This version of Stardate is freeware. You may distribute it as you like, but please include this readme file if you do. It is distributed with *no* warranty, express or implied; anything that happens as a result of your using it is your responsibility. Sorry to sound so nasty, but one may as well get the legalese out of the way early.
Stardate is a small app that is designed, really, with Multifinder systems in mind, although it will run under FInder. All it does is put up a window (a blue one if you have Color Quickdraw - whee! :-) ) and display the current stardate therein. It allows you to select the font, size and style (with some limitations on size) for your stardate display via submenus under the Stardate menu.
At the moment, the window will always pop up in the same place, kinda boring, as will the about box. This will be changed as I teach myself more of the Macintosh Toolbox. :-) Bug reports and feature requests are welcome via email at:
zimerman@phoenix.princeton.edu
on the Internet, but please don't expect a quick update - I'm in this solely for educational purposes.
The stardate given is, of course, not *THE* stardate, as no one, least of all Gene Roddenberry, is (or was in his case - RIP) exactly sure how stardates work(ed.) In Star Trek TNG there is (I believe) 'sort of' a system - 4, followed by season number, followed by three digits which increment semi-randomly throughout the season. Well then, you may ask, what the heck is this program giving me? Mr. Jay Windley, whom you can find quite easily on rec.arts.startrek.tech,
wrote a great piece of C code which calculates the current New Epoch Julian Day, (I think) followed by a decimal of the day calculated from Greenwich Mean Standard Time. This code was written for Unix, and due to my inexperience and limitations of the Mac, some of its goodies were lost in the port. Notably, the MacStardate is now calculated from the local time your Mac is set to, as the Mac does not have a Greenwich Time global. I may, later on, add an option to let you set your own time zone correction for Greenwich Mean. In any case, look upon this as a work in progress that is more intended for my coding education than general use, and you (hopefully) won't be disappointed.
WARNING!! Due to a dearth of available Mac types, this app was tested *only* on a Mac IIx, Mac SE/30 and Mac SE. The IIx runs Sys7 w/Tuner 1.1.1, and the SE/30 and SE are running 6.0.5. So, reports of machine incompatibilities interest me. :-)
