On Sun, Mar 9, 2008 at 2:51 PM, Alan Sieg WB5RMG wb5rmg@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