Northeast Astronomy Forum 2010 Redux

NEAF was quite busy this year. Attendance seemed larger, and there was a healthy interest in astronomical software. It was great seeing previous customers again while meeting some new ones. It may take the voice and feet a while to recover!

Answering questions for an interested customer

NEAF was more than a trade show this year. Knightware also hosted a technical meeting about OpenAstronomyLog for interested astronomy software developers on Friday during vendor setup. The purpose of the meeting was to help developers add support for OpenAstronomyLog (OAL) to their products. We discussed the technical and business merits of the OAL project, talked about support resources that are available, and explored some ideas that may make supporting OAL easier. Several other developers expressed interest in the project but were unable to attend the show.

Developers of Redshift and TheSkyX participated in the OAL meeting.

Knightware greatly enjoyed taking part in this year's NEAF and we look forward to it again next year.

TheSkyX Revealed

Software Bisque has confirmed that TheSkyX Pro will be released today at NEAF. This release contains the interface that Deep-Sky Planner needs to support its Show Chart interoperation feature with TheSkyX.

Knightware is currently testing support for TheSkyX in Deep-Sky Planner 5. Support for TheSkyX is planned for the first minor update to Deep-Sky Planner 5 (v5.0.1) which will be released in a few weeks.

If you'd like to see Deep-Sky Planner 5 working with TheSkyX, please drop by our booth for a demonstration - we're right beside the Software Bisque booth.

Heading to NEAF (April 17-18)

Knightware will be packing up and heading for the Northeast Astronomy Forum and Telescope Show (NEAF) later this week in New York. NEAF is an exciting time for attendees and vendors - there's so much happening. If you are going to attend NEAF, please stop by the Knightware booth (#343) and say hello. It is always fun to meet users who are otherwise known only via e-mail.

We'll answer your questions about our software products, Deep-Sky Planner 5 and SQM Reader Pro. Both products will be available for you to try on our demo computer, and both will be available for purchase at a special price at the show.

Please tune in to this blog for updates as the weekend unfolds. We plan to provide some photos and commentary about the goings-on.

Starry Night 6.3.8 update affects Deep-Sky Planner 5

Good news! Simulation Curriculum has released an update to Starry Night 6 that fixes a problem with changing field of view from the Show Charts feature in Deep-Sky Planner 5.

The update from v 6.3.3 to 6.3.8 is available using the Starry Night update service. You should follow their procedure for applying updates.

You may also need to update your Deep-Sky Planner 5 plug-in for Starry Night if you haven't done so since version 5 was releasd. Click Help | Community Page(online) inside Deep-Sky Planner 5. This should open your web browser and log you into the DSP community page. Next, click the hyperlink 'download the updated plug-in' towards the bottom of the web page to start the download. Once you have downloaded the plug-in and saved the file to your hard disk, copy it to your Starry Night installation. On most systems, you would be replacing the file at C:\Program Files\Starry Night Pro Plus 6\Sky Data\Plug-ins\DsSN50.plug

Also, if you are using Deep-Sky Planner 5 with Starry Night on Windows 7 or Vista, you will probably need to run both programs 'As Administrator'.

The updated plug-in will be released in the first bug-fixing update, v 5.0.1. Hopefully that will be released by late April.

Windows 7 64-bit Checks Out Ok

More in-depth testing of Deep-Sky Planner 5 has now been completed with a 64-bit version of Windows 7 (Home Premium edition). Testing was conducted with UAC enabled, and no problems were detected with Deep-Sky Planner 5. Since more and more customers are upgrading to Windows 7 or buying new computers with Windows 7, the test results for the features that seem most prone to compatibility problems are described below.

Windows 7 Upgrade advisor states that a computer should have 2 GB of RAM or more to run the 64 bit version of Windows 7. These tests were completed with 1.5 GB of RAM.

Telescope Control

ASCOM v5.0a was installed. The installation process reported errors registering the Simulator.RotatorSimulator object. Since Deep-Sky Planner 5 does not use this object, the error was ignored. All slewing and syncing operations worked correctly with the Simulator driver. That indicates that Deep-Sky Planner is compatibile with ASCOM. Any particular driver may have its own problems.

Star Chart Interoperation

• TheSky6 Serious Astronomer edition - worked with no problems.
• Redshift 7 Premium edition - worked with no problems.
• Cartes du Ciel 3 - worked with no problems.
• Starry Night 6 Enthusiast edition.
  
  The plug-in for Deep-Sky Planner 5 requires an update. This can be downloaded from the Deep-Sky Planner Community page (Licensed users only).
  
