Monster Media 1996 #15/Monster Media Number 15 (Monster Media)(July 1996).ISO/personal/ast52dos.zip/UPDATE.520

Text File | 1996-03-24 | 21KB | 358 lines

####################  ASTROLOG 5.20 UPDATE FILE  #####################

     Happy Spring Equinox everyone! :) This file describes the
astrology software program Astrolog version 5.20 and the additions
and fixes made to it, over the previous version 5.10 which was
released nearly three months ago in December 1995. This update
contains one new chart type, Gauquelin Sector charts, and a small
selection of bug fixes, mainly to Windows printing.

     If you are reading this document as posted in the newsgroup
alt.astrology, this release consists the following files, each posted
as a separate article:

1. "Update.520" - A text file describing new additions to Astrolog
   5.20 made over the previous version (what you're reading now).
2. "Readme.520" - A text file describing Astrolog in general and what
   the program offers and can do, for those interested in a summary.

     In addition, there are several other relevant files, which have
not been posted so as not to waste too much newsreader bandwidth.
They may be obtained by other means which will be described:

3. "ast52win.zip" - A uuencoded, zip archive containing a Windows
   executable ready to run on any Windows system, a configuration file,
   four icon files, three ephemeris files, a Readme, small summary file,
   a comprehensive Helpfile manual, and this Update file.
4. "ast52dos.zip" - A uuencoded, zip archive containing a DOS executable
   ready to run on PC's, config file, icon files, three ephemeris files,
   a Readme, small summary file, Helpfile, and this Update file.
5. "ast52mac.hqx" - A BinHex 4.0'ed self extracting archive program of the
   Macintosh executable, config file, three ephemeris files, Readme,
   summary, Helpfile, a resource file, and this Update file.
6. "ast52src.zip" - A uuencoded, zip archive containing the source code,
   and makefiles (not necessary unless you want to compile on a PC).
7. "History.520" - A text file describing additions in all previous
   releases (only useful if upgrading from more than one version ago).

     The "Helpfile" consists of a large comprehensive documentation
file of all of Astrolog's features. The "config file" is a default
settings file called astrolog.dat (not necessary to have to run but
useful). The "icon files" are Microsoft Windows icons from the
Windows executable. The "summary file" is a file_id.diz like that
included in many zip distributions, briefly describing the program in
whole. The "Update file" is again this document. The "ephemeris
files" are three binary files used for more accurate calculations of
planetary positions (again optional but nice to have). The "source
code" consists of 28 files (23 "C" program files, four header
#include files, and a resource script file). The "makefiles" are six
files: a generic makefile for Unix systems with their "make" command,
a project makefile for Microsoft Windows compilers, a nmakefile for
Microsoft DOS compilers, a makefile for Borland PC compilers (with a
second subfile to go with it), and a command script for compiling on
VMS systems.

     All the files described above have been uploaded to the
alt.astrology anonymous FTP site at ftp.magitech.com in the directory
/pub/astrology/incoming. They should be moved to the standard
/pub/astrology/astrolog directory there soon. All of the ephemeris
files are already in the subdirectory /pub/astrology/Astrolog/ephem.
For PC's, Astrolog including all source and ephemeris files are also
available at Carl Baewer's Astro Net-1 BBS at 414-481-9976. Expect
Astrolog 5.20 to appear on SimTel sites such as ftp.coast.net and
other sites soon as well.


#####################  ASTROLOG 5.20 NEW FEATURES  #####################

Here are new additions to version 5.20 that weren't in 5.10 and before:

1. -l switch: Astrolog 5.20 supports a new chart type: Gauquelin
   sector charts. This is based on the work of Michael Gauquelin, with a
   sector chart basically a type of wheel chart where the planets are
   placed in their appropriate Gauquelin sector instead of zodiac sign
   at a given time. Sectors are numbered from 1 to 36, and indicate
   proportions of time between rising and setting. Sectors 1 through 18
   are above the horizon, and 19 through 36 are below. When a planet
   rises it goes from sector 36 to 1, when 1/18th of the time until the
   moment it sets has passed it enters sector 2, and so on. A sector
   chart can be thought of as somewhat related to a standard wheel
   chart, except that it's "time based" instead of "location based". In
   interpretation, certain sectors are known to be powerful. These
   sectors are called plus zones and are the sectors immediately before
   and a bit after the four angles. For a more detailed account on
   interpretation, see books such as Gauquelin's "Cosmic Influences on
   Human Behavior". To bring up a sector chart, use the -l command
   switch, or use the Gauquelin Sectors command on the Chart menu in the
   Windows version.

