POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.unix : Linux framebuffer patch version 0.7.0 released Server Time
23 Dec 2024 22:18:47 EST (-0500)
  Linux framebuffer patch version 0.7.0 released (Message 1 to 1 of 1)  
From: Nicolas Calimet
Subject: Linux framebuffer patch version 0.7.0 released
Date: 12 Dec 2005 15:47:22
Message: <439de1da$1@news.povray.org>
Version 0.7.0 of the Linux framebuffer patch to povray-3.6.1 for Unix
is available for download here:

http://pov4grasp.free.fr/download/povray-3.6.1-fb-0.7.0.diff.bz2

	List of changes from version 0.6.0:

- add support for console mouse (via libgpm) with pseudo-text pointer
- add support for streamed framebuffer when memory mapping fails
- add capability to dump screen/toggle view/quit when render is paused
- fix the screen dump to account for custom terminal colors
- fix display closing to clear the fb with actual background color
- fix potential memory corruption with downscaled image and dithering
- fix last Error() calls: display won't trigger fatal error no more
- fix missing checks for unsupported framebuffer color depths
- fix terminal screwup when unknown command-line options cause errors


	A generic linux povray binary is also available here:

http://pov4grasp.free.fr/download/povray-nc-0004.bz2

Download the file, unpack it with 'bunzip2 povray-nc-0004.bz2' and set its
executable permission with 'chmod +x povray-nc-0004'.

The binary includes the unix frontend patch described in this thread:
http://news.povray.org/431c914d@news.povray.org
It has support for the X Window display but comes without SVGAlib display
(the current patch is meant to replace SVGAlib in the future).  The binary
was compiled with the Intel C++ compiler to take advantage of Pentium 4
optimizations.  It should however work on any other platform as well.


     Notes:

The main purpose of this release is to introduce support for the console mouse
that is handled by the gpm server (see 'man gpm').  In previous releases, the
console mouse would trash the POV-Ray display when moved over it, i.e. the
text caracters under the display would erase the image.  To solve this problem,
this release captures mouse events (moves, clicks, and so on) and emulates
the mouse text pointer by a graphical one.  See the sample images under p.b.i
(same subject).  Clicking any mouse button allows to toggle the display view
by emulating the 'v' keypress introduced in a previous release.  Also, the
standard text selection works as usual; it automatically hides the display
when necessary.

The connection to the gpm server (daemon) is managed by the libgpm library;
the latter, together with the <gpm.h> header file, is required to get a working
mouse support in this patch.  Note however that the feature may not always
work correctly even if compiled in the program.  This is a limitation of the
gpm library.  In particular, the official gpm-1.20.1 release (dated 2002) may
not work very well: it is recommanded to use instead the gpm server and library
that come with some Linux distributions (e.g. Debian and Knoppix; Gentoo).  In
future releases of this patch, the connection to the gpm server may be handled
natively in order to avoid the possible troubles experienced using libgpm.


	Installation instructions for the source patch:

1) copy the file linked above to the parent directory of the povray-3.6.1/
    directory (source distribution only).  The povray source distro that you
    intend to patch should be the official release.

2) IMPORTANT: if you already applied a previous version of this patch,
    you must unpatch the povray sources first with the *old* patch, e.g.

% bzcat povray-3.6.1-fb-0.6.0.diff.bz2 | patch -p0 -f -R

3) patch the povray-3.6.1/ sources:

% bzcat povray-3.6.1-fb-0.6.0.diff.bz2 | patch -p0 -f

    and ignore the possible warnings (in principle they are harmless).

4) cd to povray-3.6.1/ and run the ./bootstrap script.  This requires
    having the GNU autotools installed, i.e. autoconf and automake.

5) run './configure && make check' as usual.


	- NC


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From: Nicolas Calimet
Subject: Re: Linux framebuffer patch version 0.7.0 released
Date: 12 Dec 2005 17:01:10
Message: <439df326$1@news.povray.org>
>     A generic linux povray binary is also available here: 
> http://pov4grasp.free.fr/download/povray-nc-0004.bz2

	Unfortunately this binary is containing a nasty bug that renders it
completely unusable (it was not prepared on the same platform as before).
So please do not download it at the moment, but use the source patches
to build your own.

	- NC


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