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From: bert@helix.nih.gov (Bert Tyler)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: Fractint for Windows
Message-ID: <551@nih-csl.nih.gov>
Date: 11 Oct 90 01:20:11 GMT
Sender: news@nih-csl.nih.gov
Organization: National Institutes of Health, Bethesda
Lines: 42

> I noticed a Windows 3.0 version of FRACTINT on Compuserve a few days
> ago... Anyone have a chance to download it and give it a whirl yet?

Ronald, a warning:  I uploaded WINFRA.ZIP to MSWIN Library #1 (the "New
Uploads" library) on October 8th.  Apparantly at some point about 24 hours
after the upload to the MSWIN library, that copy (and about six other files
in that library) became "corrupted" - the file could be downloaded, but
the EXEcutable wouldn't unZIP out of the file (CRC error).  Unfortunately,
random "corrupted files" are a fact of life on Compuserve.  As the
uploader of the file, I was able to alter the descriptive text to a
"Don't Download this copy" message and send a fresh copy to the SYSOPs,
but some unknown number of the 216 downloaders are probably mad at
Compuserve, Microsoft, *and* me right now (Yo, guys, that's a Compuserve
problem!).  Hopefully, by the time you read this, the good copy, with a
fresh description text, will have already replaced the dud.

At any rate, there is a good copy of the file on Compuserve over in
the COMART Library #1 (WINFRA.ZIP).

Now then, with that out of the way:  WINFRACT is a port of Fractint-for-DOS's
fractal engine to the Win 3.0 environment, with the front-end (command
interface) and back-end (display) code replaced with Windows-specific
code.  This initial release includes every fractal type found in Fractint
14.0 and some, but not all, of the doodads (Biomorphs, Decomposition,
and [if your video driver supports 256 simultaneous colors] color-cycling,
but no inversion or 3D routines yet, for example).  No source yet, because
we will be "synching" the source uploads with Fractint-for-Dos,
and we had to modify the common routines some to get them to work in
non-DOS, protected mode.

*I* think it's pretty good, but then I'm biased <grin>.  Version 1.0 of
Fractint-for-Windows is *not* as good as version 14.0 of FFD, but it's
a lot better than version 1.0 of FFD was.  Be kind - this is my first
Windows program.
 
Alas, my access to this net involves using a client's account and TYMNET
on his dime, so I limit my access, and I really can't use it to upload files
to the nets - if anybody else can, please do so.


Bert Tyler
bert@helix.nih.gov