Stellarium ver. 0.10.1 - Page 3

rider · #41 07-02-2009, 10:09 AM

Thanks Chris,

It'll be a while before I try up-grading again, we use Stellarium incessantly, It was like loosing a limb.

(dark skys ... I'd settle for any sky without clouds )

Rider2

chrisp9au (Chris) · #42 07-02-2009, 10:18 AM

Rider,
Upgrading I agree, wait for a couple of months and let everyone else have the heartache!
Maybe we'll learn a lesson from this!
I've been using Stellarium as a good source of graphics for 'Sky at Night' articles that I do for a bunch of people.

At the scope I use HNSKY, simple, fast, accurate!
Carte du Ciel is a great program as well.

Chris

Barrykgerdes · #43 07-02-2009, 10:33 AM

Sorry to the people having trouble with stellarium version 0.10.1.

In developing programs we need to use current building frameworks that are freeware. When we were building with SDL there were many features asked for that could not be implemented so we moved to the Qt platform which is quickly becoming the platform framework of choice.

Qt has been evolving extremely fast with three upgrades in 2008 and another expected very soon. Most of this has been in the display area which is allowing much faster loading. Many of the video chip makers have not caught up with these changes to upgrade their drivers, particularly the older cards.

Because we build with freeware we need OpenGL for 3d displays rather than microsoft's Direct X. Many card makers do not directly support OpenGL so it takes time to get updated drivers. We hope this will improve in the future.

I have seen first hand the problems of Stellarium crashing on loading but in all cases new video drivers (post Sep 2008) have fixed the problem immediately.

Barry

rider · #44 07-02-2009, 10:55 AM

Thanks for the explanation Barry.

I'm not sure that I agree with the philosophy though, I manage software development for a product which is used by the agriculture sector. I hate to think what would happen to my company's reputation if we wrote software that only worked on the few computers which are very new or which are run by the few ordinary computer users skilled enough to risk updating drivers (if available).

by the way, my computer is new and there is no driver update.

Can I recommend that the stellarium site puts a 0.9.1 link back up with a recommendation to only try 10.1 if you are one of the lucky few with a compatible driver available.

Rider 2

chrisp9au (Chris) · #45 07-02-2009, 11:10 AM

Barry,
I would have thought you would develop a product/program to suit your audience?
Surely your business plan would be to enlarge your audience, not reduce it?
Developing to suit new technology that the majority of your audience has no knowledge of, doesn't make sense.

On this forum you are watching your users lose access to your program.
What happens to those folk who don't frequent forums, don't have a clue about updating drivers?
You are not even catering for people with brand new PCs.
Chris

Barrykgerdes · #46 07-02-2009, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisp9au

Barry,
I would have thought you would develop a product/program to suit your audience?
Surely your business plan would be to enlarge your audience, not reduce it?
Developing to suit new technology that the majority of your audience has no knowledge of, doesn't make sense.

On this forum you are watching your users lose access to your program.
What happens to those folk who don't frequent forums, don't have a clue about updating drivers?
You are not even catering for people with brand new PCs.
Chris

Hi Chris

I am afraid we can't have it both ways. The program is designed to do certain things and these cannot be implemented on some platforms that have not kept up with developments. Lets face it. The program is free and works on the majority of computers. I have six various computers running XP, Windows 2000, Vista and Linux as multi boots. Stellarium 0.10.1 runs perfectly on all except a 10 year old 400Mhz Pentium with a nvidia Gforce 2 MX video card which doesn't have updated drivers.

If version 0.10.1 does not work for you did 0.10.0-beta work. If so I can provide the executables that implement some of the missing features from the beta version before Compiling was done under Qt4.4.3

Other wise all the previous versions are still avalable

Barry

PS. One thing that must be remembered is that the writers of this program do not get paid but spend lots of time and money developing software that is for free distribution. They do their best and are quite disappointed that they can't please everybody because of circumstances beyond their control.

B.

Tallstock (Peter) · #47 07-02-2009, 02:38 PM

Hi Barry,
Me again. I did not try the beta version of 0.10.

In another post today I noticed you said;
"Stellarium needs just about all your processor power to run properly. So multitasking is marginal. When the speed is under 1 fps it generally shows lack of 3D from OpenGL. You probably need new drivers. Not avalable for lots of older cards."

