Stellarium problems

[Nifty (Nev)]

Hi All
I have a problem with Stellarium 0.10.2. The toolbar at the bottom and side of the screen consists of transparent grey squares with no writing or symbols in them. It doesn't matter where I get the copy of the program from; either the Stellarium website or from a DVD that came with a computer magazine. It seems to me to be computer related but then again I am probably wrong.
Can anyone help?
Cheers
Nev

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

What operating system?
What video card?

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Nev

You haven't given me enough info to shed any light on the problem but it appears to be a video driver problem.

What sort of a video card do you have and have you tried to get updated drivers for it. Stellarium 0.10.2 was released nearly a year ago but some of the video cards are only now getting drivers that allow display of some of the advanced features of OpenGl.

That particular problem occured with the intel 965 video on Vista but was cured by the latest video driver

Most of the video problems have been fixed now but the release of the next update has not been notified yet.

My compiles of the latest source have made many advances since the release of 0.10.2

Also check out the previous thread on Stellarium questions

Barry

[Nifty (Nev)]

Thank you Barry and Andrew
Sorry about that. The OS is XP SP3 and the motherboard (Asus P5V VM DH) has its own on-board video.
I suppose I will have to get a separate card. I have been thinking about getting a new pc so I will have to ensure I get the right sort of card.
Any suggestions as to the type of card?

Cheers
Nev

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Nev

You should be able to see the brand of inbuilt video. It could be anything. I have one computer with a Nvidia, another two with SiS and two with intel. Have a look inside the computer if it doesn't list at start up. Once you get the type drivers should be available.

Nvidia Gforce cards are generally well supported and seem to be the most reliable. ATI are the worst although Stellarium has been modified to run OpenGl in native mode which gets around most of the problems of video cards that don't respond to the latest enhancements.

Barry

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

The MB runs a VIA Unichrome graphics chipset circa 2006, last driver I could find was V6.14.10.02832006/07/10 update

You might be out of luck and worth spending $50 on simple nVidia card or something.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Like tlgerdes says VIA, UniChrome Graphics

You could plug in an NVidia PCI Express video card.

Or save the money towards the new box.

[Nifty (Nev)]

Thanks Barry and Trevor
I had a look for updated drivers on the Asus website and came up with the one you found Trevor but it fails to install.
I think I might get one of the type you suggested Barry, but I still have the niggling thoughts of a new pc with an SSD for the OS and and a decent sized HDD (or two) for other programs and data.
Food for thought!

Thanks again
Nev