Stellarium 0.11.2 Release Candidate 1

[alexwolf (Alexander)]

The Stellarium team announces the first release candidate of Stellarium version 0.11.2.

Change log for 0.11.2:
The main theme of this version seems to be localization:
- most of the text used by the default plug-ins is now translateable
- landscape names are now translatable
- country names are now translatable
- scripts names and descriptions are now translatable

Oculars plug-in:
- added an optional control panel displayed in the upper-right corner of the screen as an alternative to the pop-up menu that was used to control it in the previous version;
- overhaul of the pop-up menu, the underlined letters in it can be used as keyboard shortcuts;
- added the ability to rearrange the items in the lists of oculars, telescopes and sensors;
- fixed the inappropriate flipping of the binoculars view;

Satellites plug-in:
- fixed title bar of the Satellites config window not being resized with the rest of the window (LP: #900575)
- catalog numbers are now used to identify satellites, preventing bugs with duplicate satellites and satellites renamed in the source lists
- catalog number and international designator are now displayed for each satellite
- a simple windows to add satellites has been added (LP: #898476)

Added Ctrl+C binding to copy selected object info text to clipboard.
Added to the Windows installer options to remove files left over from the previous installation.
Windows no longer can be dragged to unreachable positions.
The "Save settings" button now saves the current main window position, too.
The language list is now sorted by language name, not language code.
The "Reload style" action has been removed, as the underlying feature no longer works. If you decide to design a new visual style for Stellarium, please contact us to give you a version where it works.
Added distance in km (if the distance is below 0.1 AU) to the information displayed about Solar System objects. (LP: #894472)
Added the StelGui::getSkyGui() method to allow plug-in developers to create their own toolbars and other GUI elements.
Added an option to show the galactic coordinates grid and the galactic plane.
Added several trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs): Sedna, Quaoar, Orcus, Haumea.
Added the Quasars plug-in.
Added the Pulsars plug-in.
More detailed information is now added to the log file for Mac OS X.
Added (experimental) modelling of atmospheric extinction for point objects.
Changed the position of the text in the Text User Interface plug-in. (LP: #911594)
Added a checkbox allowing the SIMBAD on-line search to be enabled/disabled.

Fixed:
- plugin names localization in the Configuration window (LP: #807402)
- resizing of the tabs in Configuration and View windows on language change (LP: #821386)
- sky lines' labels not translated on language change (LP: #811659)
- "Get catalog" button not translated on language change (LP: #890608)
- last star catalog not being offered for download (LP: #538291, LP: #890789)
- proxy configuration without username/password
- Telescope Control plug-in: mishandling of IP connections in the telescope configuration window (LP: #843837)
- Pluto's moon Hydra preventing the constellation from being selected in Search and scripts (LP: #894780)
- scripting code still being included despite ENABLE_SCRIPTING set to 0 (LP: #811505)

Please help us with test it - you can download a package for Windows from this URL - https://launchpad.net/stellarium/0.1...2RC1-win32.exe and a package for Mac OS X (10.5+ Universal binary) from this url - https://launchpad.net/stellarium/0.1...-Universal.dmg

Translators can check translations and fix mistakes on launchpad.net Rosetta - https://translations.launchpad.net/s.../+translations

[Barrykgerdes]

I will be interested to see how others find it. It crashes on main main main computer HP Compaq AMD 2.5GH Nvidia Gforce 6150.

Build 5199 was stable
Build 5205 (RC1) crashes

It works OK in Linux and on my other computers.

Barry

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

It is a lovely program, but a shame that such a powerful computer is required to use it properly. Works OK on my Win 7 i7 but can hear the fan going for it's life. I have even cleaned out the fan yesterday and replaced the heat-sink compound on the CPU and video chip.

Is there anyway to deal with this?

[Barrykgerdes]

Go to the config.ini file
Find the entry [video]
Minimum_fps =
and make it 3 or 4
Maximum_fps =
and make it 50

This will make the screen updates drop back to 3 or 4 fps when idling.
Also operating in a window can lower the work load.

Barry

[BPO]

On my old desktop, with a 1.8 GHz Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton core) processor, 1.5 GB of mis-matched RAM, a 64 MB GeForce4 MX 440 AGP card (with a known fault) and a 128 MB GeForce4 MX 440 PCI card, it seems to run very well.

Rate on each card is ~25 fps, but drops to only 5 fps when stretched across both cards and monitors in windowed mode, although it remains around 25-26 fps when in full-screen.

The old IBM G40 StinkPad with 1 GB RAM and Intel 82852/82855 GME graphics had no problem with it either.

The Intel Atom D510MO board with 2 GB RAM and on-board GMA 3150 graphics also handles RC1 OK, even with a Japanese version of the OS, and I'll try it out on an Intel Atom D525MW board with 4 GB RAM later tonight.

