Carina Software - Do They Still Exist?

[pfitzgerald]

As per the title does anyone know what is/isn't going on with this company?

I've been using their Voyager 4.5.7 planetarium software for years but have recently (past 15 months) gotten frustrated that I haven't been able to successfully download their monthly asteroid and comet updates. So I finally got around to emailing them this afternoon only to have the email bounce back (I double checked the email address! ;-) ).

Paul

[Octane]

Carina Software became the makers of SkySafari, who were then bought out by Simulation Curriculum -- the guys that make the fantastic Starry Night software.

H

[pfitzgerald]

Thanks H - that's good to know.

I also have Sky Safari Pro and love using it.

Paul

[Octane]

Same. It's definitely gorgeous software. I'm still on version 4, deliberating whether I put down the money for version 5!

H

[phomer]

Paul,

It is a bit more complicated than previously indicated.

A programmer, while working at Carina software, created SkySafari in his spare time, from what I understand.

There was then some dispute about ownership that I believe was resolved.

Voyager is my favourite program but the around a year ago it failed an update which I believe was caused by the asteroid database becoming too large for the program to handle. Then on top of that one of the download web sites, the minor planet centre, if I recall correctly, changed its download location.

I resolved the first by reinstalling the program and notupdating the minor planet database and the comet issue by manually downloading the elements when I need them. There are instructions in the manual for doing this.

They do not appear to have been providing support for some time, unfortunately, but with these minor issues the program continues to work okay for me.

Trying today the web site appears down, whether this is temporary or not we will have to wait and see.

Regards

Paul

[pfitzgerald]

Thanks for the info Paul - I really do prefer Voyager over Stellarium and the other planetarium software packages I've tried for my laptop. I was hoping not to go to the manual for the comet updates - but it looks like I'll have to now. *Sigh* (On the bright side Voyager 4.5.7 is stable and still runs a treat on OSX 10.11.4)

Paul

[phomer]

Paul,

I have tried again today and the web site is operating again.

http://www.carinasoft.com/

It would be nice if they could just resolve the two minor issues.

Regards

Paul