/****************************************************************
*							        *
*	(C) 1993 by K. Ballueder			        *
*							        *
*		kballued@charon.physik.uni-osnabrueck.de        *
*		kballued@jupiter.rz.uni-osnabrueck.de	        *
*							        *
****************************************************************/

----> This file contains some important information,  PLEASE read
it completely before running into any problems.  :-)

This is B-DASH, the free B*ulder Dash clone for LinuX.  B-DASH is
a simple digging game, originally  written  for  some  old  8-bit
homecomputers. This version utilizes 256-color graphics and digi-
tized sounds.

See also the manpage  bdash.6 for further  details on the options
supported.


INSTALLATION
-----------------------------------------------------------------

To install BDASH, simply type "make install" or type "make"  only
to see the options available.

As BDASH uses the VGA-memory directly, it must be run as root, so
make  will  set  the  setuid/setgid  flags  on bdash.  To install
BDASH, simply login as root and type "make install".   This  com-
piles  the binary and copies all the required files to the appro-
priate directories and sets up  their  permissions.  To  unistall
BDASH,  type "make uninstall" which will try to remove bdash from
your system.

To get a list of the supported parameters, call  "bdash -h".  For 
further information call "man bdash".

RE-COMPILATION
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This  distribution contains a precompiled file bdash,   which  is
statically linked with libc4.4.4 and svgalib0.98. 

Bdash uses svgalib and the framebuffer-library that comes togeth-
er  with  it.  If you don't have svgalib installed get the source
and install it. Bdash does not work with vgalib! Although it uses
svgalib, it should run on ANY VGA-card.

If  you are using the pcspeaker-device driver, make will probably
complain, because you won't have  the  file  <linux/soundcard.h>.
So  pcsp-users  need  to  make the following symlink first: ln -s
/usr/include/linux/pcsp.h /usr/include/linux/soundcard.h

If you want to change some of the predefined  constants,  have  a
look  at  include/config.h.  To  compile  it, just type "make" or
"make install".  DO NOT change the  *.c,  *.r  or  *.h  files  in
ooc_src! These are automatically generated source codes, that im-
plement the objects described in the *.d and  *.dc  files.  These
objects are constructed using the ooc-preprocessor for ObjectOri-
ented C by Axel T. Schreiner (axel@informatik.uni-osnabrueck.de).

OPERATING SYSTEMS SUPPORTED
-----------------------------------------------------------------

As  I  wrote it first for DOS, this source code contains a lot of
#ifdef's and should still compile under DOS's TurboC 2.0 and pro-
duce  a  nice  working  DOS-executable (but, who needs it?).  The
DOS-version    is    being    maintained    by    Jens    Toelle,
q99558@pbhrzx.uni-paderborn.de   Please feel free to contact him.

The  LinuX version has been compiled with GCC 2.4.5 using the li-
braries version 4.4.4, but it should also work  with  older  ver-
sions of the compiler.

Some  people  asked  me  for adding X-support to bdash. This is a
great idea,  because  it  would  be  very  easy  to  support  the
two/multiple player mode under X. But I don't know anything about
X and I currently cannot access any good book about it. If  some-
one  would  like to support me in porting bdash to X, PLEASE con-
tact me. I believe there is very few work to be done.

Support for X-Windows is planned and I hope  to  get  it  running
during  the first few month of 1994.  Volunteers who want to port
Bdash to other systems, are highly welcome and encouraged to con-
tact me.


OTHER INFORMATTION
-----------------------------------------------------------------

To see the options available, call "bdash -h".
                 8  Use  the  numbers 4 6 to move the player, use
ESC to abort.
                 2

Use the spacebar to accept the messages and to continue the  game
after one player has died.

FILEFORMATS
-----------------------------------------------------------------

The level definitions (*.lvl) are plain ASCII files, which can be
easily edited. All files except the configuration  files  can  be
compressed  with gzip which is the way they are delivered. If you
want to get the loading of the  data  faster,  simply  uncompress
them with "gzip -d".  If Bdash finds both a compressed and uncom-
pressed version of a file it prefers the  uncompressed  one.   If
you  like the program, please send me at least one new level. The
levels included are created by my brother Volker.  Thanks,  Volk-
er!

The sound files used are listed in bdash.snd, together with their
sampling rates and their length in bytes.  In  this  release  the 
sounds come in sun-audio format.

SOUND-SUPPORT
-----------------------------------------------------------------

If you wish to use the digitized sounds, you  need the /dev/audio
device.   This can be implemented using a soundcard (just get the
kernel patches with the soundcard driver)  or  via  the  internal
speaker  or  other  hardware.  If you don't have a soundcard, get
the  pcsp-device  from  Michael  Beck  via  anonymous  ftp  from:
ftp.informatik.hu-berlin.de.   It  resides  in  /pub/os/linux/hu-
sound/pcsnd* .  This driver implements all the functionality of a
soundcard  by using the internal speaker or some additional hard-
ware attached to the parallel port.  The quality of the sound  is
surprisingly high.  B-DASH works without sounds, too, but is much
less fun.  As I am still working on this program, there  will  be
improvements  like  a  highscore table, better graphics/sound and
maybe  even a working two-player mode (there is a two-player mode
in the source which worked unreliably in the DOS-version). If you
have created some interesting levels or if you have better  sound
or graphic, PLEASE contact me.


HELP NEEDED!!
#################################################################
I need somebody interested in writing new levels. The levels  in-
cluded are written mainly for testing and debugging. If you  like
BDASH, PLEASE send me at least one new level!

#################################################################
This  software  is  no  public  domain,  but  freeware!   It   is
(C)opyright  by Karsten Ballueder and distributed under the terms
of the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE. See file COPYING for  details.

				       (C)  1993 by  K. Ballueder
#################################################################

If  you  have  any  comments, suggestions, improvements, critics,
.....  please feel free to contact me:

          kballued@charon.physik.uni-osnabrueck.de
          kballued@jupiter.rz.uni-osnabrueck.de

          Karsten Ballueder
          Lessingstrasse 2
          32756 Detmold  
          Germany










