TWO NEW GAMES FOR MINIX: *** DIEPBOM *** LETTERS ***

This package contains Minix sources and patches for Minix 1.5
for the games Diepbom, written by myself, and Letters, originally
by Larry Moss, but heavily adapted for Minix by me (humble I :-).


CONTENTS OF THIS PACKAGE

Installation	this file
Makefile	very simple makefile
words		example dictionary file

VCcons.cdiff    patch for the Virtual Consoles console.c file (VT100)
15cons.cdiff	patch for the 1.5.10 console.c file (VT100)
		Warning: This patch is not tested, and very minimal
vt100.art	text of the article that I posted, explaining the two 
		previous files about the VT100 implementation.

VCtty.cdiff	patch for the Virtual Consoles tty.c file (NONBLOCK)
15tty.cdiff	patch for the 1.5.10 tty.c file (NONBLOCK)
		Warning: this patch is not tested, but very straightforward
nonblock.art	text of the article that I posted, explaining the two 
		previous files about the O_NONBLOCK implementation

diepbom.c	source file for diepbom
diepbom.scr	score file for diepbom
diepbom.man	manpage for diepbom

letters.c	source for letters
letters.scr	scorefile for letters
letters.man	manpage for letters


PREREQUISITES

For Diepbom a real PC (IBM-alike) is imperative, as the games uses
the Ascii characters above 128. Sorry ST'ers. For Diepbom no timing
mechanism is implemented. This means on a very fast PC (386/33) the
game is unplayable. It is designed for 8088/8MHz, and I guess it
plays well on a slightly faster PC. Never tried it though.

For Letters there are no such impediments. No above-128 characters
are used, and timing is implimented. However the getting it right 
needs a little more effort. The games needs a proper dictionary, as
the one provided is just for demonstration purposes.

Starting point for this package is Minix 1.5.10 (== PH Minix 1.5).
Adaptations are given against the Virtual Console implementation, 
and against the original 1.5 files, mostly minimalized to be 
straightforward (because not tested by myself).


INSTALLATION

Apply the VC* patches if you have the Virtual Console package (by Gordon
Irlam) installed. Apply the 1.5* patches if you have straight 1.5.10.
Rebuild the system, and reboot.

NB. Both patches have been posted by me a few weeks ago. Read the *.art 
    files for more explanation about what each patch is for. If you have 
    already applied either one, there is no need to redo it, as the 
    patches have not been changed in the meantime. 

Add the following line to /etc/termcap in the entry you normally use:
	:vi=\E[?25l:ve=\E[?25h:\
It comes with the VT100 implementation, and is the main reason to apply 
that patch now, if you haven't already. The entries 'vi' and 've' stand
for 'cursor on' and 'cursor off' respectively.

'make l d' to get the binaries of letters and diepbom. Put the files
diepbom and letters in /usr/games, chown them to games.games and make
them setuid (see also in the Makefile). 

Put the *.scr files in /usr/games, chown them games.games, and make them 
writable by the owner, readable by whomsoever you want. Put the *.man
files where you want them; /usr/man/man6 is recommended. If you have not
yet a /usr/dict/words file, e.g., for spelling checking purposes, then
copy the here presented file words to /usr/dict/words. 

Make sure /usr/games is in your PATH (suggestion for .profile).
Run Diepbom (type 'diepbom') and Letters (type 'letters') to make 
sure that things sofar are fine. If Diepbom is not completely to
you liking, as in 'too fast' that cannot be helped, as there is no
timing implemented. If letters is too fast, then read on.


TUNING LETTERS

Measure the time it takes for a (more than) 7-letter word to drop from the
top to the bottom. If this is not about 30 seconds (probably faster) then 
your Letters needs tuning. 

1. Assume it takes about 10 seconds. Then change the #define in letters.c
   for START_DELAY from its initial value (3000) to a third (1000). 
   Recompile, install, and measure the time again. Twiddle until right.

2. Now the hard part :-). Measure the time on level 5 of Letters by running
   it as in 'letters -l5'. This make Letters start at level five instead of
   level 1 (read the man page for elaborate explanation). A (more than) 
   7-letter word should take about 20 seconds on this level. Assume it takes
   about 10 seconds in your version (after you twiddled START_DELAY to be
   right of course). Then change the #define in letters.c for DELAY_CHANGE 
   from its initial value (250) to half (125), as the difference between 
   drop-time_on_level_1 - drop-time_on_level_5 should be cut by a half. Twiddle 
   until right here too.


Remeber to install this newer version of letters in /usr/games with the
proper file protection (setuid games.games, rwsr-sr-x).


FINISH

Now you have doen all that is necessary to install the two games. In case
you have more questions than are answered by this installation manual, feel
free to ask me more, either on Usenet news, or by private mail. Would you
please do me the favour of mailing me a little note stating how you like the 
here presented software?

Met vriendelijke groeten, Wim `Blue Baron' van Dorst
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Blue Baron = Wim van Dorst, Voice (+31) 074-443937, (+31) 02152-42319
(-:       baron@wiesje.hobby.nl           tgcpwd@urc.tue.nl       :-)
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