FlashMandelNG
Description:	Mandelbrot & Julia fractals for OS4 Amiga
Download:	flashmandelng.lha       (TIPS: Use the right click menu if your browser takes you back here all the time)
Size:	11Mb
Version:	2.8
Date:	15 May 20
Author:	Dino Papararo
Submitter:	Dino Papararo
Email:	dino papararo/gmail com
Homepage:	http://www.schwan-clan.de
Requirements:	AmigaOS4 compatible platform with or without Altivec extensions
Category:	graphics/misc
Replaces:	graphics/misc/flashmandelng.lha
License:	Freeware
Distribute:	yes
Min OS Version:	4.0
FileID:	11289
Images:   Videos:
Comments:	17
Snapshots:	9
Videos:	1
Downloads:	0  (Current version)

Full  functional  program  for  rendering  Mandelbrot  &  Julia  fractals  with
different  exponents.  After more than 20 years developed and tested again on a
real Amiga: Pegasos II G4()1GHz  2GB  Ram  -  Radeon  9250  -  AmigaOS4.1fe  :-)
FlashMandel use handmade assembler routines for max speed, with new implemented
altivec routines, for altivec version, renderings  are  all  near  realtime!  I
think  it's one of the fastest mandelbrot and julia sets rendering program ever
seen on a single core cpu.  Due  it's  development  for  AmigaOS  it  lacks  of
multiprocessing  features.  But  once  imlemented it can be adapted for sure to
work on more cpu cores. It could be possible even a GPU port, but on my Pegasos
II  with  a  Radeon 9250 gfx card we have only OpenGL 1.3 compatibility so it's
not possible to use GPU to speedup calcs  :-(  FlashMandelNG  primary  features
are:  Uses  Arexx port, Localization, Arbitrary precision math with GMP Library
and don't need any installer, just click 'n run! C and  Asm  sources  are  also
included,  you  can recompile it just typing MAKE! It's faaast even on emulated
Amigas and can render even with direct memory access (TURBO OPTION) ..under x86
emuation  it's  faster  than  many others x86 native fractal programs ;-) Saved
pictures can be  reloaded  and  further  explored  at  all  supported  screen's
resolutions. It's really cool and totally free ;-)

Altivec code was firstly developed and tested under Powermac G5  Quad  hardware
with  MacOSX Leopard 10.5.8 OS and XCode 3 IDE && Ubuntu Mate 16.04 LinuxPPC OS
and CodeBlocks IDE. ..Now I can test it directly on my Pegasos II  ;-)  Altivec
code  is the most optimized ever seen and can be used as good programmig guide.
Many  many  thanks  and  greetings  to  my  friend  Edgar  Schwan,  FlashMandel
CoDeveloper,  for  his  great  efforts  in  Localization,  Arexx  and  Reaction
integration. *** Reaction support does not work at moment  due  incompatibility
between Reactor generated object file and Os4, so for now it defaults to system
gadgets.

In archive we have two binaries:

1) FlashMandelNG_OS4 -> critical routines are written in handmade assembler for
max speed on powerpc cpus 2) FlashMandelNG_OS4_altivec -> critical routines are
written in C but with Altivec directives, processing 4 pixels per time!

I'd like to add another binary for Tabor ans its SPE unit, for now I could  not
with it due GCC v8 incompatibilities with SPE code; ..maybe in the next release
we got it!

..so what version is the faster one? On a G4 FlashMandelNG 2.8 Altivec  version
is  about  3x  faster  than FPU version because it processes 4 pixels per time!
..but it's  also  less  accurate  due  Float32  single  precision  calculations
(limited  by  hardware)  vs  Float64 FPU doubles, so for deep zooms you need to
switch sooner to high precision math.

