@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Sender: usenet@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (News)
Reply-To: knauer@cs.uiuc.edu (Rob Knauerhase)
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Science, Urbana
Lines: 47

In article <13715@smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) writes:
>On some of the information services (Genie and AOL, not sure about CIS),
>there is a new demo from FTA available for downloading; although it takes
>well over an hour to download, it is so spectacular that you may want to
>do it anyway.

Actually, at 2400 baud, it took something like 50 minutes; the _only_
reason I kept America Online after they went to mandatory per month fees
is that they are the only ones that don't penalize you for having a fast
modem...

>  If you thought the Nucleus demo was nifty, well this one
>goes well beyond that.  For example, you can rotate polygonal objects IN
>REAL TIME with hidden-surface removal!  This is something that people
>normally think requires a Silicon Graphics Iris or equivalent.  With
>continuous background sound it is actually niftier.  (The lighting model
>is fixed to the object description, not the view, but as the demo shows
>this isn't all that big a loss.)

I was pretty impressed, but I wouldn't compare it to an Iris...

>I wish these guys would release their source code, and an English
>translation of the IIGS programming book they seem to rely on..

Me, too.  I know someone who was working on de-compiling some of their
stuff (are you out there, Tim? :) but haven't heard of his progress.

By the way, it should be up in _many_ BinSCII-ed parts on comp.binaries.apple2,
and it's certainly worth the download.  I also put it in the incoming
directory at tybalt.caltech.edu (and have yet to inform Todd -- sorry).

How many other people out there are spending at least an hour per month on
AOL (to get use of the monthly minimum)?  UPLOAD the stuff you get -- it not
only does a service to the net community, it gives you a warm-fuzzy
philanthropic feeling as well.  [And if you upload from a networked Mac, it
doesn't take much time at all. :) ]

Rob Knauerhase
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Robert C. Knauerhase                                                      |
|   knauer@cs.uiuc.edu                   | U of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign|
|   rck@ces.cwru.edu,knauer@cwru.bitnet  | Case Western Reserve University |
|   knauer@scivax.lerc.nasa.gov          | NASA Lewis Research Center      |
+----------------------------------------+---------------------------------+
|   "Computers are different from telephones.  Computers do not ring."     |
|                    -- A. Tanenbaum, "Computer Networks", p. 32           |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+