Hi Dave,

I don't quite understand how you are updating MPCORB?
All I do is download the latest version and extract it into Guide
Directory. Any updates I need for that is done through Extras, add
Asteroids.
What I would try is deleting MPCORB (and possible MPCORBcr if it's in
the Guide directory) and just putting the latest version of MPCORB in
there. BTW I'm sure that comets are in that file too.

Best Regards

Alan

In message <eo6o1n+tnb5@...>, Dave Birmingham
<lone_scope2000@...> writes

>
> Hi Bill,
>
> I have tried turning off both comets and asteroids individually and
> it seems to be a toss up as to which makes Guide8 run slower. With
> both turned off Guide8 is very responsive, like it used to be.
>
> I did update both sets of elements from the Harvard site and
> updated
> the MPCORB file as well. The latter was done by copying the
> appropirate NEAtod.dat twice, once with a rename to MPCORB.dat and
> placing them in the Guide8 folder. Prior to this experience having
> Guide8 use MCPORB did not cause this kind of slow down even though
> this particular machine is an antique by today's standards as that
> is
> about all I use it for.
>
> As for Guide8 updated files I believe I have all the latest unless
> something has changed from last May's update posting.
>
> Would it hurt, other than taking the time, to reinstall Guide8 from
> the original CDs and then getting the updates again, or would than
> be
> an exercise in time consumption?
>
> Thanks for the help!
>
> Dave
>
> --- In guide-user@yahoogroups.com, Bill J Gray <pluto@...> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Dave,
> >
> > First thing I'd try would be to shut off comets, then
> asteroids,
> > to determine which is the problem. Odds are that the asteroids
> are
> the
> > real culprit. There just aren't as many comets as there are
> asteroids,
> > by a factor of a thousand or so, and Guide has some good tricks
> in it
> > to avoid having to waste much time on most of the comets.
> >
> > But asteroids are another matter. The current MPCORB contains
> about
> > 325 000 of them. On a 900 MHz machine, when you turn on MPCORB,
> > there's about a seven-second pause before the asteroids turn on.
> During
> > that time, Guide computes some information about where the
> asteroids
> > will be over a one-day span. It can then show asteroids with
> blazing
> > speed, as long as the date/time remains within that span. But if
> you
> > change the time by more than twelve hours in either direction,
> you
> get
> > that seven-second pause again. I have some ideas for handling
> this
> > problem, but none of them seem very good: they wouldn't provide
> much
> > speedup, and/or would be horribly complicated or consume most of
> a
> hard
> > drive.
> >
> > (If you find that Guide is _always_ sluggish, even when you
> don't
> > change the date/time, then you should get the current software
> from the
> > Web site. Older versions didn't do this "compute data for a 24-
> hour
> > span" routine, and had to do all the math from scratch each time
> the
> > screen was drawn or an object was clicked on.)
> >
> > -- Bill
> >
>
>

Alan Cahill (J94)
Abbeydale Observatory,
Gloucester.
UK
http://mountabbeydale.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk