Astroplanner - Any Views

[sabana]

I've stumbled across Astroplanner which seems perfect for logging all my inormation on observations I've done and will do. Has anyone used this software. And are there other better ones on the market?

AstroPlanner

Thanks

[Merlin66]

Don't know about any others being better!

The extensive catalogue data base in AstroPlanner V2 and the seamless interaction with CdC make it perfect for me.

I've been using it for the last six years or so...I'd be lost without it now.

Highly recommended.

[sabana]

thanks. It does looke very extensive and has a good GUI

[DaveGarland]

I'm having trouble installing it. When I try to run it I get - Unable to create "AstroPlanner" in C:Users\ blah blah.

Anyone else had this? What's my problem?

Dave.

[matsey]

Hi Dave, that sounds like it might be a permissions problem. Try right-clicking on the installation file and selecting the option 'run as administrator'. If that doesn't work, I'd definitely recommend joining the yahoo user group for astroplanner (link is on the website) - it's a really helpful user community which the developer actively participates in so I'm sure someone can help you there.

By the way I'm a +1 to recommend this app, I've been using it for a couple of months and find it really easy to use and very handy .. sure you'll love it when you get it working.

Matsey

[cabby]

I've just installed it today, but haven't had a chance to play as yet!!

[Merlin66]

Dave,

Which OS are you using?

If win7 the set up and run as Administrator....

Please confirm,

Ken

[umadog]

Another similar package is SkyTools3. It's probably more powerful than Astroplanner and has a number of unique features. It places great emphasis on figuring out which objects will be best visible at what times and with what gear. The databases have been curated and it has very good info on double stars. It also goes to considerable pains to produce realistic impressions of what star fields look like through the eyepiece. It doesn't attempt to do the same for DSOs, however. The downsides are that it's more expensive and the interface is also, erm, unique... It takes a little getting used to. I like it, though, and use it for all my observing planning and logging.

[DaveGarland]

Merlin, I'm running windows 7 and I am the administrator but no joy I've a feeling this is going to be one of those frustrating computer days!

[matsey]

Dave - have you tried the "run as administrator" option when launching the install file? If you haven't, do give that a go. I know it sounds mad, but even if you have an administrator account with Windows 7 (and Vista), for some things you're not really an administrator and the computer is still trying to run whatever you're running in a more secured mode. Hence, you still need to do the right-click, run as administrator thing sometimes.

Give that a go.. and let us know how you get on

[DaveGarland]

Matesy, yup, also tried that but same thing. Grrrrr!

[matsey]

Hmm.. only other thing I can think of is that your local data directory is not on your c:\drive, so you need to change the default installation location.

Can you check to see if the path directly above the Astroplanner directory it's trying to create actually exists via Windows Explorer? ie, if the message is "unable to create c:\users\yourname\somedirectory\someotherdirectory\astroplanner".. does the directory c:\users\yourname\somedirectory\someotherdirectory exist?. If it doesn't exist, can you find the \users\yourname\somedirectory\someotherdirectory directory somewhere else (maybe the d:\drive if you have one)?

Other than that, running out of ideas ! In which case, unless anyone else has any suggestions, definitely I'd recommend either the Astroplanner usergroup, or maybe drop an email to the support email?

[DaveGarland]

Apparently C:\Users\****\Application Data is Read Only or out of memory. I got loads of memory so must be read only. Confusingly when I look for that file it doesn't appear to be visible. However if I try to create this file it says it already exists! How can I make this file visible?

Dave.

[Merlin66]

Dave,

Are you installing V2 from the DVD or from the download version?

Try an uninstall and remove any remaining files from the docs & settings folder.

[cplee42]

Was there ever a resolution to this as I have exactly the same problems on Win 7 and I am also the admin?

[ezerasurfr]

You can try turning off UAC (user account control). Simply press start and type "user account control" in the search bar. Click on "Change User Account Control Settings" and you can disable it from there. This will allow administrators to install programs uninhibited.