rec.autos.simulators

Robot Auto Racing Simulation (RARS) Mailing List Digest 19950611

The rars-digest is a compilation of choice cuts from the RARS mailing list.
It's published once a week to comp.ai.games, rec.autos.simulators, and to
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Contents

  RARS286
  Unix version on ftp site
  The two surprise tracks for next Sunday's race.
  When will there be prizes again?
  Re: RULES (reply by m)
  web page is up
  Re: A couple of questions (reply by m)
  AIX and Linux RARS 0.6 beta
  collisions
  To the Porters (UNIX, Mac, Amiga, Windows......)
  Joystick driver (for the PC, Borland) available (temporarily on my WWW page)
  Re: Help with UNIX compile (fwd)
  New UNIX version with Randomizer fixed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date sent:        Sun, 4 Jun 1995 15:48:26 AEST-1000
From:             Tom Paton <T...@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au>
Subject:          RARS286
To:               rars-l...@netcom.com
Organization:     Halls of Residence, Monash U.
Priority:         normal

If anyone is interested I have uploaded a version of RARS v0.61 that
will run on an XT or AT.  The simulation is still very slow (on a 286
with a coprocessor), but it runs!
So if there is anyone out there who hasn't been able to run RARS on an
older PC, RARS286 should work.
There are also a few modifications which might interest users of more
powerful pc's too. (ie it runs faster!)  see the accompanying .txt file
for a description of what has been done.
The two files are:
RARS286a.zip
RARS286a.txt

The .zip file contains all the files necessary to compile a working
version of RARS for any DOS computer.

Any comments, suggestions, problems, feel free to email me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date sent:        Sun, 04 Jun 1995 11:49:29 -0500
To:               rars-l...@netcom.com
From:             sa...@phoenix.phoenix.net (Randy Saint)
Subject:          Unix version on ftp site

I've just uploaded a UNIX version of RARS based on version 0.61

I used the mods that Lars made to the 0.50 version for X windows,
then upgraded to 0.61.  Try it out.  And if you have any problems,
contact either Lars or me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:             "Mitchell E. Timin" <m...@cac.psu.edu>
Subject:          The two surprise tracks for next Sunday's race.
To:               rars-l...@netcom.com (Rars- List)
Date sent:        Sun, 4 Jun 1995 09:56:33 -0400 (EDT)

Hello Rartians,

In response to a suggestion by Randy Saint, I will put the .trk files for
next Sunday's two tracks on the ftp site, and also e-mail them to anyone
who asks, immediately after the 1:00 PM deadline.  They will be in the
pub/ijs/uploads directory of course.  We will also be on the IRC #RARS
channel at 5 PM when we run the races.  First race starts at 5:10 PM.
All times are EDT.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:             "Mitchell E. Timin" <m...@cac.psu.edu>
Subject:          When will there be prizes again?
To:               rars-l...@netcom.com (Rars- List)
Date sent:        Sun, 4 Jun 1995 01:10:44 -0400 (EDT)

Hello All,

I know that some of you have wondered if there would be more races with
prizes, like we had on April 30.  Well the answer is yes, but I can't say
exactly when.  I have decided to wait until we have lots of competitors
before I actively seek a sponsor.  As soon as we have sixteen competitors
in either the novice or expert class, and at least ten in the other class,
then I will go and find a sponsor who will donate prizes on a regular
basis, several times per year.  I anticipate more value in prizes than we
had on April 30, and going down to fifth or sixth place.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:             "Mitchell E. Timin" <m...@cac.psu.edu>
Subject:          Re: RULES (reply by m)
To:               chamm...@sirius.UVic.CA (Clifford Hammerschmidt)
Date sent:        Sun, 4 Jun 1995 00:40:01 -0400 (EDT)
Copies to:        rars-l...@netcom.com (Rars- List)

Good Question, Clifford.  Theoretically, it is not necessary, because
your data area is intact after practice and is not re-initialized for
each race.

I can't see any harm in your writing to a data file at the end of practice,
and at the begining, but not during.  So if you want to write to a file at
the end of practice, and then read it at the beginning of the race, it will
be OK, as long as all other requirements are complied with.

However, If someone points out a good reason why I should not allow this,
I will reserve the right to change my mind.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date sent:        Fri, 2 Jun 1995 20:47:04 -0400 (EDT)
From:             Andrew Samaha <mindw...@mindwarp.com>
To:               rars-l...@netcom.com
Subject:          web page is up

Okay, The WEB page is up! Check it out and Email me if there are any
problems or suggestions....
Cya!

oops The html is:
http://www.cftnet.com/members/mindwarp/rars.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:             "Mitchell E. Timin" <m...@cac.psu.edu>
Subject:          Re: A couple of questions (reply by m)
To:               ree...@lucy.cs.waikato.ac.nz
Date sent:        Tue, 6 Jun 1995 14:09:54 -0400 (EDT)
Copies to:        rars-l...@netcom.com (Rars- List)

There will be more than 15 segments and less than 35 segments on each
track.

There are a few.

