Hi Rob,
> I'll check those out. Is Lisp, PicoLisp or Common Lisp above?
What do you mean with "above" here?
> I am guessing RCSim is the RC simulator? I was not aware of it before your
Yes. Unfortunately, the README file is no longer part of the PicoLisp
distribution.
Let me put some excerpts here:
It is all implemented within the PicoLisp system, so that no
additional libraries like OpenGL or GL4Java are needed. It may be
regarded as a proof of concept, because a flight simulator is one of
the least typical things to do in Lisp.
The plane is similar to the German WW-I aircraft Fokker "D-VII" (and
a bit to the British Sopwith Camel ;-). Though the user's position is
that of a model plane's pilot (i.e. viewing the plane from a fixed
position), all parameters like dimensions, mass, engine power and
flight data are intended to be as close as possible to a "real"
Fokker D-VII. Unfortunately, some of these parameters are not known
exactly, but it is a fun project anyway, and I hope it comes close.
You start it (pil64 only) as
$ pil /usr/share/picolisp/misc/rcsim.l -main -go +
This opens a new XWindow. Put it on your desktop into a position
where you can *also* see the XTerm where you started it from.
Set the keyboard focus to the XTerm, i.e. where you now have a ':'
REPL prompt.
The simulator is controlled by the following 10 keys:
- The cursor (arrow) keys UP and DOWN control the elevator
- The LEFT and RIGHT cursor keys control the combined rudder/ailerons
- The HOME key sets full throttle
- PAGE UP/DOWN increase/decrease the throttle
- The END key turns the engine off
- INS/DEL zoom in/out
For a first flight, just hit the HOME key as the plane sits waiting
on the runway, and watch it accelerate. After some time, when it
starts to jump a bit nervously, give a little up-elevator (the DOWN
arrow key) to gain height. Then hit the PAGE DOWN key once or twice
to decrease the throttle, and cautiously experiment with with the
arrow keys.
There should really be an article about that in picolisp.com :(
> reference. Hobby, or did you contribute to it? That would be a great app to
Both (hobby, and I wrote it ;)
> port covering graphics, math, realtime (soft realtime?) and all of the
> logistics that entails. Would you stick with z3d.l or create something
> wholly new? Sounds exciting.
Yes, "lib/z3d.l" would have to be rewritten.
But that's by far not the problem. Rather trivial. The REAL problem is
to get a decent Video mode (SVGA?, VESA?, XGA?) working on PilOS. Seems
to be a lot of trouble. See e.g.
http://wiki.osdev.org/How_do_I_set_a_graphics_mode
http://wiki.osdev.org/Getting_VBE_Mode_Info
http://wiki.osdev.org/VGA_Hardware
http://wiki.osdev.org/VGA_Resources
Here we surely have the same problems as with the BIOS compatibility
issues during boot. Supporting a variety of graphics cards (simulated or
real) is a nightmare. And sticking with the minimal standard VGA might
be easier, but then resolution and color depth are not satisfactory.
Anybody willing to help?
♪♫ Alex
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