From 1030dc837b10a03a02a85d5504cbeec168ce49e2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bernie Innocenti Date: Mon, 03 May 2010 21:53:47 +0000 Subject: Import XaoS r489 (trunk after version 3.5) --- (limited to 'NEWS') diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c28f06c --- /dev/null +++ b/NEWS @@ -0,0 +1,453 @@ +RELEASE NOTES FOR XAOS VERSION 3.5 +---------------------------------- + +Cross-platform changes +====================== + +o New Portuguese translation courtesy of Lucio Henrique de Arujo and + Zelia Maria Horta Garcia + +o Fixed crash bug when using -render command line option with user formulas + (Mateusz Malczak) + +o Removed support for unmaintained platforms (DOS, BeOS, Plan 9, etc.) + +o Updated documentation to reflect infrastructure changes + (Discussion and issue tracking have moved to Google Groups and Google Code) + +o Additional fractal examples by J.B. Langston + + +Windows-specific changes +======================== + +o Improved GUI appearance with modern fonts and controls on XP and Vista + +o Help format changed from WinHelp to HtmlHelp. WinHelp was no longer + supported starting with Windows Vista and Windows 7. + +o Fixed bug where output was invisible when using XaoS from the command line + +o Simplified and improved build instructions for Windows developers + + +GTK+ User Interface (Beta) +========================== + +The GTK+ user interface is approaching beta quality. We welcome beta +testers to try out this version and let us know what issues you encounter. +Please share your feedback with us on the developer's discussion group at: +http://groups.google.com/group/xaos-devel. + +We ask that beta testers be advanced users who are comfortable compiling +software from source and submitting useful bug reports including backtraces. +If you are not comfortable with this, then please wait for the final version +to be released. We would also really appreciate it if any experienced GTK+ +developers can review our code and make suggestions for improvement. + +Since the GTK+ UI is still not ready for everyday use, it will not be +compiled by default. You must explicitly enable it using the following +configure switch: + + --with-gtk-driver=yes + +In addition, we recommend you disable all other drivers when using the GTK +driver using the following configure switches: + + --with-x11-driver=no + + +New Documentation Format (Beta) +=============================== + +We are in the process of migrating the XaoS help system to Sphinx and +reStructuredText. Our user manual was previously in a crippled subset +of HTML that we dubbed XSHL, which was missing many features necessary +for maintaining modern, attractive documentation. + +Sphinx was developed by the Python project for their documentation, and +it is very similar to a Wiki in the way you mark up the text. It can +output the results as HTML, PDF, and Windows Help. It supports all the +important things that are missing from the current help format, such as +tables, images, and internet hyperlinks. It can even convert LaTeX math +markup into image files that get included in the HTML output. + +The documentation still needs a lot of work before it is ready, and we +have to make some modifications to Sphinx itself in order to integrate +the documentation it produces with XaoS's help system. However, it is +far enough along that we would welcome volunteers who are familar with +reStructuredText to submit improvements to the documentation. + +The new documentation is located in the help/rest directory, and it can +be converted into HTML or PDF using the included Makefile. In order to +generate the output, you will need to install Sphinx. Visit the Sphinx +homepage at http://sphinx.pocoo.org/ for installation instructions and +more information on the new documentation format. + +If you would like to help with the documentation, please contact us on +the discussion group at: http://groups.google.com/group/xaos-devel. +We will be happy to help you get started. + + +RELEASE NOTES FOR XAOS VERSION 3.4 +---------------------------------- + +Cross-platform changes +====================== + +o New Italian translation courtesy of Sergio Zanchetta + +o Updated catalog and i18n for German by Andreas Madritsch + +o Bug fix to prevent garbled characters when using non-English languages + on modern systems using UTF-8 + +o Bug fix to prevent XaoS from crashing after using the Render Animation + functionality + +o Bug fix to prevent incorrect colors on smooth coloring modes with + certain video modes + +Mac-specific