Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!cernvax!chx400!hslrswi!J-B.Boichat
From: J-B.Boichat@hslrswi.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: DumpToIFF (DKB) crashing (again)
Message-ID: <1547@hslrswi.UUCP>
Date: 17 Sep 90 07:03:40 GMT
References: <1529@hslrswi.UUCP>
Sender: news@hslrswi.UUCP
Reply-To: jean@pogo.UUCP ()
Organization: Ascom Hasler AG, CH-3000 Berne 14, Switzerland
Lines: 64


In article <1529@hslrswi.UUCP> jean@pogo.UUCP () (ME) writes:
>
>The DKB (ray tracer) software is (slow but) great! .........
>
>.......... I have an
>A500 with 1 MB and 2 floppies.
>
>When running DumpToIFF from data.dis to data.ham ...........

I could ONLY TWICE produce a data.ham (but great an usable in
        ^^^^^^^^^^
DigiPaint) with DumpToIFF on the simple1.dat file using a stack
of 20.000 (for DumpToIFF) after a 'traceffp -w319 -h400' and later
a stack of 300.000 (!!!) after a 'traceffp -w30 -h40' of the same
simple1.dat file.

I tried from CLI, from initial CLI without Workbench loaded and
from Cshell (what I use normally for my work with zoo and messydos).
The two successes were from CLI. Unfortunately there is NO WAY
!!??!!?? to repeat the same operation (for instance from the CLI)
with the same data (stack size, RAM: use for ham output, df1: for
program (traceffp and DumpToIFF)!?!. This is very very strange!!
It always crashes at the same place after the display of the
picture: the power light starts to blink, the screen is then
cleared (grey color) and the guru message (horrible!!) is output.
I tried 20, 30 times, I cannot remember (very disappointed) and
in most of the cases with the -w30 and -h40 (because fast).

Did some other A500 1Mb users try DKB?
What is the recommended stack size?
            ^^^^^^^^^^^
 
Some additional notes:

1) the stack size for traceffp does not seem to be important
   (works with 4000 bytes on simple1.dat)

2) if I use a stacksize too large (for instance 400 Kb, (500
   was rejected on my system)) 'traceffp' hangs after the msg
   "Click to abort the picture [ABORT]" and I have to reboot 
   (this one can be repeated)

3) if the file BasicShapes.data is not present the program
   'taceffp' crashes ?!?

(Better error handling and system resources check please!!!!!!)

4) DKB on a slow PC is not recommended
   (> 5 hours for simple1.dat on a 8086 8 Mhz machine)
   I will start today to compile it here on UNIX (SUN)

5) My next step (perhaps last?) is to work on a DumpToIFF
   for UNIX. Perhaps the author could help me by indicating
   how to bypass the Amiga functions especially the screen
   interface.

6) What is the format of the *.dis files? Is it something
   recognizable by Digiview (I will buy soon the package)?

7) How can I use the RGB files (I am still new on Amiga
   < 6 months).

Thanks.