To all,
The following directory listings are provided as a guide (pun intended) to
what you may need to run DOS Guide successfully from hard disc; without a CD.
These are taken from our local observatory's computer -- a 486DX, 8MB RAM,
300MB hard drive -- running DOS Guide 7. I believe DOS Guide 8 is not much
different? Depending on your observing interests you can omit some of the
data directories & files listed below. Our setup had to contain a variety of
objects to satisfy our collective interests. And we have added some of the
freebies available from the website :-)
For our observatory, Guide also had to start up (or restart) with an
instantly-recognisable and consistent appearance, as an aid to club members
who weren't familiar with the program.
- - - - -
dir of d:\guide7
517.b32
518.b32
519.b32
520.b32
521.b32
522.b32
523.b32
524.b32
525.b32
526.b32
527.b32
528.b32
619.b32
620.b32
621.b32
622.b32
623.b32
624.b32
625.b32
626.b32
627.b32
628.b32
629.b32
630.b32
718.b32
719.b32
720.b32
a10_extr.exe
aavsoatl.uov
abell.nam
addcomet.dat
addcomet.exe
addframe.bmp
astdata.ast
astdata.lim
asteur00.etb
ast_jp00.etb
ast_jp01.etb
ast_jp02.etb
astocc00.etb
astocc02.etb
bennett.dat
bennett.tdf
bitfont
bitmaps.lmp
bright.tle
caldwell.dat
caldwell.tdf
calendar.dat
ccds.nam
cd_data2.tdf
cd_data.ddf
cd_data.idf
cd_data.sdf
cd_data.tdf
charon.bmp
charon.pif
chi_cal.dat
chinese.bmp
closepha.etb
coe.dat
cometlim.bin
comets.dat
common2.nam
constant.etb
constell.nam
country.nam
czech.bmp
dist_occ.etb
dos4gw.exe
dosguide.exe
dscrub__.mar <-- specific to our setup, see below
e_arro2.bmp
e_arrow.bmp
ecanned2.dat
ecanned.dat
egeo_err.dat
ehelpext.dat
elp82.dat
factory.mar
filelist.dat
focusfas.bmp
focus_in.bmp
focusout.bmp
focusslo.bmp
focussto.bmp
gal_name.nam
geo.tle
get_dsse.dat
get_dss.exe
goguide.bat <--- specific to our setup, see below
gsc22.exe
gsc22.tdf
gscdata2.idx
guide7.exe
guidecd [dir] <--- see below
guide.dat
hebrew.bmp
horizo10.dat
hotkey.dat
images.dat
install.nam
iridium.tle
jup_mut.etb
legend.dat
loneos.std
loneos.tdf
lunar.dll
lun_it00.etb
lun_jp00.etb
marfiles [dir] <-- specific to our setup, see below
marks.nam
maximum.dat
merc.bmp
mercuelo.etb
mer_tran.etb
messier.nam
meteor00.etb
millenni.dat
millenni.tdf
molczan.bin
mut_pln.etb
mut_sat.etb
n_arro2.bmp
n_arrow.bmp
ne_arrow.bmp
nebulae.dat
nebula.nam
now_comt.dat
nw_arrow.bmp
object10.dat
occ01reg.etb
occ02reg.etb
overlays.nam
planet01.qwe
planet02.qwe
planet13.qwe
planet14.qwe
planet22.qwe
planets.no1
planets.not
planeu01.qwe
poss.uov
probes.dat
ps_1996.dat
radio.tdf
remarks.txt
rngc.gaz
s_arro2.bmp
s_arrow.bmp
se_arrow.bmp
serctext.uov
serc.uov
set_07.bmp
sm_tycho.lmp
soft02cm.txt
spectral.etb
spin_l.bmp
spin_r.bmp
stars.gaz
startup.mar
strings.dat
swapname.dat
sw_arrow.bmp
tdf_list.dat
temphelp.txt
timezone.nam
tool_add.dat
toolbar.dat
user_obj.nam
var_type.dat
ven_tran.etb
venuselo.etb
vsop.bin
w_arro2.bmp
w_arrow.bmp
web_a20.bmp
web_dss.bmp
web_gsc.bmp
win_meng.dat
win_menu.dat
worldocc.etb
dir of d:\guide7\guidecd
note: these are copied verbatim from the Guide 7 CD, except for "asteroid"
asteroid [dir]
atlases [dir]
bsc [dir]
clusters [dir]
combined [dir]
crossid [dir]
galaxies [dir]
geo [dir]
hipp [dir]
ngc2000 [dir]
planets [dir]
sac [dir]
text [dir]
utils [dir]
variable [dir]
vsop [dir]
watcom [dir]
wds [dir]
dir of d:\guide7\guidecd\asteroid
addcomet.dat
addcomet.exe
appr.dat
asteroid [dir]
astnames.dat
astnum
astorb
astorb.txt
ast_rem.dat
cometg.dat
cometlim.bin
dddcomet.dat
discodoc
discover
famdoc.dat
family.dat
fddcomet.dat
foreign.dat
iddcomet.dat
intro.dat
lightcrv.dat
lightdoc.dat
lightref.dat
magdoc.dat
magetal.dat