changes +==================== + +This is a huge release for Mac users. The Mac user interface has been +completely rewritten in Cocoa and improved in a number of ways: + +o Standard Aqua dialog boxes instead of the strange-looking Unixy things + in previous versions. Fields in dialog boxes now support cut and paste + as you would expect. + +o Pop-up menus are now displayed using standard Aqua menus + +o Menu bar in full-screen mode is now the standard Mac OS X menu bar. It + automatically slides into view when you move your mouse to the top of + the screen and slides out when you move away from it. + +o XaoS now has a standard Aqua about dialog box, which displays links to + license and credits in help file. + +o Help is now displayed via Mac OS X's standard help viewer. Tutorials + can still be launched via links in the help viewer. + +o Support for opening xpf (Saved Position) and xaf (Saved Animation) + files directly from Finder via drag and drop and by double-clicking. + XaoS now includes its own document icon for these files as well. + +o Support for basic AppleScriptability via the standard script + dictionary. Includes things like opening files and manipulating the + window, but no XaoS-specific functionality. + +o Support for panning the fractal with the mouse scroll wheel or + trackpad two-finger gestures. + +In addition to the user interface improvements, XaoS for Mac has the +following improvements: + +o Now uses greater precision (long double) for calculations to enable + much deeper zooms. + +o In addition to English, XaoS for Mac OS X now supports the following + languages: Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Romanian, and + Spanish. + +o Integration with Stone Design's Videator (http://stone.com/Videator/). + XaoS can now send live a live video stream to Videator, which can then + do post-processing using Mac OS X's core video technology. This is + great for VJing (live video performance art). See + http://stone.com/Videator/VJ.html for more details. + +o Edge Detection and Pseudo 3D filters now work correctly. Fixed a + bug that previously caused them to render the image completely black. + +Experimental GTK+ Port +====================== + +An experimental GTK+ user interface has been added in the src/ui/ui-drv/gtk +directory. Eventually we hope to replace the old X11 interface with this +one so that XaoS will blend in seamlessly with the GNOME environment. + +Right now, this port is incomplete and it should be considered an alpha- +quality preview. As such, the GTK+ port will not be compiled by default. +You must explicitly enable it using the following configure switch: + + --with-gtk-driver=yes + +In addition, we recommend you disable all other drivers when using the GTK +driver using the following configure switches: + + --with-x11-driver=no + --with-dga-driver=no + --with-ggi-driver=no + --with-aa-driver=no + +Please do not report bugs against the GTK+ driver. We know that it is very +buggy and we are working to rapidly improve it. If you want to help with the +GTK+ driver's development, please contact the xaos-devel mailing list first, +since it is likely that your patches could conflict with the rapid development +that is taking place on this driver. + +RELEASE NOTES FOR XAOS VERSION 3.3 +---------------------------------- + +This release is mostly done by Mateusz Malczak who implemented user +formula support for XaoS. This feature has been a huge demand for +several years and we proudly (humbly?) announce it to the public +audience now. + +Mateusz has been working on the underlying SFFE (SegFault Formula +Evaluator) library for several months. XaoS-3.3 can be compiled using +both NASM (Netwide Assembler) or GSL (GNU Scientific Library) for the +underlying complex arithmetics used by SFFE. For more information about +the available user functions please read the enclosed documentation +(see online help, "Other things to read", last entry), or visit +Mateusz's info page on http://www.segfaultlabs.com/sfXaoS. + +User formula support has been tested on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X +systems. Recent Ubuntu versions should work without any problems. + +You may also notice that internationalization can be broken on modern +Linux systems. This is due to the use of Unicode (UTF8) by default on +these operating systems (including Ubuntu 7.x). To solve these +problems please read Section 6 in src/i18n/README. If you are a packager +of a Linux distribution, you may consider to add extra codepages for +standard locales to the dependency list