  Starry Night requires an update to support changing the Field of View when you do Show Chart in Deep-Sky Planner. If the Field of View is not changed, Show Chart works correctly. Simulation Curriculum advises that this update is forthcoming and will be v 6.3.8.
  
  Both Starry Night and Deep-Sky Planner must be 'Run as Administrator'.
  
  Version 6.0.0.0 worked but the OpenGL service could not start. Video was low-resolution.
  
  Version 6.3.3 worked but the driver for the test computer's NVidia GEForce 6800 graphics card had to be updated. Starry Night loaded and displayed part of its main window and then stopped with an AppCrash message before the driver update. Note that Windows 7 was installed on this computer within the last week and the graphics card driver still needed to be updated. Java 6 update 18 (for 32-bit browser) and QuickTime v 7.6.5 were installed.
  
  Important: Simulation Curriculum frequently advises users to update graphics card drivers. Take heed - this advice can save time and trouble.
  
  Version 6.3.6 - have not tried.
  

XML processing

Many of Deep-Sky Planner's data files are stored in XML format. No problems were detected with the XML parser or XML transform processor under Windows 7.

Deep-Sky Planner 5 Is Shipping

I was talking recently to the CEO of a company that sells critical power systems. He asked 'why is software never on time? Why do engineers always want to add another feature?' I responded that feature creep isn't instigated exclusively in engineering. We went way down the rabbit hole from there...

After two and a half years of development which was preceded by quite a bit of requirements gathering, DSP5 is shipping - in January 2010 as advertised. I like punctual, but I realize releases don't always go as planned. I've been involved with software projects that were late and some that never shipped. Those were unpleasant episodes.

Hard to do
I've corresponded with some other developers of astronomical software on various issues, and it's pretty clear that releasing software on schedule is pretty hard to do. Part of the reason is feature creep, but there are other reasons beyond developers' control: changes in operating environments (e.g. Windows), advances in hardware and the complexity of the application itself all conspire against the calendar. Fortunately Microsoft did a much better job with compatibility in Windows 7 than in Vista. Testing with different hardware is getting formidable - there are 32 and 64 bit computers in different configurations. Heck, the office is overflowing with computers and astronomy gear. As for the complexity of the application, all programmers use that excuse, right? Maybe so, but I'm always assessing different methodologies to help manage the complexity. Parts of Agile Development look promising. The idea is to develop and release smaller increments of functionality. The desired end is to release feature updates to version 5 on a 6 to 9 month cycle. Bug fixes remain highest priority, with these updates released ASAP. We'll see how it goes.

So version 5 is ready. As I review the features that have been requested, I'm pleased with the number that are implemented now. Others need to be implemented after other pieces are in place, but they are on the development plan. I guess I'm guilty of the engineering mentality that my CEO friend talked about: there are lots of features and enhancements on the drawing board.

Windows 7 and UAC - Can Do

Windows Vista has been quite the adventure for Windows users and software developers. Years of experience with previous versions of Windows taught us a set of rules that changed with Vista, attributable to improved security. This author's experience indicates that Windows 7 has retained the new rules introduced with Vista while improving the 'user experience'. Stated plainly, I like Windows 7 a lot better than Vista.

Pain Free UAC
Deep-Sky Planner 5 is designed to 'play nicely' with the new security scheme that appeared in Vista and continues with 7: it can run from either an administrative or standard user account with User Account Control turned on. Three features require administrative privileges to run:
choosing the ASCOM driver for your telescope, setting system time using a time service or a telescope mount, and using Starry Night with Deep-Sky Planner. I can understand why the Starry Night plug-in or setting system time should be limited to administrators, and the ASCOM driver chooser is not actually a part of Deep-Sky Planner. Other than these situations, UAC stays happy.

Multiple Install Modes
Deep-Sky Planner 5 supports 2 installation modes: one for all users and one for individual user(s). In all users mode, one copy of the program and data files is shared by each user of the computer. In individual user mode, a copy of the program and data files is accessible to each user account for which it is installed. This means that account(s) do not share code or data - a private copy belongs to each installation.

Individual mode is good for most users. It is essential if you need separate files for multiple users. Separate files includes the database where observations, equipment definitions and locations are stored. This option can be maintained (patched) by the individual user without the need for an administrator to apply the patch.

All Users mode is ok for most users too. The program can be run from any account on the computer, but the files are shared. Any maintenance (patching) must be done by an administrator.

The bottom line is pretty simple
Microsoft is taking steps to diminish security problems in Windows, and software developers need to follow the recommendations to make the end user's product work within the new guidelines. Deep-Sky Planner 5 is ready for these changes and it gives you several options for using the product securely with the latest version of Windows.