131 lines
6.1 KiB
HTML
131 lines
6.1 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<title>Sabre: An Svgalib Flight Sim LG #30</title>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#A000A0"
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ALINK="#FF0000">
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<center>
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<H1><font color="maroon">Sabre: An Svgalib Flight Sim</font></H1>
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<h4>By <a href="mailto: layers@marktwain.net">Larry Ayers</a></h4>
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</center>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<center><h3>Introduction and Disclaimer</h3></center>
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<p>I haven't written about Linux games for the Gazette, mainly because I don't
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play them much. Oh, every now and then while waiting for a download to
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complete I'll play Xgalaga or XEmacs-tetris for a while, but for me the real
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Linux amusement is figuring out how to compile, install, and use the numerous
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software packages lurking out on the net, unpublicized and just waiting
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to be explored.
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<p>A couple of days ago I was reading the current <a
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href="http://www.ntk.net">Need to Know</a> British WWW news site, and I saw a
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mention of a Linux flight-simulator called Sabre. I ended up at the <a
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href="http://sabre.cobite.com">Sabre web-site</a> and was impressed by the
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evident humor and good-nature of the site's developer (check out the page
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describing how to get sound working with the simulator!). Though I've seldom
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used flight-simulators, I decided to give this one a try.
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<center><h3>Back To The Korean War</h3></center>
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The developers of Sabre (Dan Hammer, with assistance from Antti Barck and
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David Mansfield) have chosen to confine their attention to the Korean War, so
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the aircraft involved are mostly early jets with a smattering of WWII-era
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propellor-planes. The graphics are well-done, with texture-mapped clouds and
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landscapes. The general effect is reminiscent of a detailed cartoon (not
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Hannah-Barbra style!).Here are a couple of scaled-down screenshots (Sabre can
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even take its own screenshots while running; just press <b>e</b> and the
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current scene will be saved to a ppm file):<br>
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<p><img alt="Sabre screen 1" src="./gx/ayers/sabre1.gif">
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<img alt="Sabre screen 2" src="./gx/ayers/sabre2.gif">
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<p>The first public release of Sabre was in August of 1997, so it's a
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relatively new project. Don't expect a state-of-the-art flight-sim like
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the numerous commercial products available. Sabre is more similar to
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better-quality DOS flight-sims of a couple of years ago. The up-side to this
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is that expensive hardware (such as an ultra-fast processors or a 3DFX
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video-card) isn't needed in order for Sabre to run acceptably fast. This is
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an Svgalib console-graphics program so not even X is needed.
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<p>Sabre can be run in a variety of resolutions and window-sizes. Naturally a
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fast CPU will enable a larger and more detailed screen with minimal choppiness.
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<p>Frankly, I probably never would have written this review if Antti Barck's
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tremendously useful <b>dialog</b>-based script <b>RunSabre</b> hadn't been
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included in the distribution. Flight-simulator veterans probably will be able
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to learn to use Sabre without this script, but novices (like me) will find
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this interface to Sabre invaluable. It provides a convenient way to set the
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screen resolution, run various demo missions and flight scenarios, and access
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the documentation (especially the key-binding doc) from one menu-based screen.
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All of these tasks can be accomplished with command-line switches, but who
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wants to learn these while still deciding whether it's worth devoting time to
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learning a new application? Without this script, running Sabre can be a
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frustrating sequence of short flights followed by re-reading the docs after
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watching your jet crash yet another time.
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<p>Sabre offers quite an extensive array of view-points from which to observe
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your fighter-plane and the surrounding action. Naturally you can be in the
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cockpit and see forward, to the side, and behind, but you can also become a
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disembodied viewer off to one side. Even more interesting, a click of a key
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will put you in the cockpit of one of the enemy planes.
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<p>Your plane can be controlled with either a mouse, the keyboard, or a
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joystick (assuming joystick support is compiled into your kernel). I found
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controlling with a mouse difficult, whereas after some practice the keyboard
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seemed to provide more accurate control. I don't have a joystick so I was
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unable to try that method; I understand that flight-sim enthusiasts prefer them.
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<p>The first scenario in the <b>RunSabre</b> menu is called <i>Just Fly</i>.
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I was grateful for this choice; the last thing I needed while trying to figure
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out the controls was harassment by MIG fighters intent on my destruction!
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Several other flight scenarios are supplied, some involving aerial combat and
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others ground attack missions. These scenarios are interactive; the demo
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missions are more like short movies which display the variety of scenes Sabre
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is capable of displaying.
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<p>All in all Sabre is a quality piece of software. It compiled easily and I
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found no obvious bugs. The source or pre-compiled binaries can be obtained
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from the Sabre web-site linked at the beginning of this article.
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<hr>
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<p>
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<!-- hhmts start -->
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Last modified: Sun 28 Jun 1998
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<!-- hhmts end -->
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1998, Larry Ayers <BR>
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Published in Issue 30 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, July 1998</H5></center>
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