0 FLY8-102, GAMES, Flight Simulator under X window  
   DESCRIPTION   @     This program is a flight simulator. It puts more emphasis on@     the dynamics than on the cosmetics: just wire-frame. It  can@     run on any machine but a 386DX is the minimum for any decent@     performance. A fast video controller is a boon as  the  pro-@     gram,  when  running  on a 386DX/40Mhz, spends 70-80% of its@     time pushing pixels. On non-intel machines you can  try  and     see if it is fast enough...   @     The  program  was  written  for  fun.  I borrowed ideas from@     everywhere and hope to hear some more. The basic  design  is@     based  on  a  program  I wrote more than 20 years ago at uni@     (the Technion). I had an excellent coach (Danny Cohen) and I@     still have fond memories of those times. But now my computer@     has more than 24Kbytes of memory! so Fly8 is  written  in  C@     (Fly8  was the name of the last version of the original pro-@     gram dated 12-JAN-1974, it was written in PDP15  assembly  --     macro15 - for a VT15 graphics processor). @     The actual purpose of the program was to give me an opportu-@     nity to experiment with various aspects  of  flight  simula-@     tion, but mostly with (1) the HUD symbology (or, more gener-@     aly, with man-machine interaction) and (2) the  studying  of@     basic  aerodynamics (as well as general real time simulation@     techniques). This explains why there are so many HUD options@     and  such a proliferation of flight dynamics models, as well@     as why the simulation parameters are user definable as input@     files at run time. Of course, the experimental nature of the=     program means that it must be distributed in source form.    @     On the  PC  the  basic  screen  drawing  uses  the  standard@     Microsoft  graphics library. It is OK but not very fast; the@     main advantage is that it will support most video  adapters.@     The  fast  graphics  driver was built from the routines from@     DJGPP with much personal additions. The flight dynamics  was@     influenced  by  an SGI program I saw and ACM. The timer rou-@     tines come from a microsoft journal article, the  user-input@     routine (notice how you can use arrow keys etc? use up-arrow@     to retrieve history.. I will document it one day) comes from@     DDJ (or was it CUJ? author name is Bob Bybee). Well, I avoid@     re-inventing wheels unless it is fun. The  program  compiles@     with Microsoft C, Borland C, gcc on a friends Amiga, Sun and@     Linux and I hope on other platforms; it  is  written  to  be@     portable.  It runs under MSDOS, MSWindows, Amiga and unix/X-$     Windows... and now on OpenVMS !!  @     What? what? WHAT? you want to see some action? OK. just skip'     to the next chapter then come back. @     The full set of commands is detailed in the 'commands' chap-;     ter. Here we will look at the program areas in general. @     There are two rather distinct kinds  of  commands  that  one@     uses:  commands  that drive (fly) the game and commands that@     configure, set options and so on (which are used  with  less@     urgency).  It  was  attempted  to get the important commands@     into the keyboard (a one keystroke command) while the others@     go  into  the  main menu system (accessed with the Esc key).@     Some of the urgent commands may bring up a  menu  which  you)     may ignore if you know the keystokes. @     The  urgent commands will control the vehicle flight and the@     other subsystems (radar, HUD, HDD, weapons etc.).  You  will@     notice  early that the program lacks the traditional instru-@     ment panel: it is intended to be driven  from  the  HUD  and     other digital displays. @     The vehicle is also driven by a pointing device (a mouse or,@     preferably, a joystick). It will run off the keypad when you@     have  no such device.  The pointer is used only for steering@     control although the buttons  can  be  mapped  to  auxiliary'     functions (by default both 'fire').   @     The  display area is typicaly divided into the main view and@     a number of secondary Head Down Displays (HDD).  The  design@     has  a dozen or so on board instruments that generate visual@     data; you select which ones should  be  displayed  on  which@     HDD.  The main view is what you see through the cockpit. The@     HUD can be overlaid onto this view (as is the  case  with  a@     real  plane).  Other  data may also be shown here for conve-     nience.   @     One other instrument is designated as an alternate main view@     (use  the 'v' command to see it). The 'windows' menu handles(     the screen format and configuration.@     The program generates various messages  as  it  goes  along,@     these  will  appear at the bottom of the main view and stack@     up. Each message has a time-out for deletion but you can use@     'c'  to  clear the lot. When the program needs user input it@     will open a prompt line at the very bottom of the main  view@     (in  magenta  color)  where your data will show. You can use@     the normal editing keys while entering data here -  previous@     entries  are  accessible with the up/down arrows. See 'input     line editing' later.  @     You may find some of the commands/options  strange  (if  not@     outright  insane);  this  will  be  related  to  my taste or@     (mostly) to much history and quick fixing that did not  com-@     pletely  settle  yet.  I have looked at other programs (like@     F3, JF2, ACM and SGI f.s.) but this was after the first ver-@     sion of this program was finished, so some good ideas missed@     the bus this time. In the future I hope to polish  the  user@     interface  (especialy  after  other people get to use it and     express an opinion).  @     Being as the program is still evolving you  will  find  some@     areas less complete than others. I hope that there is enough@     of it to make it useful. I expect to see  contributions  (of@     ideas  and  code)  from  other  people;  I  will continue to@     develop the program (at least for a while) and would like to8     see it take it's own path in life [heavy stuff :-)].  
   QUICK_START   @     In  this  chapter the symbol '@' is used to denote the Enter@     key. This will give you a quick feel for what the program is+     like.  With the program installed, type        $ fly -z5 @     This  starts  the program in a demo setting and is useful to;     see if all is OK and also great as a screen blanker :-) @     If the fly.ini options are correct then your plane will take@     off  and  start  looking  for action. Some messages are dis-@     played during startup - these will disappear after  a  short@     while.  The  screen will show a simple view of the runway, a.     ground grid (in gray) and an overlaid HUD.  "     To exit hit 'Esc' 'x' and 'y'.     Author  .     Eyal Lebedinsky (eyal@ise.canberra.edu.au)  