idNews/idNews06_help1.2_ports

From: ddt@huey.cc.utexas.edu (David Taylor)

Newsgroups: alt.games.doom,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Subject: idNews: help w/ v1.2 & UNIX ports

Date: 14 Jan 1994 02:36:09 -0600

Organization: id Software

Howdy. Long-time, no write. Actually, did write, but post, she no get

posted. So again, a post but with slightly newer stuff, but mostly the

same if it already got to your site somehow.

help us test v1.2:

On ftp.uwp.edu:/pub/games/id is a file called testv12.zip. It is a

small test program which contains the sound library used in Doom

v1.2. Please download it and test, especially if you have a card

which was not behaving in v1.1. It now supports PAS-16,

SB-compatibles using the ES488 chip, and SB's at IRQ 2. Keep in mind

when testing it on PAS stuff that you need your IRQ at 7 or below (I

do not think this is the default). Sorry, but it's a limitation of

DOS4GW.

Please mail me at ddt@idsoftware.com if you've tested this, and for

few other reasons, please. Something about posting makes me an

e-mail target for the next several days. If you've got some Doom

bug or other problem/question, please mail help@idsoftware.com. I'm

supposed to be doing Jag stuff and am having a wee-bit of trouble

when I get bunches o' mail. Thanks! (No offense to those who've

mailed- I like mail, just can't afford the time right now)

v1.2 status:

The serial and modem-specific stuff is finished and being tested a

bit right now. We want to do a little more testing for a few days

before releasing v1.2. Please don't ask for specific dates. They're

no fun. Besides, Usenetters are the first to learn everthing anyway-

promise! Betcha dollars-to-donuts that Hank will beat me to the

punch. ;)

On UNIX ports:

I would do ports to different UNIX platforms if the right platforms

were given to us on indefinite loan (that doesn't mean forever- it

just means I don't know when we'd be finished with it). Depending on

my familiarity with the platform (Sparc & RS/6k is very high- others

low), I can probably get Doom ports done for them within a couple of

months.

Example machines: all w/ 32Mb min and enough disk space for the

operating system, gcc binaries, all online development docs available,

and about 50 Mb for doom development space. A Sparc 10, an

RS/6k x40 or better, an HP Snakes (*), or an SGI Iris (*). Note

that I'm not sure of the exact model that'd be appropriate

for the latter two, mainly because I do not know which are

slightly-more-powerful-than-the-norm models.

Probably won't consider fringe flavors. Want to reach an audience as

long as I'm going to put the effort on this. No, we won't be

releasing source code which is why we'd need the machine on loan.

We can't justify the cost of purchasing those machines due to (lack

of) market size.

If interested and serious, contact me soon, and we can talk details.

Can't afford the time to port it to many platforms as I'm busy on the

Jag port. However, can get a couple done in a reasonable time.

Shameless plug for Something Completely Different:

If you're a college undergraduate student of any nationality, know

English, know C/C++, are a damn hot coder, and have two hot coder

friends, apply to the 1994 International Programming Contest being

held in Austin, Texas by the local IEEE CS Chapter in March. Send

e-mail to binford@npc.ece.utexas.edu. Hurry, 'cause they're only

accepting 16 teams.

It's a fun contest format where the coder writes a program to control

a player in a (very sweet) net game. The prizes this year include

three 486's to the winning team.. big :)'s

Will be crashing it along w/ other game coder types- besides being

cool, it's a yummy scouting opportunity. Hope to see you there!

=-ddt->