   In text mode, the sector chart will be similar to the standard -v
   listing. The chart info time and place will be displayed, after
   which, for each planet, the sector it's in will be displayed, with a
   "+" indicating a plus zone, and a "-" indicating such is not the case
   (where with colored text active plus zones will be in red and minus
   dark green). Then as in the standard listing, the planet's house,
   zodiac location, retrogradation status, equatorial latitude, and
   velocity will be printed. Finally will be displayed two alternative
   sector locations assuming systems where sectors go from 1 to 18, and
   from 1 to 12 (where for example the beginning of sector 36 will map
   to sector location 18.5, and 12.75, respectively). After this,
   summary information will be displayed. The number and percentage of
   planets that fall in plus zones (as well as the number and percentage
   of plus zones period) will be printed, and for each of the 36
   sectors, the number of planets that fall in it and whether it's a
   plus zone will be indicated.

   In graphics mode, the 36 sectors will be arranged in a wheel, with
   chart header info displayed at the bottom or in a sidebar as with
   regular wheels. Each planet will be plotted at its appropriate sector
   location, with plus zone sectors labeled in red and minus in dark
   green, and aspects will be indicated in the middle of the wheel.

   -l0 switch: Calculating correct sector positions is based on rising
   and setting times, which require searches, hence computing the chart
   takes quite a bit longer than regular wheels. It's like the -Zd
   rising and setting list, where increasing the -d searching divisions
   value increases the accuracy and calculation time here too. To cut
   calculation time down to that of ordinary charts, one may do a
   reasonable approximation of sector positions based on how far each
   planet has progressed through a corresponding house (specifically
   house cusps divided using Placidus). To compute charts in this fast
   manner, invoke the -l switch as -l0. In the Windows version the new
   checkbox "sector chart approximated with Placidus cusps" in the Chart
   Settings dialog controls this flag.

   -Yl switch: This command switch is used to set whether a sector is a
   plus zone sector or not. Taking one parameter of a sector number, it
   toggles the plus zone status of it. Like the -R restriction switches,
   the "_" prefix may be used to make a sector minus and the "=" prefix
   to make a sector plus. Special thanks to Kenneth Irving (editor and
   author of the column "The New Astrology" in "American Astrology") for
   providing information on computing Gauquelin sectors, feedback on
   Astrolog's output, and for championing this method of chart calculation.

2. -YJ switch: This switch allows one to customize the rulerships of
   a given planet. It takes three parameters, the object to modify, the
   zodiac sign for it to rule, and a second sign for it to co-rule. Pass
   in the value zero to make a planet not rule any sign. For example,
   Jupiter by default rules Sagittarius and co-rules Pisces. If you'd
   prefer it to rule Cancer and not have a co-rulership, do "-YJ Jup Can 0".

   -YJ0 switch: Similar to the -YJ switch, this allows one to customize
   the zodiac sign a given planet exalts in. It takes two parameters,
   the object to modify, and the new sign to exalt in (with a zero value
   meaning no exaltation). For example, to make Pluto exalt in Aries
   (and hence implicitly be debilitated in the opposite sign Libra) do
   "-YJ0 Plu Ari".

3. -a0 and -m0 extension: The -a0 aspect list summary and -m0
   midpoint list summary features have been extended in that such
   information is now also included for -r0 relationship comparison
   charts. Before these switches would only display summary info for
   individual charts.

4. -t extension: Transiting house cusps (and other fast moving
   objects like the Part of Fortune, Vertex, and East Point) may now be
   included in -t transit to natal searches. This allows one to
   determine the time of events such as when the Ascendant today
   conjuncts your natal Sun, which before wasn't possible as only actual
   bodies would be considered when transiting. To activate transiting
   cusp objects use the -RT switch or the Transit Restrictions dialog in
   the Windows version. Note that as the house cusps travel through all
   360 degrees of the zodiac during the day, a cusp will make a transit
   roughly 30 times as often as even the fast moving Moon, the Moon
   itself making transits 12 times as often as planets like the Sun. So
   realize you may get a flood of information, and hence probably want
   to restrict all planets and aspects you're not interested in. Note
   also that to get accurate times for these events, you probably want a
   high value for the -d searching divisions setting (I recommend at
   least 200) which means longer calculations.

