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Text File | 1994-08-30 | 17.4 KB | 377 lines

Welcome to GFFT ------- -- ---- This is the general readme file, which contains background information about the GFFT program and directions to the other documentation files included with GFFT. Before running GFFT on your Amiga system, read the file named INSTALLATION. If you experience problems while running GFFT, see the file named Bugs. If you would like to read about how to use GFFT, you can read the file named GFFT.HELP, which is also used by GFFT to display help messages. After installing GFFT according to the instructions, you can get help while running GFFT either from the Workbench or from the CLI. If you want further information about the GNU General Public License which applies to GFFT and the specific rights it gives you to modify and distribute GFFT, or the no-warranty disclaimer which applies to it, refer to the file named COPYING. Though GFFT is copyrighted under a General Public License and the author respects and agrees with the ideas of the Free Software Foundation, GFFT is not currently part of project GNU. So please direct any inquiries about the program itself to the author, and not the Free Software Foundation. The most important files in this archive are provided with icons so you can use them from the Workbench. Two files not provided with icons are the the Product-Info and History files. GFFT README TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface 1. What is GFFT? 2. Who wrote GFFT? 3. Where do I report bugs or make suggestions? 4. How can I support the development of GFFT? 5. How can I contribute code, beta-testing, and/or usage stories? 6. What is the 'Share the Wealth' program? 7. What if I want a specific enhancement now? 8. What is a 'Contingent Donation'? 9. What are my rights to use, modify, and distribute GFFT? 10. The trademark and copyright statement 1. What is GFFT? GFFT is an FFT-based spectrum analysis program with many features. By operating from stored sample data files, it offers higher resolution and/or accuracy than real-time analyzers. It accepts 8, 12, or 16-bit data in in IFF 8SVX, AIFF, and AVR formats, or in unformatted files, and can accept data points entered through a console in floating point. GFFT can be operated from either a Workbench GUI or from a CLI in interactive or batch modes. It has built-in help facilities for all operating modes with a 170+ Kb help file. GFFT can produce high quality spectrum plots on screen, plotter, or printer, or save to Postscript or TeX files, or output spectral data in text form to a console or file. (GNUPLOT, a separate program by other authors, is required for plotting features. GFFT is designed to invoke and control GNUPLOT automatically.) It can plot in 2D (Amplitude vs Frequency), or 3D (Amplitude vs Frequency vs Time). It allows the selection of logarithmic X and/or Y axes, the dB scaling of X, and arbitrary 3D rotation. GFFT can show multiple spectra in the same plot, or append spectral data bands from earlier sessions. GFFT provides 8 selectable FFT window types, including Blackman-Harris 92 dB. It can apply a special weighting for pink noise testing. Smoothing, calibration, ranging, and quantization are also available. There are no arbitrary limits to the number of frequency bins or smoothing points, or to the length of data which can be analyzed. GFFT is intended to be fairly universal in nature. Furthermore, since it is provided under a GNU General Public License and distributed with source code, a user with an understanding of programming can adapt it to more specialized requirements. (I may also be able to help; see below.) Note that I am neither a mathematician nor a numerical analyst, and while I have attempted to use well proven techniques when they are known to me, some aspects of GFFT have been developed in an ad-hoc fashion. Thus, GFFT (and all the code provided with GFFT) is not intended for use in applications such as engineering or national defense or any application where inaccuracy could endanger life or property. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, express or implied, concerning the performance or accuracy of GFFT. The general no-warranty disclaimer is given in the file named COPYING which should be included with this distribution. 2. Who wrote GFFT? GFFT was written by Charles P. Peterson. (This is the first released version for which there were no other contributors.) The sources of the ideas and algorithms in GFFT are too numerous to mention here; some are mentioned in the code itself, some are in the GFFT.HELP file and may be displayed using the help facilities of GFFT. 3. Where do I report bugs or make suggestions? Please report bugs, enhancement requests, etc., to me, Charles P. Peterson, 4007 Enchanted Sun, San Antonio, Texas 78244-1254. My current e-mail address is: Charles_P_Peterson@fcircus.sat.tx.us Please include a description of how you use GFFT or would like to use it. If you cannot contact me at the above address(es), a more recent address might be available in a later distribution available through Fish, AMINET, etc. If you would like information from me by mail concerning the development status of GFFT, please use e-mail or include a SASE or include sufficient funds to reimburse me for replying by mail. 4. How can I support the development of GFFT? Please make a financial or material donation. Cash donations in any amount are always acceptable, and will help to support the development of this software. You may also help by purchasing various services from me (as permitted under the terms of the GNU General Public License and the copyrights of software listed included): Copy of latest GFFT 1.x 'Deluxe Distribution'* (with notes and extras).......................................