Hi folks,

As I mentioned in my last post, I've fixed the assorted bugs
(wrong version date, badly displayed user-added datasets, missing
text in 'chart' mode) that have been reported recently... with one
exception: the crash reported by Denis Boucher in Windows ME. In
this bug, Guide crashes when he tries to save an ephemeris (oddly
enough, when the '.' in 'filename.ext' is typed).

If anyone is able to replicate this bug, please let me know. At
present, I have no idea as to why it would happen. More bug reports
might help me see a pattern.

I had intended to fix this bug, then post an update. Since I've
made no real progress on it, I'm posting an update "as is".

Jean Monseur and Don Dillinger asked about problems in scope control,
where, when Guide attempts to set the encoder resolution, it get
'63 (?)' instead of '82 (R)'. It turns out that on certain devices,
including some versions of the Celestron Advanced AstroMaster, the
resolution is hard-wired, even though the devices are supposedly
Tangent-compatible. In such a case, you can ignore the error message,
and go ahead and add alignment stars.

Still, seeing the "error message" is apt to be disconcerting. I
_think_ it will be safe for Guide to accept either the '?' or 'R' from
these devices, instead of just the 'R' reply; I don't think there is
any risk of confusion as a result. The newly-posted version of Guide
has been altered to do just this.

About the Sky Sensor: I'd be very interested in reports on this,
too. As far as I know, this device is indeed LX-200 compatible (at
least with the few LX-200 commands used within Guide). But I would
be happier to hear this from someone who has actually tried it out.

Jim Kessel asked about getting improved asteroid occultations in
Guide. I've posted a few words about this at

http://www.projectpluto.com/last_min.htm#how

The one thing I've not gotten into, yet, is a discussion of how
to generate the sort of high-quality orbital elements you need to do
this sort of trick. As an example, I simply provide such elements
for the (752) Sulamitis event (occultation of Mu Geminorum) discussed
in the November 2000 _Sky & Telescope_. I'll tackle the issue of
generating these orbits later.

Incidentally, new observations suggest that the (752) Sulamitis
event will be seen in the Eastern US after all; the original prediction
was really quite good. Some details at:

http://www.projectpluto.com/ast_occu.htm#z752
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota

-- Bill