Re: MINI-FAQ: PHOST and the Portable Host Project From: cg@primenet.com (mystro) Date: Thu, 04 Jan 1996 00:00:00 +0000 In article <4c93ja$mtp@news.eecs.umich.edu>, asterian@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Andrew Sterian) wrote: >This is an informational posting describing the latest set of VGA Planets >programs made available by the Portable Host Project. This information is >mainly intended for new readers of the alt.games.vga-planets newsgroup but >is also useful for others who wish to keep track of the latest programs and >program versions (this version information can be found at the bottom of >this FAQ). > >For more information about PHOST and the Portable Host Project, please visit >our WWW site: > > http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~asterian/phost.html > >All of our programs are available at this site. Our programs are also available >at the following FTP sites: > > ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/pc/msdos/games/vgaplanets/phost > ftp://ftp.teleport.com/users/goldman/VGAP/phost > mailto:goldman@teleport.com (use a SUBJECT line of 'sendme help') > >and may also be available at other common VGA Planets WWW and FTP sites. > >The Purpose >----------- > >The purpose of the Portable Host Project is to produce VGA Planets programs >and utilities that are high-quality, fast, bug-intolerant, and portable to >hardware systems other than IBM PC's. All of our programs are free, there is >no cost to either players or hosts. > >By "bug-intolerant" we mean that we try to make our programs as bug-free as >possible, and in the event that bugs are discovered, we fix them as quickly >as possible. > >By "portable" we mean that these programs will run on non-DOS systems. We >currently support 12 hardware-software platform combinations including >DOS (of course), SunOS, Sun Solaris, DEC Alpha, IBM RS/6000, NeXT, DEC Ultrix, >Linux, FreeBSD, BSD/386, HP-PA, Windows NT/Win32, and OS/2. > >The Programs >------------ > >* PHOST 3.2 > This is a replacement for the HOST.EXE program version 3.2. > >* PHOST 3.15 > This is a replacement for the HOST.EXE program version 3.15. This program is > being maintained with bug fixes only (no new features) and will soon be > phased out. Hosts using this version of PHOST are encouraged to begin using > PHOST 3.2. > > Please note that you cannot use the WinPlan client program with PHOST 3.15. > >* Portable Add-ons > Our add-ons are a set of programs that are meant to enhance the game in > various ways. These programs will work with both PHOST and HOST (some > may require the 3.2 version of these programs) and all are portable to > the platforms that PHOST supports. Our add-on programs are: > > PWRAP -- Implement a wrap-around universe. Ships fly off one > edge of the map and reappear on the other side. > >* PUTILS > These are a set of common utility programs that have been ported to run > on non-DOS systems. A distribution for DOS is also available. The PUTILS > currently comprise the following programs: > > CRACK -- display player passwords > SENDMESS -- send messages to players > KILLRACE -- remove a race from a game > PTSCORE -- Thomas Voigt's alternate scoring program > PMASTER -- portable version of the MASTER program > >* PDK > The Portable Host Development Kit (PDK) greatly simplifies the task of > developing host-side applications and utilities. Consisting of a library > and an include file, the PDK allows C/C++ programmers to read, write, and > modify the game data files without needing to know the layout or contents > of the files. Working example programs demonstrate how easy it is to write > host utilities using the PDK. In fact, all of the PUTILS programs were > written with the PDK. > > Please note that the PDK is of absolutely no use to programmers who want > to write player-side utilities. > >Versions >-------- > >The latest versions of our programs are as follows: > > * PHOST 3.2: version 2.10 (last released November 20, 1995) > * PHOST 3.15: version 1.9 (last released November 23, 1995) > * Add-ons: version 1.0 (last released October 6, 1995) > * PUTILS: version 2.1 (last released July 1, 1995) > * PDK: version 2.5 (last released October 22, 1995) > >This FAQ has been brought to you by the Portable Host Project and the >letter 'P'. You can contact the Portable Host Project by sending e-mail >to phost@novellnet.gensys.com. Up