What is Cthugha? Well here's a summary as written in an electronic version of "Wired" magazine:

From HotWired - March, 1995:

Wavy Data
Upon first observation, oscilloscopes seems a bit ho-hum. After all, devices that graphically represent electrical waveforms on a display screen tend to fall a bit short on the sex appeal scale. But if you spend some time exploring the ways high-end oscilloscopes can visualize data, you may start to think the machines are on drugs . . . Cthugha 5.1, an oscilloscope program for PC sound cards, has tuned in, turned on, and decidedly dropped out from the humdrum world of scientific analog signal processing. The product of Australian code jock Kevin "Zaph" Burfitt, Cthugha takes your sound card's CD, line, or microphone input and displays it as a swirling, hypnotic, 256-color confection for your eyes. Although Cthugha currently requires MS-DOS, a VGA monitor, and a Sound Blaster or Gravis UltraSound sound card, the complete C source code is part of the package, so you can port it, if you're so inclined.

Since that piece was written, Zaph came out with an update to Cthugha (DOS version 5.3), several people ported the program to the Linux and MacOS platforms, Zaph started work on a Windows95 version of Cthugha, and there's now even a limited Java version. Quite a lot of advances have been made in Cthugha's features and more will be coming!

You may want to check out the Art Gallery for an idea of what Cthugha does...

The Facts

Cthugha is not a screen saver. It's a full-fledged application that is pleasing to the eyes and often has calming, restful effects on the spirit. It's more than a mere toy.

Cthugha is not Shareware, in any of its forms. The original author encourages people to get the C source code (freely available) and adapt the package to other systems, add on features, etc. Several people have already taken up on this offer, and have released their versions (Cthugha-L, MaCthugha, Cthugha-DGA, and Cthugha97) to the public as well, including the source. All that they ask is that users send them postcards as a sort of token registration. If you feel like sending money, CD's, or other items, feel free. :)

Those wishing to use Cthugha in a commercial fashion must contact the appropiate author to get permission and arrange any necessary fees or other details.

You may freely distribute the Cthugha packages, but do not alter the contents of the archives or the files in the archives. The packages may be uploaded to BBS's and FTP sites, and distributed through software outlets. The media containing a Cthugha package may not be sold for more than US$20.

DISCLAIMER: This software is provided on a "as is" basis, without warranty of any kind implied or expressed. Bug reports can be submitted to the appropiate author, but no guarantee is made on whether they will be acted upon.

System Requirements

The following are the system requirements for running the Cthugha packages on your computer.

DOS Version Requirements

• An IBM PC or compatible of at least 386 power. A 486 is strongly recommended, and of course the best performance comes from a Pentium or 586 machine.
• A minimum of 4 megabytes of RAM. More RAM does not automatically give better performance, but can allow more neat effects to be added.
• A video card capable of 320x200 pixel, 256-color resolution. This includes everything from an MCGA/EGA card on up.
• A digital sound card. Version 5.3 of CTHUGHA supports and has been tested with:
• SoundBlaster (the original, also known as SoundBlaster 1.5 and SoundBlaster 2.0)
• SoundBlaster Pro
• SoundBlaster 16
• Gravis Ultra Sound
• A sound source. This can be:
• CD-ROM (external or internal)
• Microphone (plugged into soundcard)
• Stereo system (plugged into soundcard)

Most soundcards have a Line jack to allow the plugging in of a stereo sound source via cable. The original SoundBlaster only has the Mic jack which allows a standard microphone to be plugged in, which can then be placed in front of a stereo speaker.
Note: CTHUGHA can be fairly entertaining even without a sound source, though it requires a lot more keyboard activity to do so.

The following is not required but strongly recommended:

• A nice big monitor. Anything smaller than 13" is just not as exciting, and if you're lucky enough to have a "20 then you'll be real happy.
• While CTHUGHA will work with the old mono SoundBlaster card, you'll be a lot better off with a SoundBlaster 16 (stereo and 16-bit quality) or a GUS.
• 8 megs of RAM, so you can load lots of extra translation tables, pictures, and palettes. The more stuff CTHUGHA has loaded, the wider variety of effects you'll get.

