If you have any questions that are not answered in this documentation, any bugs, or any suggestions for future additions to Promethius, please don’t hesitate to contact me at cps@access.digex.net or visit my WWW page at http://www.access.digex.net/~cps/
A note to those evaluating a demo copy of Promethius:
Please note that the demo version of Promethius only allows a maximum of 40 entries. This should prove to be a sufficient number of loggings to thoroughly examine Promethius. When you upgrade to the complete version, you can still use any Logbooks created with the demo version, and add additional entries beyond the limit of 40.
To receive the full version, please send payment of $25 US ($35 US outside of the United States/Canada to cover additional handling costs) to:
Chris Smolinski
40 South Lake Way
Reisterstown, MD 21136
email: cps@access.digex.net
http://www.access.digex.net/~cps/
Menu Commands
Apple Menu
About Promethius...
Brings up a window which displays the copyright information for Promethius.
Click on the OK button to dismiss this window.
Help...
Brings up the Help window for Promethius. This allows you to quickly refer to the documentation while staying in the application.
File Menu
New
This menu command is used to create a new logging file. When selected, you are prompted to name the new file, as show below:
Open...
This menu command is used to load a logging file. When selected, a listing of available files is displayed, and you are prompted to select a file, as show below:
Close
This menu command closes the presently open logging file.
Save
This command is not presently used, as the open logging file is automatically updated each time an entry is added or edited.
Save As...
This command is not presently used, as the open logging file is automatically updated each time an entry is added or edited.
Revert
This command is not presently used.
Page Setup...
Brings up a dialog box which allows the printing page to be defined. When printing logboox pages, the Landscape orientation should be selected, which allows each logbookpage to be properly printed.
The actual Page Setup dialog box varies from system to system, depending upon the type of printer.
Print...
Brings up a dialog box which allows logboox pages to be printed.
Either the entire logbook may be printed (by selected All pages), or a range of pages may be printed by placing the starting page number in the From field, and the ending page number in the To field.
The number of copies to be printed should be entered in the Copies field. The actual Print dialog box varies from system to system, depending upon the type of printer.
Quit
Quits the program.
Edit Menu
Preferences...
Brings up the following dialog, which allows you to enter information to customize your copy of Promethius.
The Time Zone field should be set to the correct time zone for your location. For example, if you are in the Eastern Time Zone during Standard Time (EST) this field would contain -5, since that time zone is five hours behind UTC. During the summer months (Daylight Savings Time) this field would contain -4, as you are now only four hours behind UTC.
If you wish the time and date for all logbook entries to be in local time, not UTC, then enter 0 into this field. This might be the case for a logbook containing only local stations, such as a scanner logbook, where UTC may not be appropriate.
Enabling Link To RigTalk allows Promethius to communicate with other applications which can control receivers using your Mac’s serial port. One example of this is my application MacIcomControl, which allows your Mac to control Icom’s series of radios. When this is enabled, the RigTalk menu is enabled. In addition, whenever a new logbook entry is created, the radio’s frequency and mode are automatically entered, saving time.
The Launch RigTalk feature allows Promethius to automatically start up your radio control application, so you don’t have to do it manally.
The remaining choices in this menu are not used in Promethius, and is provided for Desktop Accessory support only.
Search Menu
Go to Beginning
Jumps to the beginning of the Logbook.
Go to End
Jumps to the end of the Logbook.
Find...
This menu command is used to search for a word or phrase in the Logbook. Enter the text in the Search for field, select Ignore case as desired, and click on the Find button. Promethius will search through the logbook for an entry containing that text. If such an entry is found, it will be highlighted, otherwise a message indicating that the desired text could not be found will be displayed.
Find Again
The same text as most recently entered in the Find... dialog is searched for again, from the present position in the Logbook.
RigTalk Menu
Set Radio
This sets the radio to the frequency and mode of the presently selected logbook entry (assuming RigTalk is enabled, and an application to communicate to the radio is also running).
Changing Pages
To flip forward through pages, click in the lower left part of page fold (located in the lower left corner of the logbook). To flip backwards through pages, click in the upper right part of page fold.
Adding a new entry
To add a new entry, go to the last page of the open logbook file, and click on the first blank entry in the logbook. A dialog box will open, allowing you to enter the pertinent information for that logging:
Note that the Date and Time fields have already been filled in. (If not correct, verify that your Macintosh’s time and date are correct, and that you have entered the correct time zone in Promethius’s Preferences, located under the Edit menu)
Enter in the additional information as applicable, and then select OK to save the new entry. Cancel will abort the new entry. Delete is used when editing an entry to remove that entry from the logbook.
Editing/Deleting an entry
To edit an entry, go to the page of the open logbook file containing that entry, and click on it. A dialog box (just like the one used to create a new entry) will open, allowing you to edit the entry.
Select OK to save the edited entry. Cancel will abort the changes made, and keep the old information. Delete will remove that entry from the logbook.
Quick Tutorial
Here are a few easy steps to get started with Promethius:
• If you are installing a new version of Promethius, please remove an existing
Promethius Preferences file from your Preferences folder.
• Create a new Logbook by selecting New from the File menu.
• You are presented with a blank Logbook page. Now it’s time to enter your first entry.
• Double Click anywhere on the first blank line on the Logbook page.
• A dialog box will appear, into which you enter the pertinent information for that entry:
The Station’s Name
The Date of the logging (today’s date is already entered)
The starting and ending time of the logging (starting time pre-entered)
The frequency
The mode in which the station was broadcasting
The location of the station
The reception quality SIO code
The date a reception report was sent to the station
The date a QSL card was received back from the station
A field for entering any programming details or other information to be kept with that logging entry. A maximum of 255 characters may be entered into this field.
• After verifying that all the information is correct, click on the OK button, and the entry will be entered into the Logbook. The Logbook file on disk is automatically updated whenever a logging is entered, edited, or deleted.
• Add additional entries to the Logbook as necessary
• If it is necessary to edit an existing entry, click on that entry to select it. The same dialog box used to create a new entry is displayed, with the information for that entry. Edit as necessary, then click on OK to save the edited entry, or Cancel to ignore the changes and restore the previous information.
• If it is necessary to delete an existing entry, click on that entry to select it. The same dialog box used to create a new entry is displayed, with the information for that entry. Click on Delete to delete that entry from the Logbook.
• As new entries are added to the Logbook, they are automatically placed in chronological order.
• Click on the “page flipper” in the lower left-hand corner of a logbook page to flip to the previous or next page.