If anything, performance appears to have been enhanced on all of these machines, and the Japanese language support is definitely much improved as well.

All machines are running WinXP SP3, with latest available drivers, and fully patched.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

I've had the OpenGL version hang multiple times on Win7 64bit.

The "no OpenGL2" hasn't hung - yet.

[alexwolf (Alexander)]

The Stellarium team announces the second release candidate of Stellarium version 0.11.2.

Please help us with test it - you can download a package for Windows from this URL - https://launchpad.net/stellarium/0.1...2RC2-win32.exe and a package for Mac OS X (10.5+ Universal binary) from this URL - https://launchpad.net/stellarium/0.1...-Universal.dmg

[hickny (Peter)]

Here is a Stellarium script to show the Transit of Venus on 6th June 2012 as it would be seen from Sydney, Australia.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by hickny

Here is a Stellarium script to show the Transit of Venus on 6th June 2012 as it would be seen from Sydney, Australia.

For those confused, this is actually a 7zip file, not a plain zip.

[Barrykgerdes]

Yes I could not open it without looking for a program to read it so I did not bother.

Barry

[Barrykgerdes]

I eventually found the program to open it and tried it out. It needs another couple if stages of zoom to bring the FOV below 1 degree to make venus appear correct to scale. Otherwise it works well.

Barry

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

I eventually found the program to open it and tried it out. It needs another couple if stages of zoom to bring the FOV below 1 degree to make venus appear correct to scale. Otherwise it works well.

Barry

Except RC2 hangs most times when I run scripts, with or without OpenGL2.

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Andrew

I have not down loaded RC-2. I have build 5216 and it works OK

I didn't have any trouble with a hang but most people write scripts that never end.

When I write a script, something I have not done for a few years, I write an end sequence that returns the display to where it started. Saves having to "crash" to get out.

Barry

[Barrykgerdes]

I changed the line

StelMovementMgr.autoZoomIn(4);

To
StelMovementMgr.zoomTo(0.75, 5);

This was enough to make venus display correct size on my display
However I haven't written an exit routine.

Barry

[hickny (Peter)]

Thanks Barry. I didn't know how to do that.

Apologies to all for posting .7zip file. Here is a winzip version of the script with Barry's improvement.

Not sure how to write an end routine. I'm still learning.

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

I changed the line

StelMovementMgr.autoZoomIn(4);

To
StelMovementMgr.zoomTo(0.75, 5);

This was enough to make venus display correct size on my display
However I haven't written an exit routine.

Barry

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Peter

Here is the rest of my changes.

It returns the display back to now when the transit is over

I have added .txt to the file so that it does not need to be zipped. Just rename the file

See if you like it

Please distribute as your own work. leave my name out

[Barrykgerdes]

there is a typo
/ Set the date/time back to now

should be
// Set the date/time back to now

Barry

[hickny (Peter)]

Thanks Barry. I have been working on it and interestingly enough some of my code resembles yours. core.wait(40)

I like how you got back the initilal field of view.

We don't need line 4 of the text anymore

I had thought of writing something like "Returning to current date and time instead.

for the suggestions and help.

Attached is a further improvement. I've added your name into the Author of the script.

How is that lathe of yours going???

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

there is a typo
/ Set the date/time back to now

should be
// Set the date/time back to now

Barry

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Peter

I haven't written a script for years so I had forgotten the calls. I will need to brush up on them.

When I wrote scripts previously I always "stored " the start configuration. That gave me an easy point to return to when the script was over. I did not do that with yours. I just set the rate, zoom and date to an arbitary figure close to the start so that I would know when the script was over.

In most of the other scripts I have you don't know when they actually stop so that you can reset your display.

Barry

Yes the lathe still works. It is in a bit of a mess at the moment as I haven't cleaned up after the last job.

[hickny (Peter)]

I realised that the script worked for me because my home location is set to Sydney.

Any user from elsewhere can add the following into the script by pressing F12 clicking on the Script icon, loading the script and editing the script to include the following before the line core.setDate...

core.setObserverLocation(153.2,-33.8,40,0,"Sydney, Australia");

Syntax is Longitude, Latitude, Height, ?, Location

At the conclusion of the script you'l have to reset to your individual location.

I haven't been able to workout how to capture the users initial location, store it and then reload it at the completion of the script. If anybody knows how to do this I appreciate hearing from you, as I'm sure would others.

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

Hi Peter

I haven't written a script for years so I had forgotten the calls. I will need to brush up on them.

When I wrote scripts previously I always "stored " the start configuration. That gave me an easy point to return to when the script was over. I did not do that with yours. I just set the rate, zoom and date to an arbitary figure close to the start so that I would know when the script was over.

In most of the other scripts I have you don't know when they actually stop so that you can reset your display.

Barry

Yes the lathe still works. It is in a bit of a mess at the moment as I haven't cleaned up after the last job.