5. -YRZ switch: This switch allows one to determine which events
   appear in the -Zd rising and setting time chart. It takes four
   parameters, which respectively control whether rising events, zenith
   transit events, setting events, and nadir transit events are included
   in the chart. A zero value indicates to include that event, while a
   one means to restrict it. For example, to include only rising and
   setting events in the -Zd chart, do "-YRZ 0 1 0 1". In the Windows
   version there are four checkboxes surrounded by a groupbox labeled
   "rising and setting restrictions" in the Obscure Settings dialog to
   control these values.

6. -Wn switch: For the Windows version only, this switch toggles it
   so that the window will not redraw its contents until you force an
   update (with the Redraw Screen command or by pressing space).
   Normally the screen updates after every command or whenever a section
   of the window gets uncovered. However this constant redrawing may
   cause unwanted waiting on a slower system, especially if one is
   tweaking various minor settings in say a large transit search, and
   doesn't want to wait after each modification. There is a checkbox
   labeled "don't automatically update screen" for this flag in the
   Graphics Settings dialog.

7. -i2 switch: This obscure switch is like the -i chart file load
   switch, except that this puts the chart info into the "second" chart
   slot. This is basically the command switch equivalent to the Set
   Chart #2 Info command in the Windows version, and like it this
   doesn't enter or leave any relationship chart mode.

8. File Print improvement: In the Windows version the printouts
   produced with the Print command are a bit smoother looking. Curves
   and line segments were always perfectly smooth on a laser printer
   before, however the layout of objects on it was still on a grid the
   size of the screen, e.g. 640x480, so things such as dotted lines
   could appear blocky. These printouts now use the same increased scale
   factor that the metafiles use.

--

Here's a summary of the seven new command switches in Astrolog 5.20
that weren't in previous versions:

-l: Display Gauquelin sectors for each planet in chart.
-l0: Like -l but approximate sectors using Placidus cusps.
-Yl <1-36>: Toggle plus zone status of sector for sector chart.
-Wn: Don't redraw screen until user forces update.
-YRZ <rise> <zenith> <set> <nadir>: Set restrictions for -Zd chart.
-YJ <obj> <sign> <cosign>: Set sign planet rules and co-rules.
-YJ0 <obj> <sign>: Set zodiac sign given planet exalts in.

The one new menu command in the Windows version of Astrolog 5.20
that wasn't in previous versions is: Chart - Gauquelin Sectors


#####################  ASTROLOG 5.20 BUG FIXES  #####################

Here are problems with version 5.10, all of which have been corrected
in this release:

1. File Print crash: The Print command in the Windows version would
   crash when run on Windows 3.1 systems. Printing would work on Windows
   95 and NT. This was at least in the "official" Windows executable
   released, where people who compiled the program themselves may not
   have run into it. Printing now works on all Windows platforms.

2. -n bug: Charts for the current moment would be one year behind if
   the month is January, when run from the "official" DOS and Windows
   executables released. This was due to obscure floating point
   rounding, and would not happen in the Mac or Unix versions, and
   usually not in the PC versions either, if the program was compiled in
   an even slightly different way than I did. You should get the correct
   month now no matter what compiler was used to create your executable.

3. -j and -a bug: Influence values obtained in the -j influence chart
   for the aspects, and in the -a aspect list chart would only look at
   the basic orb of the aspect, and wouldn't take into account the
   planet orb addition values or the max orb allowed to a planet values.
   It was possible for planets with a large orb addition to get a
   negative aspect influence in the -j chart. These charts now do the
   same correct orb influence calculations as the -D and -T transit
   influence charts do.

4. -E problem: The text ephemeris chart would edit the contents of
   the original chart, pushing the date to the end of the span of time
   the ephemeris was done for. This chart is now like its graphic
   counterpart and no longer does that.

