FAQ Update Patch

The Doctor What list.pyddr-devel at docwhat.gerf.org
Sun May 11 21:28:19 EDT 2003


Piman, et al:

I gutted the FAQ, to a large degree. :-)

Here is the patch against the .inc file.

I can just send the whole version, if y'all prefer.

Ciao!

-- 
Organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and
spends very little on office supplies.
	 -- Woody Allen

The Doctor What: "What, Doctor What"             http://docwhat.gerf.org/
docwhat *at* gerf *dot* org                                        KF6VNC
-------------- next part --------------
--- faq.inc.orig	2003-05-10 12:02:34.000000000 -0500
+++ faq.inc.version1	2003-05-11 20:24:56.000000000 -0500
@@ -1,81 +1,208 @@
    <dl class="faq">
-<dt>What adapter should I buy?</dt>
-<dd><p>The recommended adapter for pyDDR is the <a
-    href="http://levelsix.com/products/pc/EMSUSB2.shtml">EMSUSB2</a>
-    from Level Six. pyDDR easily supports two player with it, and it
-    works on all operating systems. Also known to work is the parallel
-port adapter that comes with <a href="http://www.buynshop.com">BNS
-    pads</a>. Any other 6 axis, 12 button or 4 axis, 16 button
-    joysticks that behave like those two adapters will also work.</p>
-<p>Unless you have a very good reason not to, buy <a href="http://levelsix.com/products/pc/EMSUSB2.shtml">the EMSUSB2</a>.</p></dd>
-      <dt>My MP3 fails to load.</dt>
-      <dd><p>pyDDR's MP3 support comes via SMPEG, which is
-      suboptimal, but integrates with SDL's mixer library
-      easily. You have three options. The first is to try stripping
-      ID3 tags from your MP3 files; you can do this in UNIX with <a
-      href="http://www.dakotacom.net/~donut/programs/id3ed.html">id3ed</a>
-      for regular ID3 tags, or <a
-      href="http://www.geocities.com/matsp888/unix/">v2strip</a> for
-      ID3v2 tags, On Mac OS X, you can use <a
-      href="http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/16665">Taggerwocky</a>.
-      Secondly, you can convert them to the <a
-      href="http://www.vorbis.com">Ogg Vorbis</a> format. <a
-      href="http://faceprint.com/code/">mp32ogg</a> can do this
-      nicely. The third possibility is to merge <a
-      href="http://spacepants.org/src/pymad/">pymad</a> support into
-      pyDDR, and send us the patches.</p></dd>
-      <dt>pyDDR keeps crashing with an "OverflowError". How do I fix it?</dt>
-<dd><p>Your copy of glibc has been compiled with optimizations that are
+<dt>Do I need a dance mat?</dt>
+<dd>
+<p> Nope! </p>
+<p> pyDDR works great without a dance mat, or any kind of controller, other
+than your keyboard.  Mind you, it isn't as fun as with a mat nor is it as
+good for excecise, but it works.
+</p>
+<p>
+The keys are: 
+</p>
+<table>
+<tr><td>   </td><td> i </td><td>   </td></tr>
+<tr><td> j </td><td> k </td><td> l </td></tr>
+</table>
+</dd>
+
+<a name="converter"></a>
+<dt> I want to use my dance mat (or buy one); What do I do?</dt>
+<dd>
+<p>
+You can use any commercial dance mat for the PSX and PS2 consoles, if 
+you buy the right adapter.  This FAQ will include instructions for 
+Linux (on the i386 PC) and Windows.
+</p>
+<p>
+With either system, you'll need an adapter to connect your PSX or PS2
+dance mat to your PC.  The pyDDR recommended adapter is the
+<a href="http://levelsix.com/products/pc/EMSUSB2.shtml">EMSUSB2</a>,
+available from <a href="http://levelsix.com/">Level Six</a>.  It supports
+two controlers and works with all operating systems that support USB.
+In most operating systems, it's just plug and go!
+</p>
+<p>
+Another option is the parallel port adapter that comes with 
+<a href="http://www.buynshop.com">BNS pads</a>.  These require more
+effort to setup, but also work.
+</p>
+<p>
+Finally, any other 6 axis, 12 button or 4 axis, 16 button
+joystick that behaves like those the above two adapters should
+also work.
+</p>
+<p>
+But really, the EMSUSB2 is so much easier to use, if you haven't already 
+purchased something (or even if you have and you're having trouble), the
+just get one.  They are easy to set up and work pretty much out of the
+box.
+</p>
+<p>
+Whatever you do, don't by the Radio Shack USB console thingy. 
+(See the <a href="#radioshack">FAQ below about Radio Shack</a>).
+</p>
+</dd>
+
+<a name="radioshack"></a>
+<dt>I bought this adapter from Radio Shack, and...</dt>
+<dd>
+<p>Take it back, <em>now</em>. </p>
+<p>
+The Radio Shack adapter works by mapping the up/down/left/right
+button to the X and Y joystick axes. This means that it can only
+read one of up/down or left/right at the same time 
+(that is, jumps are impossible, and leaving your foot on 
+ an opposite arrow is also impossible). 
+</p>
+<p>
