This file contains information specific to the Atari ST port of starchart:


Files in this distribution:

star.ttp - the program itself

starchrt.doc - The nroff'd manual page for the original program.

yale.str - the first 200 stars of the full database that was posted to
	the net recently.

planet.str - the planetary positions as of 2/7/87

readme - this file



Additional documentation for Atari ST port of "starchart":


Command line changes:

1. Titles are not supported on the ST because screen space was too tight.

2. An optional first parameter of "-s" causes the program not to label
   the planets or the more prominent stars.


Other Changes:

After the display has been completed, the program pauses waiting for a
keystroke. If an 's' or 'S' is typed, the display is saved in the
neochrome file "star.neo" in the current directory. Any other key
terminates the program.


General Information

The program works on color systems only. Shades of gray are used to
display stars of various magnitudes. The dimmest stars are displayed
with a color of (2,2,2) since the color (1,1,1) is worthless on the
newer monitors. Interesting effects can be obtained by tinkering with
the palette inside neochrome. (Making the dimmest stars invisible (black)
reduces display clutter on wide angle views.)

The program uses the line-a interface directly, so it can be run from
the desktop or from shells like the mCSH. It switches to low res. but
restores the previous resolution and palette on termination.

The program expects the files "yale.str" and "planet.str" to be in the
current directory (or in d:\usr\lib). These files contain the star and
planet information. A separate program is used to create the planet
file given a date and time. This program hasn't been ported yet, so I've
included a planet.str file that was made on a UNIX system.

The axis labels aren't always terrific looking, but they aren't bad at
most magnifications.

Try the parameters "0 0 40" to get a display including Mars and Jupiter.

Credit for the original program goes to Alan Paeth.

Tony Andrews
Wildridge Consulting, Inc.
...!ihnp4!onecom!wldrdg!tony