5. Setting Restrictions problem: The Restrictions and Transit
   Restrictions dialogs would sometimes restrict all the house cusp or
   uranian objects when undesired. On okaying one of the dialogs, the
   program would turn off the -C include cusps and -u include uranians
   settings if all such objects had their restriction flags checked.
   However, this would not check the status of the other set of
   restrictions first, meaning for example, having cusps unrestricted in
   the main set, then bringing up the Transit Restriction dialog and
   restricting all its cusps, would turn off the include cusps setting,
   which would then implicitly restrict all the cusps in the standard
   Restrictions dialog as well. These dialogs will now only turn off the
   include cusps or uranians settings if both dialogs have them all
   restricted.

6. Printing omission: Using the Windows print command to print
   graphics would always place the graphic at the top left of the page,
   and not based on the relative position of the scrollbars.

7. -L glitch: The -L astro-graph chart, when rendered to a PostScript
   or metafile graphics file, would not clearly show the planet zenith
   locations. The square markers would be a little over 10 times smaller
   than the same relative image was on the screen.

8. Info Progressed And Natal bug: The Windows Progressed and Natal
   chart feature, which is meant to do a bi-wheel with chart #1's
   planets on the inside wheel, and chart #1's planets progressed to the
   time in chart #2 on the outside, didn't work as documented. The -rp
   command switch equivalent worked, but the menu option would basically
   do the same as just the Transit and Natal command.

9. Time entry glitch: It was possible to get away with some illegal
   time values, both as parameters to command switches and in the
   Windows Chart Info dialogs. Specifically, minute values after 59, and
   up to 99, would not be complained about. One could enter a value like
   1:90 for a birth time, which would be 1:90am, or 90 minutes after
   1am, which would of course produce the same chart as 2:30am. Expect
   an error message for illegal minute values now.

10. Default file problem: The default settings file astrolog.dat had
   the -n line to start with the chart for "now", after the -Yz line
   which may set an offset to apply to the current times. This would
   make the -Yz setting not effect that first "now" chart; it would only
   be applied to subsequent chart updates. The -n line has now been
   moved to be after the -Yz line for the standard astrolog.dat file.


#####################  ASTROLOG 5.20 PROGRAM CHANGES  #####################

As with every release, a few changes that aren't feature additions or
bug fixes were made to this version, where certain old assumptions
are no longer valid. A list of these (which aren't useful to be aware
of unless you have used previous versions of the program) follows:

1. Scrollbar change: For text mode charts in the Windows version,
   behavior has been added such that if the window has been scrolled
   down so that all the text is off the top of the screen, the program
   will automatically scroll up and redraw again, so the bottom 20 rows
   or so are visible. Before, one could switch from graphics mode to
   text, or from one text chart type to another, and potentially see a
   blank screen and not realize right away that one needs to scroll up.

2. -E -X change: The graphic ephemeris now does charts daily using
   the time and zone from the current chart, like the text ephemeris
   already did. This used to just always use midnight and the default
   time zone setting.

3. -r change: All of the -r switches will now always load the files
   immediately upon invocation. The chart info will then stay in the
   "first" and "second" slots for use with the actual relationship chart
   types. Before, references to the files would be kept, which would be
   loaded on every chart update. In the Windows version this could cause
   confusion in that attempting to change the info in one of the charts
   would have those changes discarded when the file is loaded again.

4. -Xn change: Animation mode has been changed such that when a
   comparison relationship chart is up, animation will forward the chart
   in the "second" slot rather than the "first". This is more intuitive
   when animating bi-wheel transit to natal charts, where the transiting,
   i.e. second, chart will be the one forwarded.

5. Previous chart change: The initial contents of the "previous"
   chart as accessed with "-i set" has been changed from the
   astrological "chart" of version 5.10 of the program to the release of
   this version 5.20. This chart is now set to the time of the Vernal
   Equinox, specifically for 12:03am PST (8 hours before GMT) on
   Wednesday, March 20, 1996 for here in Seattle, WA (122W20, 47N36).

6. Documentation note: In these new feature "update" files, I've
   included a section on compiling instructions in the past. All this
   information is in the Helpfile.520 file so doesn't really need to be
   reprinted here.

--

#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#
+         Walter D. "Cruiser1" Pullen        !        [e-mail]          +
#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#
+   "Who am I, What am I?  As I am, I am not.  But as we are, I AM.  And to   +
#   you my creation, My Perfect Love is your Perfect Freedom. And I will be   #
+   with you forever and ever, until the End, and then forever more." - GOD   +
#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#