Linux Version Requirements

• An IBM PC or compatible of at least 386 power. 486 or higher is strongly recommended.
• A minimum of 8 megabytes of RAM. 16 megabytes or more is strongly recommended.
• A video card capable of doing at least a 320x200 pixel display mode with 256 simultaneous colors.
• A digital sound card, such as a SoundBlaster
• A sound input source, such as a CD-ROM drive or the Line In of a sound card.

Macintosh Version Requirements

• An Apple Macintosh or compatible. MaCthugha was written for PowerMacs but will run on the 68000-based Macintoshes, albeit significantly slower.
• At least 8 megs of RAM. 16 megs or more is recommended.
• A monitor capable of displaying at least 256 colors at one time.
• A sound input source, such as the Mac microphone or the CD-ROM drive.

Windows95 Version Requirements

• An IBM PC or compatible of at least 486 power. Pentium or higher is strongly recommended.
• A minimum of 8 megabytes of RAM. 16 megabytes of more is strongly recommended.
• A video card capable of displaying at least 256 colors at one time. Support for higher color modes and higher resolution displays is included, but hi-resolution modes are slower.
• You must have DirectX 3.0 support. This is a free set of special drivers designed for hardware accelerated sound and graphics. You may already have DirectX 3.0 installed, otherwise you can get it from the Cthugha Archives.
• For the 3-D effects version, you must have a 3DFX brand video card (such as the Voodoo), and have the appropiate drivers installed.

Java Version Requirements

A Java-enabled computer system. This means any web-browser that has full Java support for applets, an OS that has built-in Java support, or any other computer application that meets Sun's Java standards.

Optional (Various)

• A screen projector to throw the CTHUGHA video output across a nice large blank surface. You can either buy one (expensive, hard to find), or make your own. Instructions on how to do this can be found in the exceptionally cool (but deaf) ACIDWARP program by Noah Spurrier and Mark Bilk. It is a PC/DOS program.
• A collection of nice and color graphical images to load into Cthugha for additional effects. Cthugha loads images in the PCX format. For Macintosh folks, you may need to obtain a conversion utility to put files in that format.
• A good C compiler, to modify the Cthugha source code yourself, or write and/or modify utilities for Cthugha. This is encouraged, :)

About These Pages

The Official Cthugha Homepage was originally established back in the summer of 1995, to offer a single point for the distribution of the Cthugha software as well as information about the program, samples of its results, and other assorted bits. Over time it has expanded to include links to other programs, help for common problems, and other resources. It has also managed to average at least several thousand hits per month!

Credits

• All HTML is written and updated by Erin Jones <erin@erinjones.org> using anything from frontpage to vi.
• All images used for headings and links were created by Erin Jones <erin@erinjones.org>, generally in Paint Shop Pro.
• The screen shots and animated GIF images in the Art Gallery were created by Jeff Mercer <riffer@afn.org>, except for those that he blatantly stole from Zaph's homepage.

Awards

	Hey, our first web-page award!
	And we got mentioned in C-Net's weekly "Download" electronic newsletter. WooHoo!
	I also found out (long after the fact) that the Official Cthugha Webpage was The Golden House-Sparrow Award Site Of The Day on May 26th, 1997.

About The Cthugha Homepage Maintainer

- Erin Jones (aka Corn D'Dios)  has been a Cthugha fan since early 1995.  Many late nights playing w/ Cthugha in college has put the program on the top of his "Best program ever written" list.  He likes the program so much that the recent purchase of a 31" monitor to replace his TV was due largely to the desire to see Cthugha as large as possible.  He still dreams of seeing it in a planetariums some day.  (I'll show you a real Pink Floyd laser light show  B)

Erin's homepage is available at erinjones.org.

About The Cthugha Homepage Creator

Jeff Mercer (aka riffer@afn.org) is the creator of the Official Cthugha Homepage, as well as the maintainer of the Official Cthugha FTP site. In real life, Jeff is not a cartoon character, though his wife has been accused of being one. He originally sent mail to Zaph about establishing a site for Cthugha because he considers it to be one of the coolest programs in the world, hands down. The rest is history.

You can find out more about this incrediblly interesting and cool guy by visiting his homepage.