******************************************** * * * From: vdhamer@prle * * To: kites@das.harvard.edu * * Date: Thu, 16 Mar 1995 16:00:31 +0100 * * Subject: KiteFlight Newsletter #2 * * * ******************************************** /******************************* kf_news2.doc ******************************\ * * * Module : Kf_news2 * * Descript : KiteFlight Newsletter * * Project : KiteFlight * * Modified : 15-Mar-1995 (Wed 20:50) * * * * (c) 1995 by Peter van den Hamer * * * \***************************************************************************/ KITEFLIGHT NEWSLETTER #2 by P. van den Hamer 15-Mar-95 This is the second issue of a newsletter with information about the KiteFlight program. The newsletter contains information for both users and others interested in KiteFlight. Unlike an FAQ, most information in this newletter will not be repeated in future issues, so I recommend that you save this file if you are interested in KiteFlight. Contents of this issue: 1. What's KiteFlight? 2. What's the current version? 3. What's new in KiteFlight? 4. How to get the demo version 5. New upgrade procedure for registered users 6. BGI graphics drivers 7. KiteFlight goes World Wide Web 8. Odds and ends 1. What's KiteFlight? --------------------- KiteFlight (KF) is an MS-DOS program which can simulate the movements of dual-line stunt kites or stunt kite teams. The movements of the kites are controlled by control files written in a kite simulation language called KF1. KF is useful both for visualizing existing routines and as a tool for developing your own routines. KF is sold commercially "as an appendix" to the book Stunt Kites II by Nop Velthuizen and Servaas van der Horst (ISBN 90 6868 085 5 for the Enlish version). The commercial floppy also contains software (PLOT) for printing kite plans from the book. KF is useful without the book while PLOT and SPUTNIK are not really useful without the book. 2. What is the current version? ------------------------------- Latest version: 1.18 (last finished version in my personal archive) Latest release: 1.18 (demo version and upgrades available via Internet) Latest release: 1.05 (on 720K floppy in CD Box via shops/magazines) In other words, there has just been a new release again. > Note that you may not be able to access 1.18 until next week because my < > archive contact, Sven Hapke in Bremen, currently isn't responding to E-mail. < > If this remains a problem, I will try to inject kfcd_118 into the system via < > the archive in Hawaii (Sven is responsible for this part of the archive). < The version currently shipped by my publisher is still 1.05 (this is updated whenever a new batch is created). If you buy and register the floppy, you can get free upgrades to KF 1.xx by Internet. You can register (free) by sending an E-mail message to the author (vdhamer@prl.philips.nl) stating which version you own, where you got it and your address. Although you can register even if you don't have any form of access to Internet, you will not be able to get updates (but maybe your nephew with Internet address jimmy@dorm123.sports_u.edu can help out). 3. What's new in KiteFlight? ---------------------------- KF 1.18 (Mar 1995, 5th release) * Several performance optimisations * Bug fix: low speed (18 Hz) timing mode didn't work * First prototypes of KF in protected mode (KFX) in beta test * Uses 'outboard' BGI/BGX graphics driver (see section 6) * SuperVGA support dropped (!) for non-protected mode (see section 6) * Availability of KiteFlight page on Internet (see section 7) KF 1.14 (Jan 1995, 4th release) * New window with timing info (Help|Info|Run) * Bug fix: Run failed after New * 'port' to new Borland C++ 4.5 compiler * Bug fix: missing-EndFor caused exit to DOS * Graphics screen labelled at start of Run * Solved: error messages caused "memory leak" 4. How to get a demo version ---------------------------- You can obtain a free copy of the demo version of KiteFlight via Internet from the following rec.kites archives: ftp://ftp.uni-bremen.de/pub/kites/simulation/kfd/kfcd_118.zip (Germany) ftp://ftp.hawaii.edu/pub/rec/kites/simulation/kfd/kfcd_118.zip (USA) A separate file compul10.zip in these same directories contains a library of STACK/AKA/AJSKA compulsory routines in KF1 format for KiteFlight. The demo version can be freely distributed in its original zip file and the user can use it as long as (s)he likes. Compared to the demo version, the commercial version has four main benefits: a) It can handle much longer files. The demo version can handle the majority of the STACK/AKA/AJSKA compulsory routines. The commercial version can also handle full-length routines. b) The commercial version has a totally rewritten windows-like user interface. To quote one user who recently upgraded: "The demo version doesn't do justice to the production version. The built in editor was a delightful surprise." c) More KF1 routines provided d) The PLOT.EXE and SPUTNIK.EXE programs by Peter Ruinard for printing full-size plans of kites from Stunt Kites II. 5. New upgrade procedure for registered users --------------------------------------------- The upgrade procedure (for registered users only) has changed. The *old* precedure was (all this for free): 1) users register with me by E-mail 2) I notified all registered user by E-mail of new updates (recipe & key) 3) user upgraded 4) user send me mail to notify that upgrade had been sucessfully performed The *new* procedure is (still for free): 1) users register with me by E-mail 2) new updates are announced in KiteFlight Newsletter on rec.kites 3) registered users send me E-mail requesting an upgrade 4) I send user recipe & key (usually within one or two days) Benefits of the new procedure are that it involves less E-mail (because not everybody upgrades) and that it gives me better feedback about how many people are really upgrading and whether users skip upgrades or not. Note that users of version 1.x will only get upgrades/patches for 1.x releases. To get upgrades/patches for 2.x releases, you need to provide me 'proof' that you own a commercial copy of release 2.0 or higher. Release 2.0 will become available in the course of 1995. 