dave b
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/10/05
Posts: 3537
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Every ATM probably has used Newt at some time or other.
Yes, it has its flaws, but it is a good program for anyone not quite ready to invest in a heartier CAD package, or just someone wanting to play some "what if?" games.
it does not run in horrid Vista (does anything?), or Windows 7 (not even if you right click to properties and "run in XP compatibility mode").
But, you can make it work in Virtual XP Machine mode:
1. First download both of these :
Windows XP Mode & Windows Virtual PC
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx
2. Install Windows XP Mode first.
3. Install Virtual PC next (reboot)
4. Hit Start, launch Windows Virtual PC XP Mode
5. Pick a password (sit back for 3 minutes while it installs)
6. A new desktop opens, a mini replica of a XP desktop
7. Launch Newt - design your dream scope....
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dave bonandrini
30" f/5.2 Dobsonian
President of GCAC
Astromart Moderator
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dave b
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/10/05
Posts: 3537
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Newt is here:
http://www.dalekeller.net/ATM/newtonians/newtsoft/newtsoft.htm
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dave bonandrini
30" f/5.2 Dobsonian
President of GCAC
Astromart Moderator
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GaryS
super member
Reged: 10/30/06
Posts: 191
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Quote:
Every ATMer probably has used Newt at some time or other.
it does not run in horrid Vista (does anything?),
Vista is truly horrid, but I am able to run Newt on it without problems. Not you?
All for now,
Gary
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Sky & Telescope Contributing Editor
SkyNews Columnist & Blogger
www.GarySeronik.com
A place for stargazing enthusiasts.
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grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 246
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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Funny mine is loaded on a memory stick and runs perfectly on vista as is, without any fancy run as or anything.
Grendel
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dave b
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/10/05
Posts: 3537
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no, my only vista machine, my laptop with dual processors and 6 gigs of ram running vista64 would not run newt in any way shape or form.
i reformated it and installed win7 a few months back (also 64 bit) and the above procedure worked great.
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dave bonandrini
30" f/5.2 Dobsonian
President of GCAC
Astromart Moderator
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grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 246
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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Ah I am only on 32 bit vista, so that probably explains it.
Grendel
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dreamregent
sage
Reged: 04/06/09
Posts: 456
Loc: Clearwater, FL
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Quote:
Ah I am only on 32 bit vista, so that probably explains it.
Grendel
Yeah, I think that's what it is too. I can't get sec.exe for secondary analysis to run though. I'm using 32-bit Vista. It starts up and lets me input values but crashes when I hit enter.
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Building a f5.24 10" Dob
in an octagonal wood tube
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dave b
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/10/05
Posts: 3537
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thats how they get you, vista32 and win7 only see 3 gigs of ram.
you need the 64 bit versions to utilize all of the memory you paid for
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dave bonandrini
30" f/5.2 Dobsonian
President of GCAC
Astromart Moderator
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dave b
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/10/05
Posts: 3537
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the virtual machine even reminds you that you have unused icons on your desktop and that you do not have anti virus installed - all of the things you hated about XP!
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dave bonandrini
30" f/5.2 Dobsonian
President of GCAC
Astromart Moderator
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pstarr
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/17/04
Posts: 1280
Loc: NE Ohio
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Have you ever noticed that most of the tweaks you see for Vista is how to turn stuff off. I don't know why they always think more bells and whistles are what people want and not speed and simplicity. That said, once I got mine "tweaked" the way I want it Vista has been a good system. Your machine does need the correct resource's for it to work right. I run 32 bit and Newt. works fine. My son is a programmer for a large software co. and I have access to free Windows 7 but haven't yet decided if it's worth it. I've been reading the forums and it sounds like many of the same problems that people were having Vista and surfacing with 7. Do you keep a well oiled system or start over and wait a year or more for the service packs to make it work right. My son keeps telling me to get a Mac.
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Paul
10" Home built F-6 Eq Newt. w/Zambuto mirror, built for lunar and planetary viewing.
12'x12' roll-off roof observatory
6" Home built f-6 Newt. w/Dick Wessling mirror on CG-5 Eq. mount, built for high resolution work.
4.5" Orion Starblast on Eq. mount
TV Radians 4,5,6,8,10,12,
Pentax XL 10.5mm
Pentax XW 14mm
Baader Hyperion 17mm
4&5mm UO Abbe Orthos.
3.2mm TMB planetary
TV 2.5x barlow, TV 1.8x barlow
My equipment philosophy... If it ain't broke, fix it anyway.
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cdndob
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/28/06
Posts: 658
Loc: The Great White North
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Newt worked perfectly for me under Windows 7, didn't have to use any special modes or anything.