I have tried to update my Display Driver by following your instructions but no joy.
My Driver is a Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family.
The message I get is;
"The wizard could not find a better match for your hardware".
Details -- Driver Date 23/3/2006 Version 6.14.10.4543
I am in uncharted territory when using Control Panel and frightened of making mistakes.
Any further detailed help would be most appreciated.
Peter

rider · #48 07-02-2009, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

Hi Chris

I have six various computers running XP, Windows 2000, Vista and Linux as multi boots. Stellarium 0.10.1 runs perfectly on all except a 10 year old 400Mhz Pentium with a nvidia Gforce 2 MX video card which doesn't have updated drivers.

B.

Hi Barry,
after your comment, I thought I'd try loading it on some (4) new-ish computers I had access to today. (hope no one from work is reading this) All had up-to-date drivers. - it didn't run on any of them.

I know it is a free program, and I know the amount of work that goes into these things, but I think there may be a bigger fail rate than you are aware of.

Please take this as a constructive comment, I just think such a fantastic product deserves to be released without loosing its well deserved reputation from earlier editions.

rider2

renormalised (Carl) · #49 07-02-2009, 08:04 PM

Barry, what version of OpenGL is Stellarium coded for??. I would imagine it's version 3. Some of the computers (Peter's especially) are running earlier versions of the OpenGL driver (Peter's is v1.4) and may not be able to get an update, which Peter can't (just checked the Intel site). I'd advise the others to goto the manufacturer's sites for their respective chipsets and check them out, instead of relying on Windows to do the checking for them.

JethroB76 (Jeff) · #50 07-02-2009, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renormalised

I'd advise the others to goto the manufacturer's sites for their respective chipsets and check them out, instead of relying on Windows to do the checking for them.

definitely agree with that

Barrykgerdes · #51 08-02-2009, 08:49 AM

Hi all

There are a couple of things that appear to be causing trouble. There is a log file generated when the program starts to load and it is stored in the same folder as your config.ini. A read of this will tell where the load stopped. Some computers seem to hang on loading the star catalogues. Some on later problems.

It is a problem that appears to occur with OpenGL implementation in Qt4.4.3 when the screen driver is not compatable.

Most of the failures reported seem to be with intel screen drivers that are integrated into to many computers. Intel has upgraded the drivers to some of the chipsets but if your Intel driver is prior to sept 2008 I would suspect this is the problem. My Intel 965 driver was updated in November. The driver prior to this gave the error message that everyone appears to be getting.

However keep the reports coming with details of your computer, particularly graphics and a view of the log file. We will get it sorted out eventually. Maybe a patch to avoid Qt4.4.3 interface problems.

Barry

Wannabe · #52 08-02-2009, 12:00 PM

Getting runtime error on start, beta 0.10 worked just fine.

Code:

Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for Mobile Report


Report Date:		02/08/2009
Report Time[hr:mm:ss]:	01:56:44
Driver Version:		6.14.10.4764
Operating System:		Windows XP* Professional, Service Pack 3 (5.1.2600)
Default Language:		Swedish
DirectX* Version:		9.0
Physical Memory:		2038 MB
Minimum Graphics Memory:	8 MB
Maximum Graphics Memory:	64 MB
Graphics Memory in Use:	7 MB
Processor:		x86 family 6 Model 13 Stepping 8
Processor Speed:		1496 MHZ
Vendor ID:		8086
Device ID:		2592
Device Revision:		03


*   Accelerator Information   *

Accelerator in Use:		Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family
Video BIOS:		1227
Current Graphics Mode:	1024 x 768 True Color (60 Hz)



*   Devices Connected to the Graphics Accelerator   *


Active Notebook Displays: 1


*   Notebook   *

Monitor Name:		Plug and Play-bildskärm
Display Type:		Digital
Gamma Value:		2,20
DDC2 Protocol:		Supported
Maximum Image Size:	Horizontal: Not Available
			Vertical:   Not Available
Monitor Supported Modes:
1024 x 768 (60 Hz)
Display Power Management Support:
	Standby Mode:	Not Supported
	Suspend Mode:	Not Supported
	Active Off Mode: Not Supported

* Other names and brands are the property of their respective owners.

and this is the log-file:

Code:

2009-02-08T01:38:03
C:\Program\Stellarium\stellarium.exe 
Windows XP
Compiled with GCC 3.4.2
Qt runtime version: 4.4.3
Qt compilation version: 4.4.3
Addressing mode: 32-bit
Total memory: 2038 MB (unreliable)
Total virtual memory: 2047 MB (unreliable)
Physical memory in use: 37%
Processor speed: 1496 MHz
Processor name: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor         1.50GHz
 ------------------------------------------------------- 
[ This is Stellarium 0.10.1 - http://www.stellarium.org ] 
[ Copyright (C) 2000-2009 Fabien Chereau et al          ] 
 ------------------------------------------------------- 
Writing log file to: "C:/Documents and Settings/Magnus/Application Data/Stellarium/log.txt" 
File search paths: 
  0 .  "C:/Documents and Settings/Magnus/Application Data/Stellarium" 
  1 .  "." 
Config file is:  "C:/Documents and Settings/Magnus/Application Data/Stellarium/config.ini" 
config file  "C:/Documents and Settings/Magnus/Application Data/Stellarium/config.ini"  does not exist - copying the default file. 
Sky language is  "sv" 
Application language is  "sv" 
Loading Solar System data ... 
Loaded 38 / 38 planet orbits 
Loading star data ... 
Invalid openGL operation in StelPainter::revertToQtPainting()

Hope this is of some help, really enjoyed the previous release

Edit: I have checked and this is the latest driver available on Intels homepage...

Barrykgerdes · #53 08-02-2009, 12:54 PM

Hi wannabe

That is one of the intel drivers that has been incompable.

Try this to use the Qt4.4.2 run time dll's

delete or rename your config.ini file. (you can probably use your old 0.9.1 config.ini file). Install a clean 0.10.0-beta copy of stellarium.
copy the stellarium.exe and libstelmain.dll from the 0.10.1 program to the beta folder. (save the old copies somewhere)
Rename the beta locale folder locale-1. Copy the locale folder from 0.10.1 to the beta folder.
Enter the stars\default folder and rename stars.ini to stars-1.ini. Copy the stars.ini from 0.10.1 to the star\default of the beta folder.
Locate the logo24bits.png file in the 0.10.1 textures folder and copy it to the beta textures folder.

Run stellarium from the beta folder. If it runs you will be short of a couple of minor features that require Qt4.4.3 but they probably won't be immediately obvious.

Let me know how you fare.

Barry

Wannabe · #54 08-02-2009, 01:22 PM

Sorry, didn't make it past the runtime error.
Logfile created looks the same, halted on the same place.
Thanks for your effort, though.
Regards
Magnus

Barrykgerdes · #55 08-02-2009, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wannabe

Sorry, didn't make it past the runtime error.
Logfile created looks the same, halted on the same place.
Thanks for your effort, though.
Regards
Magnus

Look in the stars.ini file and confirm that all the catalogues agree with thenames that are called

[stars]
cat_hip_cids_file_name = stars_hip_cids_0v0_0.cat
cat_hip_sp_file_name = stars_hip_sp_0v0_0.cat
[stars/stars_0_0v0_1]
path = stars_0_0v0_1.cat
[stars/stars_1_0v0_1]
path = stars_1_0v0_1.cat
[stars/stars_2_0v0_1]
path = stars_2_0v0_1.cat
[stars/stars_3_1v0_0]
path = stars_3_1v0_0.cat
[stars]
updates_url = http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index...les&action=raw

Place your mouse cursor over each of the qt*.dll's and without clicking ensure the file version reads 4.4.2.0

Open the stars.ini file in wordpad and place "#" in front of each active line then save the file

restart stellarium and see where the program stops next.

Barry

Wannabe · #56 08-02-2009, 10:17 PM

Still runtime error. older qt runtime confirmed. Logfile:

Code:

2009-02-08T12:13:58
C:\Program\Stellarium0100beta\stellarium.exe 
Windows XP
Compiled with GCC 3.4.2
Qt runtime version: 4.4.2
Qt compilation version: 4.4.3
Addressing mode: 32-bit
Total memory: 2038 MB (unreliable)
Total virtual memory: 2047 MB (unreliable)
Physical memory in use: 37%
Processor speed: 1496 MHz
Processor name: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor         1.50GHz
 ------------------------------------------------------- 
[ This is Stellarium 0.10.1 - http://www.stellarium.org ] 
[ Copyright (C) 2000-2009 Fabien Chereau et al          ] 
 ------------------------------------------------------- 
Writing log file to: "C:/Documents and Settings/Magnus/Application Data/Stellarium/log.txt" 
File search paths: 
  0 .  "C:/Documents and Settings/Magnus/Application Data/Stellarium" 
  1 .  "." 
Config file is:  "C:/Documents and Settings/Magnus/Application Data/Stellarium/config.ini" 
Attempting to use an existing older config file. 
Sky language is  "sv" 
Application language is  "sv" 
Loading Solar System data ... 
Loaded 38 / 38 planet orbits 
Loading star data ... 
ERROR: stars:cat_hip_sp_file_name not found 
ERROR: stars:cat_hip_cids_file_name not found 
Finished loading star catalogue data, max_geodesic_level:  -1 
Warning: location "Paris, Paris, France" is unknown 
navigation/preset_sky_time is a double - treating as jday: 2.45151e+06 
Unknown projection type:  "stereographic" setting "ProjectionStereographic" instead 
Invalid openGL operation in StelPainter::revertToQtPainting()

/Magnus

Barrykgerdes · #57 09-02-2009, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wannabe

Still runtime error. older qt runtime confirmed. Logfile:

Code:

2009-02-08T12:13:58
C:\Program\Stellarium0100beta\stellarium.exe 
Windows XP
Compiled with GCC 3.4.2
Qt runtime version: 4.4.2
Qt compilation version: 4.4.3
Addressing mode: 32-bit
Total memory: 2038 MB (unreliable)
Total virtual memory: 2047 MB (unreliable)
Physical memory in use: 37%
Processor speed: 1496 MHz
Processor name: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor         1.50GHz
 ------------------------------------------------------- 
[ This is Stellarium 0.10.1 - http://www.stellarium.org ] 
[ Copyright (C) 2000-2009 Fabien Chereau et al          ] 
 ------------------------------------------------------- 
Writing log file to: "C:/Documents and Settings/Magnus/Application Data/Stellarium/log.txt" 
File search paths: 
  0 .  "C:/Documents and Settings/Magnus/Application Data/Stellarium" 
  1 .  "." 
Config file is:  "C:/Documents and Settings/Magnus/Application Data/Stellarium/config.ini" 
Attempting to use an existing older config file. 
Sky language is  "sv" 
Application language is  "sv" 
Loading Solar System data ... 
Loaded 38 / 38 planet orbits 
Loading star data ... 
ERROR: stars:cat_hip_sp_file_name not found 
ERROR: stars:cat_hip_cids_file_name not found 
Finished loading star catalogue data, max_geodesic_level:  -1 
Warning: location "Paris, Paris, France" is unknown 
navigation/preset_sky_time is a double - treating as jday: 2.45151e+06 
Unknown projection type:  "stereographic" setting "ProjectionStereographic" instead 
Invalid openGL operation in StelPainter::revertToQtPainting()

/Magnus

Hi Magnus

That log gives some usefull information when the stars were not loaded the program continued to to the next problem which is also due to the screen painting.

I will pass this info on.

Barry

allan gould · #58 09-02-2009, 10:21 AM

Barry
A simple question. I find the instructions given for implementing telescope control too crytic for my mind. I have an HEQ5-Pro mount using ASCOM for implementation. Can you give a really simple dummies guide for a computer illiterate to get this going.
Thanks Allan

Barrykgerdes · #59 09-02-2009, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allan gould

Barry
A simple question. I find the instructions given for implementing telescope control too crytic for my mind. I have an HEQ5-Pro mount using ASCOM for implementation. Can you give a really simple dummies guide for a computer illiterate to get this going.
Thanks Allan

Sorry Allan

The ASCOM controller is third party and I don't know it.
However the Exe program that drives the telescope needs two qualifiers that go with it

1. the I/O port to use, normally we use 10000 and
2. a COM port number.

I always use a batch file to initate the control containing

telescopedriver.exe 10000 COM1:
Replace the telescopedriver with the ASCOM driver and then follow the ASCOM instructions to interface with the HEQ5 mount

don't forget the COM port must be the one in use. If you are using a USB to RS232 it will normally be COM3: or COM4:

Barry

Barrykgerdes · #60 10-02-2009, 07:17 AM

ATTENTION

Hi All

For those of you who are experiencing crashes on start up. A patched version of stellarium (0.10.2) has been uploaded to stellarium.org that should stop the crash on start up. Please download and try it.

Please report back with the results.

Barry