Notices

I finally got around to testing the GPS functions. I put it in "lock" mode with time adjustment on. With the GPS connected it updated my position and presumably the time. Great! So I disconnected the GPS and put my tablet away. When I got it out later, the time in the applet had not changed and nothing had moved in the graphic (bar). I had to turn the GPS mode back to off before the time would update automatically.

Is there a way to have the time update normally in the GPS lock mode?

Ah! It looks like you were clever enough to discover a bug in my code, so you win a brand new Nokia N800! Actually, not really, but I appreciate you doing so

I had a pickle of a time getting my BT GPS device to repair with my N800, but once I did so it did not take long to discover my error. I will make sure that a fix is available in the next release!

It's not a big deal but I'm glad I saved my GPS coordinates to the .ini file!
Now about that new N800...

OK Folks, another updated version for you (0.36):

2009/07/25 = version 0.36
- add 'info' (text only) mode
- add 'full window', 'clock', and 'gps' toggle buttons
- add 'grid' option
- add ability to graphically set/reset current latitude/longitude location
- change 'circle' mode to 'sphere' mode (to allow 'C' option for 'clock' mode)
- fix bug in 'lock' GPS option
- fix bug in terminator (shadow) plot in 'earth' mode

You need to check the 'README' file for the gory details of the new/changed stuff...

The package is quite a bit larger, since the Python code is now about 3000 lines (up 20%), but the main reason is that there are some larger PNG pics of the earth and moon for the new 'full' window mode.

I learned how to better handle 'toggling' buttons from my latest changes to 'MOrrery', and implemented them now in 'MChronos'. The active buttons now are hilighted in green, so that you know when toggle/mode buttons are set.

Yes, slick204, I did fix (I hope) the GPS 'lock' mode, and I also created a 'gps' toggle button. Please test that feature, since you inquired about it. I also created an 'info' mode (text only) that includes 'twilight' times. If you turn text mode off while on this display, you see nothing at all

NOTE: You must be *patient* when clicking the virtual 'buttons' on the app. Give it time to respond, and if it does not, *then* try clicking it again. Sorry for the 'slow' behavior, but there are a lot of calculations being made

I would also appreciate it if anyone confirming success from installing (and running) the app from 'extras-devel' would let me know, so I can promote it to 'extras'.

P.S. My 'software' page has some updated screen shots.

Since, for now, MChronos will not have an option to *replace* the lat/long values in the '.ini' file, you will need to do what you did i.e. find some way (GPS or not) to determine your own coordinates, and store them in that file.

As for the N800 prize, I may have been a bit too hasty -- what I meant to say was that what you discovered isn't a bug -- it is a 'feature', and so you are not entitled to the prize

I installed the new version this evening and everything seems to be working great.
Using the GPS to set the location worked perfectly and the toggle button made it very easy to do. Thanks for adding the info mode with the twilight times!

I hadn't been in the dome or horizon modes after sunset; I was surprised to see the stars and planets. I guess I'm going to have to install MEphemeris to find out which ones they are. Any information on the "pending release" of the new version?

Thanks again.

Thanks for testing the GPS modes! Also, I cannot think of what to do when the 'text' mode is toggled 'off' when displaying the 'info' window. Any ideas?

EDIT: I created a slightly newer version (0.37) which puts a 'larger font' version of the current dates/times for the 'graphic' (non-text) mode of 'info'.

Yes, that stuff is mentioned in the README file. I wasn't looking forward to the hassle of creating a separate 'stars' data file, but then I remembered that PyEphem has a small 'built-in' database of the brightest stars, so it was just a matter of me figuring out how to use them all -- rather than one-at-a-time -- and it was not too difficult. The 'planets' are also, always, just 'built-in' with no external data file required. I was thinking about allowing stars/planets to be toggled 'on' during daylight hours as well -- but who would want to do that? I am *considering* putting labels on this stuff, but the only way that sufficient room would be available is in the new 'full' mode. Hmmm...

As mentioned in the MEphemeris thread, I was/am very close to a new release, but I am waiting for the author of PyEphem to respond (and possibly fix) some strange behaviors with his new 'satellite prediction' features.

Anyways, if any of you have any other 'easy' ideas for MChronos, let me know. I think it is getting a bit 'bloated', though

Anyone successfully installed via 'extras-devel'?

any chance of the settings being moved to its own setting dialog, accessed via the "applet settings" part of the "desktop" menu?

btw, love the "sun clock"

That's what I've been using to install mchronos; it installs fine that way.

By the way, there seems to be a problem with sphere mode. When I click on the S button, I get a disk on the screen, but the buttons on the bottom are gone. (They seem to still work, so if I guess their positions, I can get out of sphere mode.)
I checked the README to see if anything were mentioned; I noticed that at the top the "info" description is sort of missing.

Hello tso! Could you elaborate a bit more on that idea? Are you suggesting moving all the buttons to another display, so that there are no longer any buttons along the bottom of the window? If so, why would that be better that currently?

Thanks for the positive comment on that The most recent version of MEphemeris also has a 'sun clock' (not released yet), so I wondered if I could duplicate a 'mini' version of it in MChronos. The weird hassle with doing 'transparent shading' in these desktop applets is that it looks like I have to use a radically different technique to do this, which was very confusing for me -- but I suppose that is a side-effect of the whole 'transparent desktop applet' API.