of XaoS (or create a package +which installs an extra locale if needed). + +In addition, this version includes several fixes to the X11 driver +contributed by Tormod Volden. These improve compatibility with recent +versions of Xorg (-fullscreen and -root options), XScreenSaver +(-window-id), and Beryl and Compiz (extreme transparency). + +Other improvements include a bug fix for color cycling and a performance +mode, which inhibits text output when using XaoS for public exhibition +(VJing). These changes were contributed by Andrew Stone. + +Finally, this version includes several build improvements for Mac OS X +and a bug fix for incorrect colors on Intel Macs when switching from +fullscreen to windowed mode. + + +RELEASE NOTES FOR XAOS VERSION 3.2.3 +------------------------------------ + +Romanian translation added. Contributed by Ilinca Sitaru. + + +RELEASE NOTES FOR XAOS VERSION 3.2.2 +------------------------------------ + +This release contains a rewritten Mac OS X port by J. B. Langston III, +and some small fixes for pipes by Marton Torok. For more details +please read the ChangeLog file. + + +RELEASE NOTES FOR XAOS VERSION 3.2.1 +------------------------------------ + +A new fractal type, the Spidron hornflake has appeared. We changed +the web site to a dokuwiki database, so the help system contains +now a converter for dokuwiki (not completely working yet). + +STICKY/DESTDIR is now supported (by Claudio Fontana). The French +translation is updated (by Philippe Wautelet). Bigger fonts are +available for Latin-2 based usage if the user changes the screen +resolution more than 800x600 or 1000x720. + +Some small fixes have been done in the catalog files. + + +RELEASE NOTES FOR XAOS VERSION 3.2 +---------------------------------- + +Main points are the classic Sierpinski and Koch fractals, but still +other formulas are introduced. Some 'oldie but goldie' fractals are +included from the Fractint formula database. The keystroke order has been +changed a little bit. Now gcc-4.0.x is also supported (-mcpu is deprecated +now and the source had to be modified for this). + +The new formulas are demonstrated with 3 new tutorial movies. These are +also available in Hungarian language. Volunteers are requested to +translate the new movies into other languages. + + +RELEASE NOTES FOR XAOS VERSION 3.1.3 +------------------------------------ + +Using this release gcc version 4.0 should also compile the code, not only +the 3.x versions. + +Two new fractal types were also added. In addition, the DirectX header +files have been fixed. The French translations are updated. + + +RELEASE NOTES FOR XAOS VERSION 3.1.2 +------------------------------------ + +This release is a fast bugfix for some gcc versions (or more precisely, +there is a workaround for the B-B bug, see the ChangeLog for details). +The example files were not able to load in version 3.1.1 and msgmerge +was not recognized (this is fixed, however not tested yet). + +There are other small but irrelevant fixes (see ChangeLog), too. + + +RELEASE NOTES FOR XAOS VERSION 3.1.1 +------------------------------------ + +This release is a CVS snapshot freeze for those who are using newer +systems. The most important update is a fix for gcc-3.4. There are also + +- improvements in French and Spanish translations, +- some more example files (contributed by Zsigmond Kovács), +- some fixes which patch annoying problems. + +For other issues please read the ChangeLog file. + + +RELEASE NOTES FOR XAOS VERSION 3.1 +---------------------------------- + +We would like to release a quality product in all manner. Unfortunately, +such a complex software like XaoS requires many details and it does not +seem to be so easy to put a quality software together. + +Well, we did all our best... Here come the latest release binaries +for Linux, Windows and DOS. They should work with the following +restrictions: + +1. The Linux version seems to be the most stable one. Almost + no bugs were encountered testing it the last few weeks. + SuSE 7.3 and SuSE 8.0 should be good enough to compile + it. The latest source has been also tested on the Compile + Farm of SourceForge.net with the next results: + + * [x86] Linux 2.4 (Debian 2.2) + Compiles OK. Seems to be build properly. + + * [x86] Linux 2.4 (Red Hat 7.3) + Compiles OK, runs properly. It is suggested to + configure it with --with-mitshm=no to avoid immediate + exit after startup. Runs correctly in an X11 window + on cf.sf.net. + + * [x86] FreeBSD (4.7-STABLE) + ./configure exits properly, make stops with an error. + + * [Alpha] Linux 