I keep installing Stellarium, trying things out for a while, then uninstalling it because it just won't do simple things!
The latest frustration was trying to find Comet 217P, which is apparantly close by M42 at the moment; Stellarium showed nothing.
After a couple of PMs to Barrykgerdes, the issue is now resolved, and the process of editing the Ssytem.ini file is pretty simple. But Barry advises that you have to be spot on with the data entry as it's easy to crash the program if you get it wrong. Fortunately, and thanks to Erick, the Comet 217P element data lines were available from a recent IIS thread for insertion into the Ssystem.ini file, so it was just a cut and paste job.
But I cannot get over the antiquated way this process had to be done, to provide what is a basic planetarium feature, displaying comets!
Stellarium is a good looking piece of software, the display is very very good, now that the display driver issues appear to have been resolved. But the process of editing and updating configuration and .ini files is like stepping back into the 1980's and the old DOS command line.
Come to think of it, Linux requires exactly the same sort of process! I keep dumping Linux as well!
A 21st century operating system shouldn't require the average user to understand and use a 'Terminal' to enter command line processes.
I cannot understand why a good program like Stellarium doesn't provide an easy update process for Minor Planet and Comet data, a file that is downloaded into the correct folder, requiring a simple restart of the program to take effect. If I want more comets displayed, I must enter the data for each individual comet, and for an old bloke with digital dyslexia, that is a real issue!
But then, maybe I'm just a grumpy lazy old s*d who wants everything to be simple and straight forward, even the free software!
There's a sign at my back door that says "A grumpy old f*rt and a lovely old tart live here", and it's spot on!
Cheers
Chris