executor/docs/executor-linux.readme

[changes from previous versions are now in docs/Changes.*]

The file elinux199X.tar (where X is a lower case letter optionally
followed by a digit) contains Executor/Linux, a commercial Macintosh
emulator which can be used in a 10 minute time limited demo mode.
Right now we have no linux specific manual, but we have a linux
section in our FAQ.

To install executor, just type "make install".  You will need to have
write permission to create /usr/local/bin/executor,
/usr/local/bin/executor-svga and /usr/local/lib/executor.

Additional information is available in the docs subdirectory of the
directory that contains this readme file.  Be sure to read the
"executor_faq.txt" (answers to frequently asked questions) if you have
trouble with Executor.  The file "ernst_oud.txt" contains information
about Executor/DOS, written from a DOS users perspective that still
might be useful to users of Executor/Linux.

If you would like to be able to submit bug reports in the format that
we use internally, you can use the "send-pr" distribution contained in
"send-pr.tar" to build the send-pr program.  More information is
included in that package.

Included in /usr/local/lib/executor/ExecutorVolume are some sample
programs that you can run.  NOTE: some of these are shareware, and
ARDI had not paid your shareware fee for them.  If you continue to use
Executor, you should either delete the shareware items, or register
them.

Executor assumes your floppy drive is /dev/fd0 and your CD-ROM drive
is /dev/cdrom and will need permission to access those devices if you
want Executor to be able to read and write floppies and read CD-ROMs.

If you're bold, you can even hook up a Macintosh formatted SCSI
disk and access that under Executor by adjusting your "MacVolumes"
environment variable:

$ export MacVolumes=/dev/sd1
$ executor

This assumes "/dev/sd1" is a Macintosh formatted SCSI disk and that
the permissions on /dev/sd1 allow you to read, if you want the volume
to be read only, or read and write, if that's what you want to do
under Executor.

If you have permission to access /dev/fd0 and /dev/cdrom, then those
devices will automatically be examined by Executor to see if they
contain Macintosh formatted media.  If they do, they will be available
under Executor.

The 1.99<x> versions of Executor are "experimental".  We hope to have
Executor in beta in January of 1996 and officially released in
February or March.

In addition to the text files in the doc subdirectory mentioned above,
another good source of information about Executor is the Usenet
newsgroup "comp.emulators.mac.executor", or the Executor interest
mailing list.  The newsgroup and the mailing list are connected via a
bidirectional gateway.

To join the mailing list, send e-mail to "executor-request@ardi.com"
or "executor-digest-request@ardi.com" with a blank subject line and a
body that says "subscribe".  With the first address, you'll receive
e-mail everytime someone sends anything to the mailing list.  With the
digest form, you'll receve e-mail only once a day with all the
previous day's traffic bundled into one digest.

You can then send messages to the entire group by sending to
"executor@ardi.com".  Some of the people on the list have been using
Executor under NEXTSTEP for a couple of years and under DOS for a
year, and of course we closely follow that mailing list, even though
we don't directly administer it.

Before 2.0 goes to press, pricing for non time-limited versions of
Executor/Linux is $49 for students, $49 for educational institutions,
faculty and staff and $99 for everyone else.  The $49 student fee also
entitles the student to run Executor/DOS as well.  The educatonal fee
does not include that.  That price does cover all the 1.99<x> releases
and the 2.0 CD-ROM release when it's finished.

Again, read "executor_faq.txt" for more information.

The Linux version of Executor now has rudimentary sound support.
These programs are known to work well with this support (although the
volume is not adjustable): Apeiron, Maelstrom, Swoop, Rescue, SimAnt,
KidPix2, Prince of Persia 1, Blood Suckers, Space Madness, and
Spaceward Ho.  Many of those games are only fun if SVGAlib can
linearly map your video board into memory.  There are many other
programs that should work fairly soon.

The primary person to thank is Pat LoPresti <patl@lcs.mit.edu> , and
the secondary entity to thank is The Jin <jin@atype.com>.  Pat and Jin
are good friends of Mat Hostetter and Cotton Seed, two of ARDI's most
talented engineers.  Pat offered to design a nice low-level sound API
that we can use to implement sound on a variety of platforms and also
do the Linux implementation, with some help from Jin and Cotton and
Mat.

In order for sound to work under Executor/Linux, you must be using
kernel 1.3.45 or greater.  In addition, we've found that the
svgalib-elf version totally hangs kernel 1.3.45 over here, so you may
have to use the svgalib-aout version if you have kernel 1.3.45.

Thanks for your interest.


	--Cliff

	Please address questions to questions@ardi.com and bug reports
	to bugs@ardi.com.  Our web site is http://www.ardi.com/ and we
	accept anonymous ftp connections at ftp.ardi.com.