NGC troubles/"realistic" mode

Bill J Gray Oct 18 7:35 PM

Hi folks,

I've got a reply out to Kevin via private e-mail. It looks as if the
crash occurs when going from the level where DSO images aren't
shown (2 degrees) to one where they _are_ shown (1 degree), and
my guess is that there's some problem in the image display. If
he turns off images and the crashes vanish, we've got a good clue.

I'm not too inclined to blame XP for this one. I'm not a tremendous
fan of Microsoft (I just got my copy of Red Hat 8.0), but the only
issue I found with Guide in XP was a problem with controlling the
serial port. That left scope control broken until I figured out a fix.
Since then, several bugs have come and been fixed, but none
were XP-related. I'd like to pass the blame along, but so far, the
bugs have been overwhelmingly my fault.

For the cloudy "realistic" mode, I'd probably have to add some
sort of database of telescope sales, in order to accurately model
their effect on cloud levels. It would turn into a substantial research
project... probably more than I wish to tackle right now.

Speaking of things that might be added, I was asked again about
adding an observing log and user-selectable symbols, which
prompted me to update the "list of possible future improvements":

http://www.projectpluto.com/future.htm

Several other items have been added or revised on this page in
the last few weeks. Comments are welcome.

-- Bill