User talk:SailplanePilot

Hi,

Back in December 2015, you made two edits to the SGI Dogfight page, the first of which stated:

"In some intermediate version (between 1985 and 1995) aircrafts inspired by Star Wars (Klingon, Xwings, ...) were added. They disappeared in later versions. The Klingon had unlimited speed and could not be stalled."

Do you have a source for this claim? I have searched extensively and found no evidence for it, and no-one else has ever mentioned seeing such craft in the program.

AstridRedfern (talk) 16:49, 8 May 2022 (UTC)


 * Hi,
 * I've been looking into this some more, and some postings on the Google Groups archives of comp.sys.sgi (and/or the releated groups: comp.sys.sgi.misc, comp.sys.sgi.hardware, comp.sys.sgi.admin, comp.sys.sgi.apps, comp.sys.sgi.marketplace) shed some light on it.
 * It appears that the version with the X-Wings and other sci-fi craft was an unofficial fork, made by someone with access to the source code, who had then passed this on to others. I think this is in breach of the agreement you had to sign with SGI to get the code, but that clearly didn't stop whoever was responsible!
 * In response to a question about this version, lead developer Rob Mace said something to the effect that he couldn't add these to the official version, as it would be copyright infringement.
 * So it sounds like you saw this fork running, and you thought it was the "official" version and that the sci-fi craft had been added to it. Then, at a later date, you saw the official version without these craft, and thought they'd been removed.
 * I'll be editing the article and citing the relevant Usenet posts, but I just thought I'd give you a heads-up in advance and let you know the truth about the version you'd seen.
 * I don't think any of them mentioned the Klingon craft having unlimited speed and being immune to stalls, though.
 * Also, there may have been other differences in this version - maybe some way of doing damage to the terrain - I don't recall for sure. Anyway, I'll be able to say for sure when I recheck the references and edit the article.
 * Cheers!
 * AstridRedfern (talk) 15:49, 7 September 2022 (UTC)