FlashMandelNG_OS4 is Giftware, If you like it please sent me nice goodies  ..An
email or common postcard is ok too! :-)

New in 2.8 These are last days of COVID-19 quarantine in Italy, next week  I'll
come  back  to my daily work, ..so I decided to try to unlock once for all full
potential of Altivec vector  unit  and...  I  did  it!  :-)  Now  FlashMandelNG
processes 4 pixels per time in the altivec version and it's nearly realtime for
zooms with low/mid iterations. One of the most  important  issues  was  how  to
control  Altivec  power  without loosing speed. So I took a challenge vs myself
and I won it! The my Altivec algorithm is fastest ever  seen,  preserving  full
power  and using a smart and efficient control for results! :-) Altivec version
speeded up to 3x!! Have fun!

New in v2.7 Minor speed improvements, I think to have reached tha max possibile
performances  on a G4. Only Altivec code can be highly speedup until to 4x, I'm
working on it! Fixed running multiple instances of FlashMandel.  Now  only  RTG
screens  are  supported.  Recompiled with GCC 8.4.0 and latest adtools. Various
minor bugfixes and improvements.

New in v2.6 Raised up GMP Library to actual latest version 6.2.0 (Edgar Schwan)
Implemented   periodicity   checking  to  speed  up  renderig  in  black  areas
(Mandelbrot set). Speeded up a bit Altivec version, we still calc one pixel per
time,  I'd  like  to  do  4  pixels per time using full Altivec power. Bugfixed
rendering Z^n+C with of power set to 16  or  more.  Raised  max  iterations  to
2^31-1. Fixed Load and Save pictures. Removed all debug symbols.

New in v2.5 Due Covid19 virus in few weeks I did what I used to do in years due
my  lack  of time.. Finally I have implemented GMP Library numeric support. Now
you can zoom into Mandelbrot and Julia sets until  4096  precision's  bits  are
saturated. On current Amiga generations maybe you need to live for 500 years to
saturate all precision bits.. Eventually I  can  improve  precision  bits  even
furter  :-)  I  changed a bit the main recursion algorithm and now calculations
are about 10% faster! I discovered and fixed some other annoyng bugs,  at  this
time  only  the  Arexx  and Reaction code parts and needs to be revisioned, all
other code is all updated. At this time Reaction GUI isn't implemented  because
it  was  developed with Reactor Tool. Sadly Reactor doesn't support PowerPc but
only 68k, so object file generated can't be linked with other sources and  than
GUI fallback to system GadTools. If there will be ever a new release of Reactor
with PPC/OS4 support I'll be happy to reintroduce Reaction GUI and  give  again
to  FlashMandel  the  right  look!  I decided also to renew iff chunk format of
saved pictures, so now you can't load old fractals and continue zooming inside.

New in v2.3 Old heavy bug fixed - if Flashmandel didn't found a locale  catalog
crashed at startup Other fixes and little improvements applied

New in v2.2: Now finally with a real Amiga and sadly in Covid-19 era in  Italy,
I  had  a  lot cpu power and a lot of time to test and fully bugfix and cleanup
nearly all the code. Lowered resolution of all pictures to 1280x720  to  reduce
archive size, old pictures are incompatible to this new version. Added some new
palettes and changed  default  one.  Reviewed  some  Arexx  scripts.  Refreshed
english docs.

New in v2.1: Partial MorphOS compatibility via OS4EMU - Load  and  save  didn't
work  Reworked  and  eliminated  all  pre  AGA  stuff.  Now we have 3 different
binaries, normal GCC code, Altivec code and New PowerPC handmade  asm  version.
Added  DUTCH  catalog  language -thanks to Bennymee for translation Minor fixes
and changes.

New  in  v2.0:  (Re)Enabled  AREXX  support  (Please   download   and   install
AWNP_2-54.lha archive from Aminet to let it run) Fixed tooltypes

To Do: AmigaOne Tabor A1222 specific SPE version -  Add  24  bit  palettes  and
screen  modes  -  Add  3D  rendering  -  Improve AREXX Benchmarks - Reimplement
Reaction GUI -Update the very old Amigaguide documentation.

"Bottomless wonders spring from simple rules, which are repeated without  end."
cit. Benoit Mandelbrot

 Enjoy,

Amiga Rulez!