Docs for Woggle 0.9B --

        Note that this program is Shareware.  Those using and enjoying this program are required to send $15 to

                William Gulstad
                1704 Cliff Drive
                Columbia MO 65201.

        Now, on with the fun stuff.  This is a fractal display program.  It handles both Mandelbrot and Julia sets, and can do magnifications/offsets to your heart's content.  The math routines are based around the multiplication of 32 bit integers, and the graphics have absolutely nothing to do with SlowDraw, except for the pointer, which I was too lazy to do myself.

        The program is text based (you use a modified version of my Conch Shell command line), with commands to switch to and from the graphics screen.  The mouse is used only for specifying points on the set.  Both 320 and 640 modes, and dithering are supported, though the latter format still needs work.

        The following are commands specifically related to fractal generation.  Note that the program begins in graphics mode, so if you need to see to type, you must use the GRAFOFF command to get the text screen.


SSAVE filename                          save just the picture
SLOAD filename                          load just the picture
SAVE filename                           save picture and parameters
LOAD filename                           load picture and parameters
QUIT                                    exit the program
FREAK                                   does something weird
WEIRD                                   does something freaky
BOZO                                    starts drawing
CLS                                     clears the screen
GO                                      starts drawing for dweebs
RESUME [x y]                            resumes, with optional coords
MAXDWELL [num]                          sets or prints the maximum dwell
ESCAPE [num]                            sets or prints the escape radius
MOUSE                                   makes the pointer visible and waits
MAG [num]                               magnifies around the last point
JULIA                                   switches to Julia mode
MANDEL                                  switches to Mandel mode
TRIGGER [num]                           don't fiddle with this
320                                     sets 16-color mode
640                                     sets 4-color mode
PAL num                                 selects from 16 palettes
DITHER [0 or non 0]                     turns dithering on/off


Notes:

  1) "MAG 0" resets the default view; "MAG num" means magnify num times around the last point specified (with the mouse) or the last point drawn.

  2) Dwells are the number of iterations before the equation (Z <- Z+C) grows beyond the escape radius.  Defaults are:  Escape = 4 (2 squared); Maxdwell = 100.

  3) Saving without parameters makes it so the program will not know where a picture came from (the coordinates, magnification, mode, etc.) when you load it again.

  4) Palette 5 is the dithering palette.  It still needs work.

  5) Resume does not resume the first stage of a drawing if you interupt it.

  6) You can stop drawing any time by pressing escape.


Explanation--

        Type "GO" when the blank screen first appears.  The program will first tile the screen (a time saver), filling in the parts which are all one dwell.  Then it will fix what was not caught before.  When it finishes (or you abort), type "mouse."  The pointer will appear.  Move the pointer to an interesting area and press the button.  Now type "mag 2."  That part will be magnified two times around the point you specified.  You may want to do a "cls" first, so you can see better.
        Now pick another point with "mouse," clear the screen, and type "julia."  Typing "go" will start a drawing of the Julia set for that point.
        If you escape from drawing at any point during the second stage of drawing, the coordinates of the last point ploted will appear on the text screen.  This and all numeric output is in hexidecimal.  You may specify values in either decimal or hexidecimal, however, using a "$" before the number to specify the later.


Information on Fractals--

        For more info on fractals, try the book, "The Beauty of Fractals," by Peitgen and Richter, or any of a number of books by Mandlebrot himself.  These books will show you neat areas to look at and do Julia sets of, and will explain the theory in more detail than I can here.  Please feel free to experiment as much as possible, and to e-mail me at

                wogg0743@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu

with any and all comments and suggestions.




                *               *               *



Addendum--shell commands also supported


     But wait, there's more!  Woggle also gives you a MS-DOS/UNIX-like command line.

Commands --

#                             install extra ROM CDAs
CAT                           does a directory of the current prefix
CAT <FILENAME>                does a directory of FILENAME
CAT <FILENAME>                does a unix-like CAT of FILENAME
DIR                           same as CAT
DIR <FILENAME>                same as CAT <FILENAME> (first kind)
FILES                         same as CAT
FILES <FILENAME>              same as CAT <FILENAME> (first kind)
TYPE <FILENAME>               does a unix-like CAT of FILEMAN
RENAME <FILENAME> <FILENAME>  renames FILENAME
DELETE <FILENAME>             deletes FILENAME
RM <FILENAME>                 deletes FILENAME
RMDIR <FILENAME>              deletes FILENAME
KILL <FILENAME>               deletes FILENAME
ERA <FILENAME>                deletes FILENAME
ERASE <FILENAME>              deletes FILENAME
DEL <FILENAME>                deletes FILENAME
COPY <FILENAME> <FILENAME>    copies FILENAME
CP <FILENAME> <FILENAME>      copies FILENAME
FILETYPE <FILENAME> [FTYPE]   changes the filetype of FILENAME
AUXTYPE <FILENAME> [ATYPE]    changes the auxtype of FILENAME
CHANGE <FILENAME> [ATYPE]     changes the auxtype of FILENAME
SLOAD <FILENAME>              loads SHR graphics screen FILENAME
SSAVE <FILENAME>              saves SHR graphics screen FILENAME
GRAPHON                       turn on SHR graphics
GRAPHOFF                      turn off SHR graphics
CD                            display the current prefix
CD <FILENAME>                 change the current prefix to <FILENAME>
PREFIX                        display the current prefix
PREFIX <FILENAME>             change the currect prefix to <FILENAME>
CD..                          back up one level of directories
CDUP                          same as CD..
CD ..                         same as CD..
CREATE <FILENAME> [FTYPE]     create FILENAME of type FTYPE
MKDIR <FILENAME> [FTYPE]      same as CREATE

notes:

<FILENAME> is any legal filename
[FTYPE] is one of many supported three letter file types
        or a hex constant beginning with $
        the default value is DIR
[ATYPE] is a SRC subtype (CCOM, etc.) or a hex constant starting
        with a $


     Wildcards, by the way, are legal.  More precisely, the use of the = sign as a wildcard is allowed.  Do not use the Unix *, as it has a different meaning in the GS/OS environment.  You should only use the * to mean the boot volume name.

     Also, in the CD and PREFIX commands, you can use the double dot (cd ..) form, though normally its use will lead to an error.

     Other than that, experiment.  Bug reports are appreciated.  Also, remember that in the future I will be releasing new and better versions of Conch Shell, but only if you send me monetary incentives.  Otherwise, I will write the new versions, and give them to my friends, but I sure as hell won't distribute them among the general public.


Note to major software houses --

        This product is currently Shareware.  However, if you are interested in including it in any bundled software package, you must first contact me and agree on a one-time-only fee or a percentage of profits deal, perhaps both.  Please remember that more and more current and powerful versions of this program, with more and more unix-like commands, will be forthcoming.  If you would like to market my program commercially under your label, I could provide you with a substantially improved version than that that is generally available, thus making the product saleable.  If the price is right, of course. I'm not greedy, but....
