Date   : Thu, 13 May 1993 09:53:27 +0100 (BST)
From   : "I Stephenson" <ian@...>
Subject: Re: GIF viewer

The gif viewer was written by Andrew Leahy <A.Leahy@...>. He  
mailed me a copy about 6 months ago following a mention of it on the list. It  
runs on a UNIX box, and uses PBMtools to convert the gif into a simple ppm  
image. It then converts the image into VDU codes which can then be transfered,  
and very simply displayed (they're pretty compact too - little worse than raw  
bitmap).

The version he sent me had a few problems (I don't know why as it had worked  
for him), and I made quite a few mods. The main problem which I never tracked  
down is that it core dumps imediatly prior to terminating! However the images  
can still be used.

The original version supported modes 1 and 2. I added mode 0. I'll put what  
code I've got on shiraz (assuming Andrew doesnt object), with a demo file  
(gravity.vdu).

Ian