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Night Vision 2.4 Tested on
OS/2 Warp 4.5 + FP14

Photo above shows the new Night Vision 2.4 running on @Macarlo's OS/2 Client

In Affiliation with CNET, Inc.

=@MACARLO MICROSOFT= =@MACARLO YAHOO= =@MACARLO WEBALIAS= =@MACARLO ALTAVISTA=

Test by @Macarlo
Team OS/2 Registered
Registered user of 212 OS/2 shareware
Screenshots by registered Embellish

Hi All.
I tested this Friday December 08 on my OS/2 Warp Client 4.5 + FixPak 14 the just released version (2.4) of Night Vision, a fine piece of software developed by Brian Simpson and distributed as shareware by BMT Micro, Inc., world largest OS/2 tool and applications reseller. Night Vision is a very interesting program and if you are an OS/2 user you must register it in order to encourage the developers that are writing programs for Warp.

Install Night Vision is very simple and easy: you can create in your root or in another disk a directory for this program (e.g. NIGHTVIS), unzip nvns24.zip (840 KB) inside this directory and click the install.cmd. An object will be created on your desktop. Click it and enjoy! That is all. I tested this one on my Warp and it runs fine. Here is a program that I recommend enthusiastically for all OS/2 users.

Download Night Vision 2.4 now:
http://home.att.net/~bsimpson/nvsn24.zip
and
ftp://ftp.bmtmicro.com/bmtmicro/nvsn24.zip

Photo above shows Night Vision 2.4 started on @Macarlo's Warp 4.5

Night Vision for OS/2 Updated to V. 2.2

The Graham Utilities for OS/2 Version 2.1 is now here! Click me!

Technical Information

Night Vision is a "planetarium" program for OS/2, and will display the
  heavens from any location on earth. Viewing options allow the user to
  control which sky objects to display, which font to use, and manipulation
  of various star parameters. Time may be set to run at multiple speeds,
  including backwards. Star charts may be printed.

New with version 2.4

-> Larger star database

-> Different symbols for each type of deep sky object

-> Milky Way

-> Color prints

Note: Registered users of previous versions are entitled to a free Email
upgrade to the 2.4 registered version. Just Email the author at:

nightvision@bmtmicro.com

Shareware and Registered versions

  Night Vision has two versions, the shareware version and the registered
  version, which are nearly identical except that the shareware version has
  tags indicating that it is unregistered. Also the shareware version has
  a 17,000 star database, while the registered version has over 140,000 stars.

  The shareware version may be freely copied and distributed provided that the
  program in all of its components (program file, help file, database files,
  install file, and documentation) are kept together and all remain
  unmodified.

  You are free to use the shareware version for an evaluation period. Please
  do not continue usage without registering as considerable effort has gone
  into the making of this program. You may register with:

    BMT Micro
    PO Box 15016
    Wilmington, NC 28408
    U.S.A.
    (Use the order form supplied in the file ORDER.FRM,
    or contact them via the internet at http://www.bmtmicro.com)

    Brian Simpson
    PO Box 773
    Niwot, CO 80544
    U.S.A.

  Registration is $25. Upon registration you will receive the registered
  version, which can be Emailed to you at no extra charge. Those who require
  a CD please see the file ORDER.FRM.

The registered version is of course for personal use only and may not be
distributed.

Requirements

Night Vision requires OS/2 version 2.1 or later. (Untested on 2.0)

  Night Vision should run on any X86 - based processor that runs OS/2.
  Because of the computationally intensive nature of this program, a math
  coprocessor is strongly recommended. (A math coprocessor is already built
  into 486DX, Pentium, and later processors, but is a separate chip on some
  other systems.)

Installation

  Since you are reading this documentation, you have likely already unzipped
  the .ZIP archive into its component files. Place all files into a directory
  on your hard drive and issue the following command from an OS/2 command
  prompt in that directory:

INSTALL

  A program icon will be installed onto your OS/2 desktop. Just double click
  on the icon to start Night Vision. Alternately you can invoke the program
  by issuing the following command from the same directory:

NVSN

Your first view

  Night Vision opens with a view of the heavens looking straight up from the
  user's preferred location. (Or, until a preferred location has been
  selected, a default location of Niwot, Colorado, the author's favorite small
  town.)

Two scroll bars control the direction of view:

    Moving the vertical scroll bar (right side of window) controls the
    altitude, or the angle from the horizon to the center of the view
    (center of window). With the scroll at the top the view is straight up
    (the zenith). Moving the scroll to the middle shows the view along the
    horizon, and moving it to the bottom shows the view through the earth
    (the nadir). Tinting will indicate where the earth blocks the view.
    (This horizon indication can be turned off.)

    Moving the horizontal scroll bar (bottom of window) controls the
    azimuth, or direction along the horizon. With the scroll in the center,
    the view towards the horizon is to the south. Moving the scroll to the
    right moves the view to the west, then the north. Moving the scroll to
    the left moves the view to the east, then the north. Thus north can be
    achieved by moving the scroll either to the far right or the far left.