Yes, if you make sure it doesn't get allocated for each race in a sequence of
races.  One way is to allocate it when your robot's name is copied; that
only happens once.  An easier way is just to declare a static array in
your robot file.  You have to stay within the 25 K limit for all code and
data, of course.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date sent:        Wed, 7 Jun 1995 11:46:42 +0200 (DFT)
From:             "Christoph G Prinz" <cgpr...@VNET.IBM.COM>
To:               rars-l...@netcom.com
Subject:          AIX and Linux RARS 0.6 beta

For those who are interested in UNIX versions of rars.

I have ported the rars version 0.6 beta to AIX and Linux. If my ports can
help to solve the problems that seem to exist with the 0.61 UNIX ports
please mail me offline and I can send you the source.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:             "Mitchell E. Timin" <m...@cac.psu.edu>
Subject:          collisions
To:               rars-l...@netcom.com (Rars- List)
Date sent:        Thu, 8 Jun 1995 09:50:22 -0400 (EDT)

Hello All,

Well, I have finally gotten around to reviewing the collision code
in move_car(), and I am not satisfied, so there will be some fixes.
The first problem, that I have fixed in my current version here (0.62?),
is that a car can "run over" another car.  When a car runs into a car
ahead of it it loses 20% of its speed.  Usually that prevents it from passing.

But, if the car ahead is going much slower, then the remaing 80% can be
enough to get ahead of the other car.  In effect, the "crasher" trades
damage for an easy pass.  This is not good, and is not hard to fix; I will
release a source fragment shortly that fixes it.

The second problem is both well known and harder to fix.  The cars often
collide visually without move_car() considering it a collision.  I will
work on that today.

If I can get the changes done quickly, we will use them in the oval track
races coming up in two weeks.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:             "Mitchell E. Timin" <m...@cac.psu.edu>
Subject:          To the Porters (UNIX, Mac, Amiga, Windows......)
To:               rars-l...@netcom.com (Rars- List)
Date sent:        Wed, 7 Jun 1995 22:47:01 -0400 (EDT)

Hello Rartians,

Andrew Samaha, our WWW coordinator, is going to put in some links to
information about the various ports of RARS.  Could you guys send him
the information he needs?  Mainly he needs one or more contact people
for each version, plus the name of the files that should be downloaded.
Any additional things that you want to do is fine.

For example, one of you UNIX guys might want to maintain a web page
about the UNIX RARS port, and then Andrew could just link to it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date sent:        Wed, 7 Jun 95 18:20:18 +0200
From:             dv3ki...@ida.his.se (Kim Laurio)
To:               rars-l...@netcom.com
Subject:          Joystick driver (for the PC, Borland) available (temporarily
on my WWW page)
Copies to:        dv3ki...@ida.his.se

Hello all!

I've done a joystick driver that'll enable you to participate in a RARS race.
(Only for the PC, DOS, Borland, analog joystick owners).

I'll put it on the ftp site after I've added some comments to it and put the
whole thing into a nice .zip and .txt that can be downloaded. Unfortunately
I'm sitting at a UNIX WS when I type this, so I'll have to go home and have
the work done. This means the code won't be on the ftp site until saturday
(the earliest), because I'll make a little trip to Denmark tomorrow.

BUT, there is a solution if you really want to try it out NOW ,(instead of
optimizing your driver for the race on sunday, as you should), and also if
you don't really care about comments and a nice package. You can get the
whole thing from my WWW page! It is only three files (2 .zip's and one .txt)
that sums to about 6900 bytes.

My WWW-page: http://www.ida.his.se/ida/~dv3kimla/Welcome.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date sent:        Wed, 7 Jun 1995 17:45:28 -0700 (PDT)
From:             James Dooley <jdoo...@dbp.caltech.edu>
To:               James LaPlaine <ja...@cri.com>
Copies to:        rars-l...@netcom.com
Subject:          Re: Help with UNIX compile (fwd)

I've successfully compiled it on 4.1.2 with G++ 2.6.3.  You can pick up
the executable at:

ftp://dbp.caltech.edu/pub/rars

I have Linux, Alpha (OSF), AIX, and Sun versions available there.  If
there's a need for these, I can upload them the the ftp site, as my
computer will be going home with me for the summer next week.

The undefined symbol is: (from c++filt)
operator<<(ostream &, smanip<unsigned long> const &)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date sent:        Wed, 7 Jun 1995 16:46:20 -0500
To:               rars-l...@netcom.com
From:             sa...@phoenix.net (Randy Saint)
Subject:          New UNIX version with Randomizer fixed.

I've uploaded a new release of the UNIX version with the randomizer fixed.
It's rars061.2.1.unix.tar.Z at the ftp site.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rars-digest is compiled and published by (Dave `Gizmo' Gymer)
                  dgy...@gdcarc.co.uk  http://www.mal.com/~dgymer
-- Dave "Gizmo" Gymer                 Telephone +44 (0)1268 534228
--   General DataComm Advanced Research Centre Ltd, Basildon, UK
-- dgy...@gdcarc.co.uk                 http://www.mal.com/~dgymer/
-- Team Shark-Porsche online racing         LFRS 95-96 co-director