peter@memex.co.uk (Peter Ilieve) (12/11/89)
Here is a summary of the replies to my request for planetary position software a few weeks ago. The clear winner is ephem, a program written by Elwood Downey. It doesn't do any astrology, but then I was not really expecting that from sci.* newsgroups. The author mailed me, and coincidently the latest version just appeared in comp.sources.misc. Another program mentioned was Voyager, for the Mac, authors/agents unknown. One specifically astrological program mentioned was BlueStar, for which I do not yet know the source, but which has the drawback that it is commercial and costs about $500. Other suggestions were any decent public domain/shareware PC software catalog and the PD1:<MSDOS.EDUCATION> directory on simtel.army.mil. I can't ftp to anywhere so I can't vouch for this last one. Thank you, normal service will now be resumed ... Peter Ilieve peter@memex.co.uk
horst@pcsbst.UUCP (horst) (12/28/89)
Some remarks on ephem: The Man pages do not mention that for "watch" mode (solar) it is convenient to switch off the display of the outer planets if you are interested in the inner ones. You can only switch off the display before you select watch mode. (Only to avoid the disappointment that I felt.) Horst horst@pcs.com