Altitude and azimuth are indicated in the information window at the top.
Interpret altitude as follows:

      Alt          View
      ---------------------------------
      0            Along the horizon
      90           Straight up (zenith)
      -90          Straight down (nadir)

Interpret azimuth as follows:

      Az           View
      ---------------------------------
      0 and 360    North
      90           East
      180          South
      270          West

Magnification is controlled as follows:

Pressing 'z' will "zoom in" to magnify the view.

    Pressing 'Shift-z' will "zoom out" to de-magnify the view. By pressing
    'Shift-z' and/or enlarging the window an entire 180ø view can be seen.
    (I.e. 90ø in all directions from center of window.)

'CapsLock' is ignored.

  Night Vision is mouse aware. The mouse can be used to center an object,
  identify an object, or to zoom towards an object. For example, to move an
  object to the center of the window, left click on that object. To zoom
  towards an object draw a rectangle around that object by pressing the left
  mouse button and then dragging the mouse. When the button is released the
  center of the rectangle is moved to the center of the window at a zoom level
  based on the area of the rectangle. (Press 'p' to return to the previous
  view.)

  Objects can be identified with the right mouse button. Right click an
  object and select Identify from the pop-up menu. (This pop-up menu is
  particularly useful in full screen mode when the menu bar is not visible.)

Setup

  Night Vision can be set up for any location. Begin by going to the "Set
  location" window (via the "Set" pull down menu). Select the city closest
  to your location, select/deselect "Daylight savings time", and press "OK
  City". Or enter your longitude, latitude, and time zone, select/deselect
  "Daylight savings time", and press "OK Coordinates". If your new location
  is in a different time zone, then your local time (as displayed in the
  information line above the star window) will have changed, and you must
  reset the time. To do so, go to the "Set local date/time" window (via the
  "Time" pull down menu) and then press "Set to computer date/time". You are
  now re-sync'd to your computer time.

  Be sure to save this location information if you would like Night Vision to
  always start at this position. Go to the "File" pull down menu and select
  "Save location".

You may also save your viewing preferences (objects, font, and star
parameters) by selecting "Save preferences" from the "File" pull down menu.

Note: The city database used in the "Set location" window may be edited to
suit the user's preferences. Follow the directions at the top of NVSN.CTY.

List of files

Night Vision contains the following files:

File Description
-------------------------------------------------------

NVSN.EXE The executable (program file) for
Night Vision

NVSN.HLP The help file

NVSN.DB Sky database

NVSN.CTY City database - May be modified, but
please distribute only the original

NVSN.DOC Documentation - This file

    NVSN.INI       Initialization file - Created by program
                   - Should not be distributed with other
                   files

INSTALL.CMD Installs program object onto desktop

The shareware version adds the following two files:

FILE_ID.DIZ Program description

ORDER.FRM BMT Micro registration form

Misc. notes

  Night Vision is written in C++ and uses the IBM Open Class Library. The
  program utilizes two threads of execution. The first manages the user
  interface, while the second manages drawing on the main window. A third
  thread is introduced for printing.

  The star database is derived from the "SKYMAP SKY2000 Master Catalog,
  Version 2". The shareware version contains 17,000 stars (through 7th
  magnitude), while the registered version contains over 140,000 stars
  (through 9th magnitude). The stars are placed for Epoch 2000.0 (i.e.
  the beginning of the year 2000AD). No adjustment for precession is made,
  which is the reason for limiting the dates between 1900 and 2099 in the
  "Set local date/time" window.

Bugs

  There appears to an OS/2 bug that affects Night Vision after the OS/2
  Lockup feature has been invoked. After releasing OS/2 Lockup (i.e. typing
  your password), the star window may not be as responsive to dragging the
  scroll bar (or using the arrow keys). This problem only affects some systems
  and may not affect yours. It appears that thread priorities are changed
  after OS/2 Lockup has been invoked. (Other programs have encountered
  similar problems.) This problem goes away if Night Vision is restarted.

  Bugs in printer drivers can affect the quality of the star charts produced,
  and in turn make Night Vision look buggy. (A printer driver is the software
  that OS/2 uses to build an image and send it to a printer). No printing
  should occur outside of the square that encloses the chart, and only the
  program name, date and time, location, and alt/az information should appear
  in the boxes that appear in the four corners of the square. See "Printing
  issues" in the online help for further information.

Please report any Night Vision bugs to the PO Box 773 address given above,
or Email the author at: nightvision@bmtmicro.com

Comments and suggestions also welcome.

Future updates

Night Vision will be updated in the future. Future updates may include:

- Precession

- User selectable fonts per object

- User modifiable information line

- Labels for grids

- Comets

- ...

CONTACT AUTHOR

Brian Simpson