Steve
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deSitter
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/09/04
Posts: 2926
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Use Sun's Virtualbox and run DOS in a virtual machine. See the "Astronomy Software and Computers" forum. As a tutorial, I made a DOS/Windows 3.1 VM.
-drl
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dave b
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/10/05
Posts: 3537
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Quote:
I have access to free Windows 7 but haven't yet decided if it's worth it.
win7 is faster than vista in the benchmarks i ran, but XP is still faster than some of the win7 benches.
if my laptop had sound drivers that worked in XP, honestly, I would still just use that. i used to have it set up as a dual boot vista64/ XP but now with the virtual XP, it is just win7 64.
Quote:
Do you keep a well oiled system or start over and wait a year or more for the service packs to make it work right. My son keeps telling me to get a Mac.
i usually wipe my drive and reinstall once a year. gets rid of all the registry bloat, and spyware junk. you tend to forget how fast your desktop used to appear....
i make all my non tech friends go mac too. so much easier to not answer the phone all the time with "dude, i have a virus norton cant remove....you got to help me"
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dave bonandrini
30" f/5.2 Dobsonian
President of GCAC
Astromart Moderator
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pstarr
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/17/04
Posts: 1280
Loc: NE Ohio
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I'll probably wait a few months and go with 7. Many problems people had with Vista was with trying to upgrade from their current operating system. You really need to reformat and do a clean install for the best chance of a trouble free system down the road. My next laptop will be a MacBook Pro. Prices have come down some as they now have a nice 13" for $1199.00. I got rid of my desktop several years ago and will never get another one, what clunkers. The laptops do everything the average person needs and do it wireless.
MacBook Pro
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Paul
10" Home built F-6 Eq Newt. w/Zambuto mirror, built for lunar and planetary viewing.
12'x12' roll-off roof observatory
6" Home built f-6 Newt. w/Dick Wessling mirror on CG-5 Eq. mount, built for high resolution work.
4.5" Orion Starblast on Eq. mount
TV Radians 4,5,6,8,10,12,
Pentax XL 10.5mm
Pentax XW 14mm
Baader Hyperion 17mm
4&5mm UO Abbe Orthos.
3.2mm TMB planetary
TV 2.5x barlow, TV 1.8x barlow
My equipment philosophy... If it ain't broke, fix it anyway.
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Starman1
Vendor - Scope City
Reged: 06/24/03
Posts: 12227
Loc: Los Angeles
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Ah, upgrading--such fun!
I have over 100 programs on my XP Pro Business computer.
99 of them are 4-10 upgrades updated from the parent websites, i.e. I can't install them on a new PC because I have no discs for the versions I'm using.
I could simply buy them all again and download the latest versions from the parent websites, which would make my next PC cost more than $10,000.
I could buy a Program Migration program and move the programs to the new PC, but that probably wouldn't work going from 32 bit to 64 bit.
Then there's the time involved. It took me over 300 hours on tech calls to get all the programs up and running on my new PC when converting from Windows 98 to XP Pro.
And about a dozen programs never worked and I was unable to use them on the new computer.
People tell me to buy a Mac, except only one of the programs I use is compatible with Apple computers. So that's simply not an option.
My friend who builds computers from pieces tells me to simply rebuy all the programs I truly need and use and just live without the rest.
If I could buy a new laptop with XP Pro, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I can't. The issue brought up with running NEWT probably also applies to PLOP and other useful astronomy programs.
Frankly, I'm not looking forward to the 6 months of pain I'll adopt when buying a new laptop.
You know, it's possible to write a program that works on all architectures. OpenOffice is one. I wonder why not every program is written that way?
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Don Pensack
12.5" Truss Dob, 5" Maksutov, Fujinon Binos
Sustaining Lifetime IDA member
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dreamregent
sage
Reged: 04/06/09
Posts: 456
Loc: Clearwater, FL
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Quote:
You know, it's possible to write a program that works on all architectures. OpenOffice is one. I wonder why not every program is written that way?
Now, the answer to that one is obvious... $$$! 
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Building a f5.24 10" Dob
in an octagonal wood tube
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cdndob
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/28/06
Posts: 658
Loc: The Great White North
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Quote:
If I could buy a new laptop with XP Pro, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I can't. The issue brought up with running NEWT probably also applies to PLOP and other useful astronomy programs.
You can buy Windows 7 Pro with a Free XP downgrade (or upgrade depending on your point of view) so in a sense, you can buy a new laptop with XP.
Quote:
You know, it's possible to write a program that works on all architectures. OpenOffice is one. I wonder why not every program is written that way?
Generally it costs more money to develop for multiple platforms and if 90% of your market is on one of them, well ..... that's business.
Steve
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