6. BGI graphics drivers ----------------------- All versions of KiteFlight switch the screen between text mode (for the control menus) and graphics mode (for the animations themselves). In graphics mode, the program uses a graphics driver to access the hardware. KiteFlight supports the following standards via an associated set of display drivers: SuperVGA  EGAVGA.BG* (in 640x480 mode) VGA  EGAVGA.BG* EGA  EGAVGA.BG* Hercules monochrome  HERC.BG* IBM CGA  CGA.BG* AT&T 6300  ATT.BG* Olivetti M24 (etc)  ATT.BG* IBM 8514A  IBM8514.BG* IBM 3270  PC3270.BG* The extension BGI (Borland Graphics Interface) is used for conventional drivers and BGX is used for 286 protected mode drivers. KiteFlight 1.18 is distributed with traditional drivers (BGI) because it is a conventional application. In future protected mode versions, an extra driver is provided which supports VESA-compliant SuperVGA boards: SuperVGA  VESA16.BGX (in 800x600 and higher modes) This driver is only available for protected mode because (for reasons best known in Scotts Valley) Borland does not ship a VESA16.BGI driver. In previous versions of KF, most users were unaware of these drivers because the most frequently used drivers were "hidden" inside the program itself. For technical reasons, the drivers are now stored outside the program. In practice, virtually all users will be using the EGAVGA.BG* driver (and maybe also VESA16.BGX in the future). These drivers can best be located in the same directory as the KiteFlight executable itself. When KiteFlight is loaded, it immediately loads and tests the appropriate graphics driver(s). This testing results in a brief flash on some monitors. If the required graphics driver is not found, you get a clear error message to that effect. Once inside the program, the program will allow you to choose one of the graphics modes supported by the active driver. 7. KiteFlight online on Web/Internet ------------------------------------ Since early March, a large body of KiteFlight-related information has become accesible via Internet. This HTML document is located at: http://www.win.tue.nl/win/cs/fm/pp/kites/kiteflight/kf_help.html which, as the address indicates is a World Wide Web document located in the Netherlands. The document is part of a kite-related Web site managed by Peter Peters (http://www.win.tue.nl/win/cs/fm/pp/kites/) containing data on well known kites and links to other kites. The kf_help.html document is basically a derivative of the built-in help texts incorporated in the commercial version of KiteFlight. The file incorporates many features of HTML ("the language of Web") including clickable hypertext links, bulleted lists, italics, large titles and horizontal separator bars between the topics. The kf_help.htm(l) document will also be distributed with commercial versions of KiteFlight in the future. Don't let the fact that the file is generated from "a help file" fool you: the 150 kB (!) document contains information about the program, its usage, its author, an anthology of KiteFlight reviews, brief descriptions of various individuals and teams who are closely associated with KiteFlight, and other arcane bits of information which are supposed to be related to KiteFlight. An excerpt from one of the topics (all hypertext links shown here in CAPITALS: imagine them as blue clickable links): "Mr. Simo Salanne Simo is STACK's national director for Finland. Although few people think of Finland as the heart of human civilisation, Simo managed to play a significant role in the KiteFlight saga. This is partly because Simo apparently knows everybody who is Somebody in kiting: to find out if a hotshot is really Somebody, ask if they own one of Simo's KITE PINS (blue thread hanging from the left wingtip). Once you realize that Finland was actually created to serve as the INTERNET world's ftp and WWW archive, it will not come as a surpise that Simo is electronically well connected. Internet allows Simo to reach out and rub shoulders with all the poor and famous in the kite flying community (electronically speaking - forget those Finnish saunas for a moment). Simo's claims to a place on KiteFlight's HALL OF FAME list include: * programming the AKA/STACK/AJSKA COMPULSORIES in KF1 * testing early versions of KiteFlight and providing feedback * telling all his friends on REC.KITES about KiteFlight Simo can be reached on INTERNET at salanne@csc.fi" The help file is also said to contain some really helpful information. For those interested in downloading ("Save" in Netscape) kf_help.html: this is easy because the document is a single file without references to other files. This may change in the future if I get around to adding pictures (GIF/JPG) of screen shots or -who knows- even of Simo (gasp!). For the hackers among you: the HTML file is generated from the original help file kf_help.h16 using a PERL script. 8. Odds and ends ---------------- * Compulsories in GIF format -------------------------- Simo Salanne (salanne@csc.fi) has posted a series of GIF images of STACK/AKA/AJSKA compulsories at Andrew Beattie's Web site. See http://kfs.org/~gaffer (?). These were derived from the KF1 compulsory library using using Lee Hetherington's XKF (a KiteFlight work-alike for X-based UNIX workstations). Simo choose to use XKF rather than KiteFlight itself because it allowed him to run the entire conversion process in batch. Simo is known to be an uncurable scriptoholic (PERLitis C). More info on XKF can be found in the on-line help system. * Michael Graves -------------- Michael Graves, a Canadian, was erroneously listed among the Americans in the previous Newsletter. As the Americans started complaining loudly, I must offer my insincere apologies to both parties here ;-). * CD-ROM ------ The CD-ROM on which the demo version of KiteFlight was discovered by Frenchman Jean-Marc Henry (see Newsletter #1) proved to be of French origin. CD-ROM "Nr. 16" is distributed by DP TOOLS, a French "domain publique" distributor. To my surprise, somebody at DP TOOLS had even created a pretty good FILE_ID.DIZ description of KFCD by extracting a few sentences from the documentation files supplied with KFD/KFCD. -=-=-=-