#Phar Lap does Windows
14 messages in this thread
Not exactly Debbie does Dallas but from an animators point of view, even
better. <g>
Yes I got my Phar Lap Frontrunner (shell for Windows). YES YES YES! Now that't
the way to do it, or pretty dern close. Now if you could just launch an app in
the DOS window by clicking on its name. I don't need little boxes with cute
little pictures. <g> I know, I'm hardcore. I'd be happy with a shell which
listed all the executables and com files where I could just click on them and
they pop up. Trees belong in forests! But really the Phar Lap shell is
excellent. Its costs $139 and depending on what Wesson has to offer I'll
probably get it.
And its been a red letter day as I got my copy of "Inside 3D Studio". When I'll
get a chance to dig through it I'll never know but its certainly a thick
reference with some cool texture maps. (animators and texture maps, easy to
please. <g>)
I will say they could have done a better job on the cover, sure makes my work
look good. <G>
-JE
Sounds like frontrunner is a frontrunner (groan). I've been meaning to check
it out. It's a little expensive, though, but it is Pharlap (for better or
worse).
I'm waiting on my copy of Inside 3DS. I'm also waiting on my truck to get out
of the shop, my new Illuminator Pro, my Targa+ to get fixed, etc… What a
week!
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
Yeah, the Phar Lap is a little expensive but a good product is worth it and it
is a business expense. Are you looking into Fred's suggestion? I think I'll
have to call them direct as no one seems to be carrying it locally yet.
-JE
P.S. The Inside 3D Studio book is quite comprehensive. I did notice a
discrepancy on the Targa aspect ratio though. They suggest it should be 1.23
for 512×486 which I believe should be 1.266. 1.23 is for 512×482 or the old
Targa standard.
You're definitely right about 1.266 being the Targa+ aspect ratio at 512×486.
Fortunately I won't be bothering with that anymore, getting the new Illuminator
Pro 4m tommorrow <g>.
My friend Peter (he's in Indonesia right now) got a free copy of Pharlap
Frontrunner when he visited them several months ago. He was quite happy with
it.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
>> I won't be bothering with that any more… getting the Illuminator Pro
tomorrow… <<
No I guess you won't. I'll be interested to get your opinion. My next display
purchase is going to be an MGA II. As soon as I hear they've got 3DS Drivers
for it. Then the Targa's will be looking for a new home, and maybe I'll get an
Ill Pro. That will be somewhat dependent on whether I get into the Video
editing side, which would be fun, as I used to do that professionally, but I
think I'd rather stick with animation specifically.
-JE
Vibrant uploaded beta updates that include Matrox MGA (I + II) support to
library 9 on this forum, as well as their BBS and their forum area on Graphics
Vendors B forum. I haven't had a chance to check them out, but I'm sure they
work. I'm planning on fiddling with them this weekend or monday, and I'll let
you know what happens.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
>> Matrox uploaded beta updates that include Matrox MGA (I + II) support to
Library 9 on this forum…. <<
That's really good news! How did I miss that one. <g> Yes, please let me know.
Thanks,
-JE
I got my Illuminator Pro 4meg card today, and installed it. There is a problem
with my Hercules card apparently hogging rom map space it shouldn't be (C800),
so I'm not able to use the fast dual 32bit access until I find a card that
doesn't bleed rom past where it should. But the Ill Pro is awesome. I'm just
blown away by how crisp and perfect everything looks on the 750 lines of res
video monitor. Wow!!!!
And Matrox was very easy to deal with. I called them with my problem, and they
helped as much as possible, then Jim Pope (the dealer I bought the card from)
called me (!) and helped me figure out where to put all my rom mapping, and how
to configure the board (THANKS JIM!!!! =-). It's really miles beyond the
Targa+.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
Glad to see you got the card optimized, call me if you need anything else.
Always ready to help.
jp
I really have to thank you, again, for helping me out. Your call came right on
time… after I'd spent an hour messing with rom mapping. Sometimes it takes
an outside party to see clearly and remember what the options are. And thanks
for helping me with the board initialization setup. I would have been pretty
lost without your recommenations.
The only caveat, so far, is that Larry Rask (who has now left VMI) didn't
program the V-LAN beta multi-pass utility to address this card, so I've got to
record single frame until someone replaces him (hopefully this has already
happened).
But my images look so much better at this resolution, and match perfectly with
the Abekas A66' output to video monitor, so there will be no more surprises.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
John,
>> Pharlap Frontrunner <<
what is this product and how does it help us animator types.
It's a windows command line utility. If I remember correctly it allows you to
run windows apps from a command line, instead of the windows workspace. I'm
not sure what else it does.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
John,
>> it allows you to run windows apps from a command line <<
hmmm, I wonder how that would be useful. Maybe, JohnE could explain it to me. I
don't see the point yet.