[Tinymux] TinyMUX 2.4.0.18 Alpha

[Stephen Dennis]

MUX 2.4.0.18
ftp://ftp.tinymux.org/TinyMUX/tinymux-2.4/alpha/18

 -- Added the local.cpp patch surface. Details in LOCAL readme.

 -- The $GAMENAME.pid file option in mux.config was not surviving
    @restart.

 -- Fixes for @mail and @program remaining from 2.4.0.17 changes.


For some time, the binary release of TinyMUX (targeting native Windows)
has included two pre-built versions of netmux.exe. Both versions were
built with the Intel 7.1 compiler with profile-guided optimizations,
vectorization, full-program optimization, and CPU dispatch turned on.

CPU dispatch is a technique which matches differently-optimized
versions of parts of the program with your specific processor at the
time the program is executed on your machine. All versions are there,
but it only one of them on any particular machine. Also, not all
parts of the program are so specialized. The optimizer targets what
it thinks are the expensive parts.

Profile-guided optimizations is a technique where an instrumented
version of the code runs for awhile to collect statistics about which
branches in the program are most-often taken. These statistics are then
fed back into the optimizer on a second pass. Instead of guessing, the
optimizer can measure the 'real-world'.

The default netmux.exe in mux2.4/game/bin required a Pentium II with
Pentium Pro and MMX instructions. The CMOV instruction is particularly
advantageous.

At the time, there were one or two people with older laptops that
needed something targeting at earlier chips. The minimum requirement
for the alternate netmux.exe in mux2.4/game/bin/alt was the Intel 7.1
minimum (perhaps Pentium or perhaps earlier).

According to the wikipedia, the Pentium II chip was introduced in May
1997. 

That's enough background. This is what has changed going forward:

With this release, I'm using the Intel 8.0 compiler to produce the
default netmux.exe. The minimum CPU for the default netmux.exe in
mux2.4/game/bin is a Pentium III. I know that it's a subjective
measure, but on a local machine, doing +bbread 3/u on causes MUSHClient
to blink once, and that's it. I thought it was broken at first.

According to the wikipedia, the Pentium III chip was first introduced
by Intel in February 1999, so any computer purchased in the last 6
years should work. And, since it continues to use the CPU dispatch
technique, the AMD Athlon (which support SSE2) should proform nicely as
well. It also has dispatches for SSE2, SSE3, and Pentium M.

The minimum CPU for the alternate netmux.exe is Pentium II with Pro and
MMX instructions. The later continues to be compiled with the Intel 7.1
compiler.

If necessary, I can adjust the minimums, but some combinations cause a
large increase in the size of netmux.exe. Let me know if you run into
trouble, and if so, which processor you are running.


Brazil