$15 ($20) Copy of latest GFFT 1.x 'Expanded Deluxe Distribution'* (with Gnuplot, POST, notes & more--see below)........$25 ($40) Early subscription to Deluxe GFFT 2.0 distribution (includes everything in 1.x Deluxe, plus more notes, samples, graphs, etc., with projected release 1st quarter '95)...$30 ($40) Early subscription to Expanded Deluxe GFFT 2.0 distribution ................................................$35 ($50) Additional support and/or enhancements.............$15/hour. See also below under 'Contingent Donations.' (*These are described below. Please read on.) Purchasing any of the above distributions or making an equivalent donation will also entitle you for a limited amount (up to one hour total) of support for up to one year from the date of purchase by telephone, e-mail, or regular mail. (You will be responsible for long distance charges and/or return postage if applicable.) If you do not purchase a distribution or direct support or make an equivalent donation, I may or may not answer questions posed to me by e-mail (only). Listed prices are minimum suggested donations for software services payable in US dollars only, and are valid through December 31, 1994. These are to defray the costs and time of production and shipping and to help support the further development of GFFT, and NOT for any license to use or warranty, or support of products by other authors. Prices in parentheses are for delivery outside of US (where feasible and not taxed or prohibited by law). Methods of payment (may) include (depending on local regulations) cash (US currency only), check drawn on a US bank (sometimes available outside US at major banks), or a (US or Canadian) postal money order in US funds. Orders will be shipped within 6 weeks (or earlier) of receipt (if applicable). *The expanded deluxe distributions may include additional usage notes and screen shots, at least one hardcopy example of a plot made with GFFT, alternatively compiled versions (e.g., the IEEE version which gives greater accuracy than the normal FFP version for those without a floating point unit), additional (not yet beta tested) updates to GFFT, and additional programs useful in conjunction with GFFT including GNUPLOT, POST, and fonts. This will probably require about 5 disks. The regular deluxe distributions leave out the Gnuplot, POST, and fonts to save disks. Contents of all distributions may be changed from time to time without notice. Starting in the 2.0 distribution, I would also like to include a non-commercial collection of notes and stories called 'The GFFT Gazette,' for which I am soliciting user contributions (see below). Please let me know which version of GFFT you have, so I will not send you a redundant copy (unless you wish to receive it anyway.) Please let me know if you have HD floppy drives, in which case I might send you HD disks instead of DD disks (possibly saving me money). Also, please let me know if you already have other items included in the distribution(s) you order, so I will leave them out (e.g. GNUPLOT, or an postscript interpreter such as POST). Depending on availability and copyright restrictions, I may not be able to send you the latest version(s) of other programs, but what I do send will have been tested to work together. By subscribing early to the GFFT 2.0 distribution, you provide both the incentive and the means to make it better. It is likely that more purchases, subscriptions, and donations will lead to a better product as they will allow me to continue development with fewer mundane distractions. If there is insufficient support provided to continue this work, I may choose simply to refund all early subscriptions to the GFFT 2.0 distribution, though I doubt this will be necessary. No specific enhancements are promised, and the 2.0 version may not be much different from the very last 1.x distribution. (If you are interested in specific enhancements, see below.) I am also seeking to obtain the following equipment. Any shipping pre-paid equipment donations are acceptable (though I might simply be forced to re-sell) but I am particularly interested in the following items, and might consider loans or paying the shipping costs both ways on items such as the following (on approval): -- A VGA, Super-VGA, or Multi-sync monitor -- An external 14400 baud V 32.bis (or better) modem -- A SCSI interfacing 2x CD-ROM player and driver software -- Amiga 3000 HD floppy drive -- High capacity SCSI disk drives -- A high quality 12- or 16-bit sampler for the Amiga -- A faster Amiga (e.g. A4000) or 3000-compatible CPU board -- Other complete computer systems such as those running Unix, MS-Windows, or OS/2, applicable development software, documentation, and sampling devices (Note that you are under no legal obligation to make any service purchase or donation, and it has no effect on your rights to use, modify, or distribute this program in any version with any enhancements you choose to make to it without my consent as long as such distribution is consistent with the GNU General Public License.) 