+This is probably true of any adapter that maps the joystick to
+keystrokes instead of USB joystick events.  We recommend the
+EMSUSB2. (See the <a href="#converter">FAQ about using a mat</a>)
+</p>
+</dd>
+
+
+<dt>My soft mat sucks. Can I improve it?</dt>
+<dd>
+<p>Yes, you can 'convert' a soft mat into a hard mat in a
+   number of ways. One popular, simple, and fast way is to buy some
+   plywood and staple-gun some vinyl hardwood-floor covering to the
+   board over your DDR mat. Another thing you can do is take your
+   soft mat apart and reenforce it with extra foam, wood, and
+   sheet metal. One of the pyDDR developers has written a <a
+   href="http://clickass.org/~tgz/pyddr/hardmat/">guide on doing
+   this</a>.
+</p>
+</dd>
+
+<dt>What do I have to do to get USB under Linux working with the EMSUSB2?
+(and like USB adapters)</dt>
+<dd>
+<p>
+You need certain options compiled into your kernel.  Most newer distributions 
+have this set up for you already.  If you compile your own kernel, or 
+want to make sure, then read on.
+</p>
+<p>
+These options had different names earlier in the 2.4.x series.  So, if 
+they don't seem quite right that could be why.  These instructions are
+current as of 2.4.19 and should probably work with some of the earlier
+kernels too.
+</p>
+<p>
+There are several options you need.  The first (in this order) is 
+under the category <code>USB Support</code>:
+<code>USB Human Interface Device (full HID) support</code>.  Make sure
+that the sub-option <code>HID input layer support</code> is enabled too.
+The next option is under <code>Input core support</code> and is 
+called <code>Joystick suport</code>.
+</p>
+<p>
+These may be compiled into the kernel or as a module.  Either way they should
+work.  If you compiled it as a module, you'll want to make sure you have
+hotplug or something similar to automatically insmod the modules for you.
+Otherwise you'll have to do a modprobe of <code>hid</code> and 
+<code>joydev</code> yourself.
+</p>
+<p>
+That's it!
+</p>
+
+<dt>My MP3 fails to load.</dt>
+<dd>
+<p>pyDDR's MP3 support comes via SMPEG, which is
+suboptimal, but integrates with SDL's mixer library
+easily. You have three options.
+</p>
+<p>
+ The first is to try stripping
+ID3 tags from your MP3 files; you can do this in UNIX with <a
+href="http://www.dakotacom.net/~donut/programs/id3ed.html">id3ed</a>
+for regular ID3 tags, or <a
+href="http://www.geocities.com/matsp888/unix/">v2strip</a> for
+ID3v2 tags, On Mac OS X, you can use <a
+href="http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/16665">Taggerwocky</a>.
+</p>
+<p>
+Secondly, you can convert them to the <a
+href="http://www.vorbis.com">Ogg Vorbis</a> format. <a
+href="http://faceprint.com/code/">mp32ogg</a> can do this
+nicely.
+</p>
+<p>
+The third possibility is to merge <a
+href="http://spacepants.org/src/pymad/">pymad</a> support into
+pyDDR, and send us the patches.  We'd prefer the latter, but 
+you'd need to know how to write python first. :-)
+</p>
+</dd>
+
+<dt>pyDDR keeps crashing with an "OverflowError". How do I fix it?</dt>
+<dd>
+<p>
+Your copy of glibc has been compiled with optimizations that are
 too aggressive, and have triggered bugs somewhere in it and/or your
 compiler. Recompile glibc with lower optimization levels, and stop
-aggressively optimizing unless you know exactly what you're doing.</p></dd>
-      <dt>pyDDR keeps crashing with a "KeyError". How do I fix it?</dt>
-      <dd><p>The format of some options in pyddr.cfg changes
-      periodically. This should no longer be a problem after 0.6.2
-      because the file is kept to a minimum, and the changes are made
-      in the source itself. However, if you are upgrading from an
-      older version to 0.6.2, you may need to delete your
-      configuration file and have pyDDR recreate it.</p></dd>
-      <dt>My soft mat sucks. Can I improve it?</dt>
-      <dd><p>Yes, you can 'convert' a soft mat into a hard mat in a
-      number of ways. One popular, simple, and fast way is to buy some
-      plywood and staple-gun some vinyl hardwood-floor covering to the
-      board over your DDR mat. Another thing you can do is take your
-      soft mat apart and reenforce it with extra foam, wood, and
-      sheet metal. One of the pyDDR developers has written a <a
-      href="http://clickass.org/~tgz/pyddr/hardmat/">guide on doing
-      this</a>.</p></dd>
-      <dt>I bought this adapter from Radio Shack, and...</dt>
-      <dd><p>Take it back, now. The Radio Shack adapter works by
-      mapping the up/down/left/right button to the X and Y joystick
-      axes. This means that it can only read one of up/down or
-      left/right at the same time (that is, jumps are impossible, and