2.2 (Debian 3.0) + ./configure exits properly, make stops with an error + during compiling ui.c. + + * [PPC - G4] MacOS X 10.1 SERVER Edition + Compiles OK, the executable gave MIT/SHM problem + with "./configure". It should work with --with-mithsm=no, + but currently I have no access to any Mac OS X + systems to test this. + + * [Sparc - Ultra60] Linux 2.4 (Debian 3.0) + Compiles OK, seems to be build properly. + + * [Sparc - R220] Sun Solaris (8) + ./configure stops with an error. + + * [CerfCube SA 1110] Linux 2.4 (Debian 3.0) + Compiles OK, seems to be build properly. + + * [J2EE] IBM WebSphere + Compiles OK, runs properly. + + I tried to run the executables, mostly I got "Cannot initialize + driver", except where I wrote "runs propery" above. I'm almost sure + that those platforms I wrote "seems to be build properly" for, XaoS + will work without any problems, because there should be only "Can't + open display"-related configuration errors on cf.sf.net and/or at my + place. + + You can also realize that internationalization (i18n) will only work + if you install XaoS as the system administrator with "make install". + Future releases may solve this problem. + + Tcl/Tk interface now works, but it is not updated since a rather long + time. You can run it entering "wish ./xaosmenu.tcl &" in a Unix shell + in the bin/ directory. This interface is experimental. + + Under SVGAlib latin2 fonts will not work for some internationalized + messages. + + For compilation with Aalib, you need version 1.4 which can be + downloaded from http://aa-project.sf.net. + +2. Microsoft DOS users will enjoy i18n if their system supports it. + Unfortunately some systems have to have plain DOS to make i18n + available. Many Windows systems also support running batch + files from native Windows, however not all (my Windows NT 4 + does not). DOS users should run xaos-??.bat in the bin\ + directory. + + Note that some messages in latin2 fonts will not be displayed + correctly. + + Aalib may not work 100% correctly. It may depend on your DPMI + settings. You should download the latest csdpmi*.zip package. + + If you want to compile XaoS from scratch, you should download + the following software: + + aalib-1.4rc5.tar.gz, all402.zip, bnu213b.zip, djdev203.zip, + fil41b.zip, gcc2952b.zip, gtxt040b.zip, licv17b.zip, mak3791.zip, + png1012b.zip, txi42b.zip, zlib114b.zip. + + Aalib must be patched to compile it (I sent a patch to the + SourceForge Tracker) and libvga and libtext (needed for Aalib) must + be also installed. Note that libtext will not compile under the + newest DJGPP, if someone know why DJGPP fails to compile the + appropriate assembly code, please write to us. + +3. XaoS has i18n support under Microsoft Windows now. You are not + suggested changing the drivers many times because XaoS will + crash. + +4. Here is a list about recent bugs and problems: + + * Fixing Macintosh version (load/save works incorrectly). + * Checking why Bailout item is duplicated in Windows help. + * Displaying latin2 fonts correctly. + * Fixing catalog files (mainly French and Spanish). + * Filling up i18n for menu files for some languages. + * Fixing Macintosh version (crash when loading random examples). + * Fixing Windows version (crash when several times saving files + and configurations). + * Fixing generated xaos.dlg for certain languages (e.g. Hungarian). + * Fixing crashing configure/make for all problematic platforms. + * Rewriting i18n to be easier to add new menus and others. + * All other todos announced in TODO file. + +That's all. However the problem list is quite long, we hope +you will enjoy XaoS 3.1. + +Regards, + +Zoltan Kovacs +Andreas Madritsch +Jan Hubicka +J.B. Langston + +Credits: + +Jan Hubicka is the main author of XaoS. He wrote the biggest parts of +this program, in fact, all the most important things. + +Andreas Madritsch helped a lot putting together version 3.1. He also +compiled the DOS and Windows executable and made German translations of +menu items available. He added bailout and 3 fractal types into version +3.1. He also fixed i18n to work under Windows correctly. + +Zoltan Kovacs wrote this documentation about the recent installation +problems and he was finalizing release 3.1. He added i18n support into +XaoS and cleaned up the code as it was possible. + +J.B. Langston contributed the Mac OS X native driver, the new XaoS web +design, and has helped maintain the software from 3.2.2 onward. + +Many others helped as well. The full list of them can be seen in file +AUTHORS. -- cgit v0.9.1