mover.bat
pole.dat
poledoc.dat
poleref.dat
propdoc.dat
proper.dat
provisio.dat
sddcomet.dat
taxondoc.dat
taxonomy.dat
taxonote.dat
vsop.bin
dir of d:\guide7\guidecd\asteroid\asteroid
2452 [dir]
2453 [dir]
2454 [dir]
2455 [dir]
2456 [dir]
2457 [dir]
2458 [dir]
2459 [dir]
2460 [dir]
rem_all.bat
remove.bat
- - - - -
A few points to note. Yes, we only have -some- of the asteroid files
installed, and we omitted some other catalogues, due to lack of drive space.
I also recall a well-meaning member did try to update our Guide with the
Windows 95 zip, so there's some non-DOS litter in there too!
What we do get from our Guide includes the Hipparcos/Tycho stars, the NGC &
IC, variable stars, planets with surface details, asteroids (for the next few
years anyway), comets, the SAC deepsky database.....basically enough stuff to
get us through the typical viewing night ;-)
I also set up a batch file (goguide.bat) to start Guide 7 in a consistent
manner, regardless of whatever view it had been showing at the end of its
previous use. This uses a *.MAR (stored in the MARFILES directory) which has
been pre-defined to a Level 5 view of Crux, red-light mode, with various
objects shown. Plus our observatory coordinates and timezone.
Easiest way to create this MAR file is to "save a mark" when Guide is set up
just how you want it, then copy the MAR to another location so that it
doesn't get accidentally wiped later by someone blundering through the
program.
Here's the listing for goguide.bat itself:
- - - -
@echo off
rem next 2 commands are DR-DOS specific, to avoid DOS4GW conflicts
rem not needed for MS-DOS
dpmi off
emm386 pic=on
del d:\guide7\startup.mar
copy d:\guide7\marfiles\dscrub__.mar d:\guide7\startup.mar
echo About to start mini (no CD-ROM) version of Guide 7
echo.
echo NB: "mini" = LIMITED capabilities, and some functions won't work!
echo.
dosguide
rem next 2 commands are DR-DOS specific, not needed for MS-DOS
emm386 pic=off
dpmi on
- - - -
As you can see, our observatory computer also runs DR-DOS 7. See
http://stud3.tuwien.ac.at/~e0225895/drdos/drdown.htm for download links to
the pre-7.04 versions (free for noncommercial use). No problem running DOS
Guide 7 (or Guide 8, in my tests), provided you include the emm386 and dpmi
commands shown above.
DOS Guide also runs nicely on MS-DOS 6 or MS-DOS 7. The latter is the
engine-room for Windows 95 and 98. You can create an "MS-DOS 7" system from a
Windows 95 or 98 bootable floppy, plus the contents of the associated Windows
95/98 "c:\windows\command" folder. Plenty of how-to's available online about
this task.
As for getting DOS Guide onto your computer that lacks a CD drive, you have
three possible options:
(1) Temporarily install a CD drive in your computer.
(2) Temporarily install the hard drive from your computer into another
computer that has a CD drive. To avoid later problems, disconnect the
existing hard drive entirely and install yours as "drive C" to get Guide onto
it. If needed you can buy adapters to connect a laptop's hard drive to a
standard-size IDE cable.
(3) Use Laplink or FileLynx or a similar program to copy the files from
another computer (with Guide or the Guide CD in it) to your computer. You
will need a Laplink Cable to connect the two computers via their printer
ports.
Hopefully a few of you can now contemplate the successful recycling of a
486-class "boat anchor" into something astronomically useful.
(Bill; feel free to copy this note to the website.)
cheers,
--
Fraser Farrell
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http://astronomy.trilobytes.com.au
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