5. How can I contribute code, beta-testing, and/or usage stories? If you use GFFT, can write in English, and would like to share your experiences in the notes included in a Deluxe Distribution (including the GFFT Gazette of Version 2.0), please send them to me, subject to the same qualifications and limitations (below) as for submitting program code. If you are a good programmer, you might consider making bug fixes, enhancements, or ports to different computer systems yourself, and sending them to me for inclusion. Please include a statement that you releasing code to me for inclusion in GFFT and to be made available under the terms of the GNU General Public License. You may be duplicating work others--including the author--have already done, so it would be a good idea to consult with the me first. If you are a mathematician, you may submit additional formulae or corrections to me to program. Note that I will not necessarily be able to reimburse you monetarily for your effort, and any code, ideas, or writings submitted to me will be considered to have been released for inclusion in a future release of the program without reimbursement, and to be edited by me or to be ignored, as I see fit. Original documents will only be returned if return postage is included. If your work or assistance is used it will be acknowledged in future versions of the gfft.help documentation (displayable with the GFFT help facilities) unless you specify that I should not do this. I may also need a limited number of beta-testers to help with future releases. If you can receive uuencoded programs through e-mail, and are willing to give a serious effort to find problems with this program, you may apply to be a beta tester by sending me e-mail as to how you can help and why you are interested. As a beta tester, you will the receive the beta and post-beta versions of major releases of this program for free through e-mail, and may be able to receive the other items in the deluxe distributions at reduced cost. Note that only major updates (e.g. 2.0) to this program may be beta tested; the deluxe distributions provided above will combine at least one major update with the latest minor update. 6. What is the 'Share the Wealth' program? If you send any program code or written information to me, you may also participate in the 'Share the Wealth,' program. If this program has generated sufficient income after expenses to make it worthwhile, I may send 'sub-contributions' to those who have made the most important program enhancements, writings, and similar contributions. I may also choose to offer discounts and/or rebates toward purchase of deluxe distributions at my discretion. 7. What if I want a specific enhancement now? If you are interested in a specific enhancement to this program and are willing to pay to have it right away, I am available to help. Please contact me. Normally, I will consider any enhancements I make to this program to be available to others under the GNU General Public License. You may then redistribute any such changes as allowed by that license right away, though I may consider waiting until a future distribution, if I choose to include them at all. (Plug: I have over eleven years experience as a highly paid professional programmer, and over eleven years of not-so-highly-paid experience. I have included a RESUME in case you are interested in hiring me to enhance GFFT or for other work. I hope that GFFT itself illustrates the quality of my work. Well, except perhaps for the GUI...it's my first and I know it needs a redesign.) Normally, if you are willing to pay for a particular enhancement, I will either give you a fixed cost estimate (half of which must be paid in advance, but which will be refunded in the event of non-completion), or allow you to pay on a regular basis as the work is being performed hourly. But, I have also developed a 'creative' way for people to pay for small enhancements: a 'Contingent Donation,' which is described below. 8. What is a 'Contingent Donation'? Alternatively, if you want a specific enhancement or bug-fix and are willing to pay something for it but would rather not mess with the details of paying for work done on an hourly basis, you may make a 'Contingent Donation' of any amount (but at least the same as the price of the current Deluxe Distribution, and preferably more) along with a SASE or return postage. If I decide to make your suggested enhancement within 30 days (of my receiving it), I will then deposit your payment (which must be in an acceptable form as described above) and send you the update within 60 days. If I choose not to make your suggested enhancement, I will instead return your payment (if SASE or sufficient return postage has been included). I may or may not include the enhancement in any future distribution(s) I make of GFFT at my discretion. You are free to redistribute the modified version as permitted by the GNU General Public License. 9. What are my rights to use, modify, and distribute GFFT? This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program (in a file named 'COPYING'); if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Please do not contact them for any other information about this program; they do not necessarily know anything about it. 10. The trademark and copyright statement GFFT and GFFT.HELP are Copyright (C) 1994 Charles P. Peterson. 'Workbench', 'Amiga', and 'AmigaGuide' are registered trademarks of Commodore-Amiga, Inc., in the US and other countries. GNU is a name used by the Free Software Foundation, Inc. GNUPLOT is copyright by Thomas Williams and Colin Kelley. POST is copyright by Adrian Aylward. All other trademarks or copyrights mentioned here or in code or supporting documentation are property of their respective owners.