[amsat-bb] Re: IT-1.50 _vs_ new TZ rules

[Bruce Robertson]

On Sun, Mar 9, 2008 at 2:51 PM, Alan Sieg WB5RMG <wb5rmg at somenet.net> wrote:
> > ... Of course it took me 30 minutes trying to remember
>  > how to edit a file in DOS.
>  >  73 again KA8QCU
>
>  I run IT under WinDoze... I created a shortcut to start it with.
>  Used to be it required all sorts of memory adjustments, etc - but
>  it runs in a small window until I go into real-time map mode - and
>  it takes the full screen. When I quit out of the map, I just do an
>  <ALT>enter, and it goes back into a small window. Most often I'll
>  use the "position table" showing time, direction, doppler for the
>  upcoming pass(s) - or run the real-time 'text' display.

I'm enjoying reading about other users of IT. I'm currently playing
around with porting it to the Nokia N800 linux-based palmtop. It runs
well under the dosbox emulator. The ultimate goal, though, is
instanttune control of a FT-817 for half-duplex operation. That
requires several layers of interfaces, including USB->serial on linux.
It could be a long slog, since I think I never did get the serial port
to work when I last tried this. In the end, I want something like
Howard's WinCE setup:
http://www.g6lvb.com/it_ft817.htm
for activating less common grids in the Maritimes.

The full screen map mentioned above leads me to ask, does anyone know
how to run IT's map within a window on WinXP or other recent MS OSes?

>  Having it in Windows file system makes it very convenient for editing
>  .ini file and creating kep.txt files for updating it.orb....
>
>  I know there are lots of new fancy whiz-bang tracking programs,
>  but I just love watching all the numbers twitch - remembering how
>  much faster they updated when I added a math co-processor to my
>  16MHz 80386 PC (back in the day). This ol DOS program must really
>  enjoy the luxury of today's number crunchers. I know I do...
>    73   /;^)
>

Every tracking program I've used has one or another feature that I
wished they all had. In my books, for IT it is the location indicator
in the text (non-map) tracking window that says things like "100 miles
south of Wellington, NZ". That one feature nearly reduces the need for
a map to nil, since I can picture the location easily in my mind.
Good thing, too, because dosbox uses nearly 100% CPU on the N800 when
running IT's map mode :-)

73, Bruce
VE9QRP