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This is a Macintosh program, so of course, you must be on a Macintosh for this to work.

New Features in StarLogo 2.0

StarLogo 1.5, released on January 12, 1996, is present as starlogo-1.5.sea.hqx.

• You need to unBinHex the application using a utility such as Compact Pro or Stuffit -- when downloading it from the WWW, your computer will usually automatically unBinHex the application.

• A self-extracting (.sea file) will be saved to your computer. The location of where it is saved is specified by your particular browser. (For netscape, look in the Options menu under Preferences. Select "Applications and Directories". You choose where it is saved by specifying a "Temporary Directory".)

• When you double-click this file, it will create a new folder called StarLogo 1.5 with the application, documentation, and sample projects inside.

To run StarLogo version 1.5, you need a Macintosh with at least a 68030 processor and at least 5 Mbytes of free RAM. For all computers, turn off virtual memory (including RAMDoubler) and set the machine for at least 256 colors. For a 680x0 computer, set the machine for 32-bit memory addressing. For a PowerMac, turn off the Modern Memory Manager, turn off SpeedDoubler, and reboot the computer before starting StarLogo. If you are using disk compression software (like DiskDoubler), do not compress StarLogo. Warning: StarLogo will run very slowly on PCI PowerMacs with Apple's new emulator. Packaged along with the StarLogo software is a control panel that allows you to turn off the new emulator -- and speed up StarLogo tremendously.

To get started with StarLogo, please read the Getting Started document and try some of the sample projects. Each sample project has an Information window with notes and instructions.

As with earlier versions, StarLogo 1.5 is available for free. In return, users are expected to send us comments and suggestions. We are hoping to create an active community of StarLogo users. We have established a mailing list (starlogo-users@media.mit.edu) for discussion of StarLogo projects and ideas. If you want to be added to this mailing list, send a message to starlogo-request@media.mit.edu (saying that you want to be on the starlogo-users mailing list). We have also made available the starlogo-users mailing list archive.

If you find bugs in this software, please send a message to bug-starlogo@media.mit.edu. Please include the code that caused the problem, an explanation of what happened, and a description of the machine that you were using.

If you know other people who would be interested in StarLogo, please ask them to download it from this site, or send a message to starlogo-request@media.mit.edu. Do not simply give them the software or forward this message. We want to keep a complete list of StarLogo users.

• StarLogo now has Power PC native code!
• Programs can now control six "plot pens" for plotting data in the new Plot Window.
• Users can now modify underlying StarLogo parameters (such as the number of patches, the size of patches, and the maximum number of turtles) by making changes in the new starlogo.patch file. If you increase the size of the patches, StarLogo looks great on big monitors.
• StarLogo now has support for 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit color.
• The StarLogo observer can now manipulate list data structures.
• StarLogo can now load pictures from PICT files and grab images from QuickTime-compatible cameras.
• StarLogo now has mouse primitives, so that you can interact with StarLogo programs with the mouse.

Other changes include:

• There are now more sample projects -- all with explanations in their Info Windows
• The screen-size is now always an odd number of patches (default 101x101), and the turtle's reference point within a patch is now at the center (not the topleft corner). These changes improve the symmetry of the StarLogo world.
• StarLogo now has primitives that report the screen-size and screen-edge.
• StarLogo now has versions of distance and towards that report "nowrap" results.
• StarLogo now has bit manipulation primitives (bitand, bitor, bitneg).
• Each turtle now has a state variable (alive?) indicating whether it is alive.
• StarLogo now has primitives for turning on and off the graphic display, to improve performance.
• Color-at now returns 0 if there is no turtle there. Previously it returned the patch color.
• turtle-at and turtle-here now always return the ID of another turtle, never the turtle itself. If there is no other turtle there, they will return -1.