| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | S | u | b | j | e | c | t | : | | F | r | a | c | t | i | n | t | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
| | Q21a: | What is Fractint? |
| | A21a: | Fractint is a very popular freeware (not public domain) fractal |
| generator. There are DOS, MS-Windows, OS/2, Amiga, and Unix/X-Windows |
| versions. The DOS version is the original version, and is the most up- |
| to-date. |
| Please note: sci.fractals is not a product support newsgroup for Fractint. |
| Bugs in Fractint/Xfractint should usually go to the authors rather than being |
| posted. |
| Fractint is on many ftp sites. For example: |
| A Guide to getting FractInt by Noel at Spanky (Canada) |
| http://spanky.triumf.ca/www/fractint/getting.html |
| |
| DOS |
| |
| 19.6 executable via FTP and WWW from SimTel & mirrors world-wide |
| http://www.coast.net/cgi-bin/coast/dwn?msdos/graphics/frain196.zip |
| |
| 19.6 source via FTP and WWW from SimTel & mirrors world-wide |
| http://www.coast.net/cgi-bin/coast/dwn?msdos/graphics/frasr196.zip |
| |
| 19.6 executable via FTP from Canada |
| ftp://fractal.mta.ca/pub/spanky/programs/ibmpc/frain196.zip |
| |
| 19.6 source via FTP from Canada |
| ftp://fractal.mta.ca/pub/spanky/programs/ibmpc/frasr196.zip |
| |
| (The suffix 196 will change as new versions are released.) |
| |
| Fractint is available on Compuserve: GO GRAPHDEV and look for FRAINT.EXE |
| and FRASRC.EXE in LIB 4. |
| |
| Windows |
| |
| MS-Window FractInt 18.21 via FTP and WWW from SimTel & mirrors world-wide |
| http://www.coast.net/cgi-bin/coast/dwn?win3/graphics/winf1821.zip |
| |
| MS-Window FractInt 18.21 via FTP from Canada |
| ftp://fractal.mta.ca/pub/spanky/programs/ibmpc/windows/winf1821.zip |
| |
| MS-Windows FractInt 18.21 source via FTP and WWW from SimTel & mirrors |
| world-wide |
| http://www.coast.net/cgi-bin/coast/dwn?win3/graphics/wins1821.zip |
| |
| MS-Windows FractInt 18.21 source via FTP from Canada |
| ftp://fractal.mta.ca/pub/spanky/programs/ibmpc/windows/wins1821.zip |
| |
| OS/2 |
| |
| Available on Compuserve in its GRAPHDEV forum. The files are PM*.ZIP. These |
| files are also available by ftp://ftp-os2.nmsu.edu/os2/graphics/pmfra2.zip |
| |
| Unix |
| |
| The Unix version of FractInt, called XFractInt requires X-Windows. The |
| current version 3.04 is based on FractInt 19.6. |
| 3.04 source Western Canada |
| http://spanky.triumf.ca/pub/fractals/programs/unix/xfract304.tgz |
| |
| 3.04 source Atlantic Canada |
| http://fractal.mta.ca/spanky/programs/unix/xfract304.tgz |
| |
| XFractInt is also available in LIB 4 of Compuserve's GO GRAPHDEV forum in |
| XFRACT.ZIP. |
| Xmfract is a port FractInt by Darryl House to a X/motif multi-window |
| interface. The current version is 1.4 which is compatible with FractInt 18.2. |
| |
| Xmfract Homepage by Thomas Marsh <amadeus@bga.com> |
| http://www.realtime.net/~amadeus/xmfract/ |
| |
| README |
| http://fractal.mta.ca/pub/fractals/programs/unix/xmfract_1-4.readme |
| |
| xmfract_1-4_tar.gz |
| http://fractal.mta.ca/pub/fractals/programs/unix/xmfract_1-4_tar.gz |
| |
| Macintosh |
| |
| There is NO Macintosh version of Fractint, although there may be several |
| people working on a port. It is possibleto run Fractint on the Macintosh if |
| you use Insignia Software's SoftAT, which is a PC AT emulator. |
| |
| Amiga |
| |
| There is an Amiga version also available: |
| |
| FracInt 3.2 via WWW from an AmiNET archive in USA |
| http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/gfx/fract/fractint32.lha |
| |
| FractInt 3.2 via FTP from an AmiNET archive in USA |
| ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/gfx/fract/fractint32.lha |
| |
| The latest version (3.2) via WWW from Norway |
| http://login.eunet.no/~terjepe/aboutfractint.html |
| |
| FracXtra |
| |
| There is a collection of map, parameter, etc. files for FractInt, called |
| FracXtra. It is available at |
| |
| FracXtra via FTP and WWW from SimTel & mirrors world-wide |
| http://www.coast.net/cgi-bin/coast/dwn?msdos/graphics/fracxtr6.zip |
| |
| FracXtra Home Page by Dan Goldwater |
| http://fatmac.ee.cornell.edu/~goldwada/fracxtra.html |
| |
| FracXtra via FTP |
| ftp://fractal.mta.ca/pub/spanky/programs/ibmpc/fracxtr6.zip |
| For European users, these files are available from ftp://ftp.uni-koeln.de/. |
| If you can't use ftp, see the mail server information below. |
| |
| | Q21b: | How does Fractint achieve its speed? |
| | A21b: | Fractint's speed (such as it is) is due to a combination of: |
| 1. Using fixed point math rather than floating point where possible (huge |
| improvement for non-coprocessor machine, small for 486's). |
| 2. Exploiting symmetry of the fractal. |
| 3. Detecting nearly repeating orbits, avoid useless iteration (e.g. |
| repeatedly iterating 02+0 etc. etc.). |
| 4. Reducing computation by guessing solid areas (especially the "lake" |
| area). |
| 5. Using hand-coded assembler in many places. |
| 6. Obtaining both sin and cos from one 387 math coprocessor instruction. |
| 7. Using good direct memory graphics writing in 256-color modes. |
| The first four are probably the most important. Some of these introduce |
| errors, usually quite acceptable. |
| |