-      leaving your foot on an opposite arrow is also
-      impossible). Besides the recommended <a
-      href="http://levelsix.com/products/pc/EMSUSB2.shtml">EMSUSB2</a>
-          adapter, pyDDR
-      should work on anything that maps the directional arrows to
-      buttons. Make sure your adapter does that.</p></dd>
-      <dt>Why do I get weird colors or graphic artifacts?</dt>
-      <dd><p>You may be running 8 or 24 bit color. pyDDR shouldn't
-      actually run at 8 bit color at all, and it's not supported. The
-      issues with 24 bit color should be fixed; contact the developers
-      with a bug report if they're not.</p></dd>
-      <dt>Why doesn't pyDDR use DWI files?</dt>
-      <dd><p>Because it's not called Dance With Intensity. :) More
-      realistically, it's because it was easier to write a new file
-      format than support DWI's (whose documentation is lacking)
-      initially. Also, since pyDDR has no step editor yet, it was
-      necessary to have a format that was human readable.</p>
-        <p>Right now, you can use <tt>dwi2step</tt> to convert DWIs to
-      pyDDR's .step format. In a future version, pyDDR will be able to
-      read from DWI files without conversion.</p></dd>
-      <dt>While I was building SMPEG, I got undefined symbol problems.</dt>
-      <dd><p>If you're using gcc 3.2, you may need to add
-      <kbd>-lgcc_s</kbd> and <kbd>-lsupc++</kbd> to the compilation
-      options.</p></dd>
-      <dt>pyDDR is way, way too slow.</dt>
-      <dd><p>There's no "answer" to this - the program needs
+aggressively optimizing unless you know exactly what you're doing.
+</p>
+</dd>
+
+<dt>pyDDR keeps crashing with a "KeyError". How do I fix it?</dt>
+<dd>
+<p>The format of some options in pyddr.cfg changes
+   periodically. This should no longer be a problem after 0.6.2
+   because the file is kept to a minimum, and the changes are made
+   in the source itself. However, if you are upgrading from an
+   older version to 0.6.2, you may need to delete your
+   configuration file and have pyDDR recreate it.</p>
+</dd>
+
+<dt>Why do I get weird colors or graphic artifacts?</dt>
+<dd>
+<p>You may be running 8 or 24 bit color.</p>
+<p> pyDDR shouldn't actually run at 8 bit color at all as 8 bit color
+    isn't supported.
+</p>
+<p> The issues with 24 bit color should now be fixed; contact the 
+    developers with a bug report if they're not.
+<!-- Put a version number or date in here -->
+</p>
+</dd>
+
+<dt>Why doesn't pyDDR use DWI files?</dt>
+<dd>
+<p>Because it's not called Dance With Intensity. :)
+</p>
+<p>
+It is because it was easier to write a new file format 
+than support DWI's (whose documentation is lacking) initially. 
+Also, since pyDDR has no step editor yet, it was
+necessary to have a format that was human readable.</p>
+
+<p>Right now, you can use <tt>dwi2step</tt> to convert DWIs to
+   pyDDR's .step format. In a future version, pyDDR will be able to
+   read from DWI files without conversion.
+</p>
+</dd>
+
+<dt>While I was building SMPEG, I got undefined symbol problems.</dt>
+<dd>
+<p>If you're using gcc 3.2, you may need to add
+   <kbd>-lgcc_s</kbd> and <kbd>-lsupc++</kbd> to the compilation
+   options.</p></dd>
+
+<dt>pyDDR is way, way too slow.</dt>
+<dd><p>There's no "answer" to this - the program needs
       work. However, there are a couple of things you can try.</p>
         <ul><li>Turn off backgrounds, and arrow explosions. These
       often make the biggest difference performance-wise.</li>
@@ -86,11 +213,23 @@
           <li>Upgrade your video card. pyDDR is very video-intensive;
       a high-powered processor with a bad video card will perform
       terribly.</li>
-        </ul></dd>
-      <dt>What about adding &lt;insert feature here&gt;?</dt>
-      <dd><p>If that feature is one of the following, you have
-      incurred our wrath: OpenGL support, internet play. Otherwise, we
-      almost certainly have it planned already. If you have some
-      "great new idea" for pyDDR that already exists in regular DDR,
-      you can also enjoy our wrath.</p></dd>
-    </dl>
+        </ul>
+</dd>
+
+<dt>What about adding &lt;insert feature here&gt;?</dt>
+<dd>
+<p> <strong>Don't ask us to impliment the following:</strong> 
+</p>
+<ul>
+<li> OpenGL support - Not going to do it.</li>
+<li> Internet Play - Someday, but not now. </li>
+<li> Any feature from the official DDR product lines - We're on it already.
+</li>
+<p>
+Otherwise, we have a long list of features that are already
+planned for future releases.  If you think you have something really
+unique, join the mailing list below and tell us.
+</p>
+</dd>
+
+</dl>


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