Just downloaded Stellarium.....oh dear!?

[Thalestris24]

Personally, I find Stellarium simple and intuitive - which is why I use it. I don't have a PhD! Not that having a PhD is in itself a guide to how clever someone is...

Louise

[SilverAstro]

3 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

Personally, I find Stellarium simple and intuitive

I'm sure that will be a great comfort to the op !

PS : I dont have a PhD either !

[cloudsweeper]

On 03/01/2017 at 02:24, Dave In Vermont said:

I'd say I'm the wrong guy to talk to on Stellarium - any version - that so appears to confuse & befuddle. I find it quite straight-foreward myself and never presented much of a challange. Certainly no more difficult than my #1. favorite I use mostly: The SkyX - Serious edition. I do like Stellarium and do use it, too. As well as CdC, and have no issues with any others such as Starry Night Pro & Sky Tools.

My guess is simply that many people are not "computer-people." No more than I would plan to take up juggling running chainsaws while riding a unicycle.

To each their own,

Dave

LoL.  Are you sure Dave?  I'm sure I've seen the odd chainsaw lurking in the background of the many photos of your gear!

Doug.

[Thalestris24]

3 hours ago, SilverAstro said:

I'm sure that will be a great comfort to the op !

PS : I dont have a PhD either !

I must admit, though, that I do have several degrees (including computer science!) and a Masters, lol, so perhaps I find some such things easier than maybe some other people do... I guess if you don't already know much about the theory of astronomy and also aren't so comfortable with computing, then Stellarium might be a bit daunting at first. I was introduced to it when I did an elective astronomy course in Sept 2013. The lecturer demonstrated and recommended it. It was my first contact with planetarium software or any other kind of planetarium. The course and Stellarium started me on the road to astro imaging and that's led to me being quite a bit poorer than I might otherwise have been!

Louise

[JOC]

Stellarium is certainly not unusable, there are far worse systems out there.  What I'd say to new users is just to start clicking - see what the buttons do, read what's on the screen - click a button and see what difference it makes to the display - I'm sure you won't break it, and if you do for some unlikely reason mess up the settings beyond belief just uninstall it and go from the start again.  I'm def. a clicker and you can learn a lot by clicking.  No-one ever taught me how to drive standard office software, but I learned by clicking and now I'd call myself an expert in it.  All you need is the confidence to try things.  FWIW I have a degree equivalent, but it's not in computers!!

[Dave In Vermont]

2 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

LoL.  Are you sure Dave?  I'm sure I've seen the odd chainsaw lurking in the background of the many photos of your gear!

Doug.

That old thing? Oh my - I loaned that out years ago to a kid named 'Jason.' I think he also walked-off with my old Hockey-Mask from back in my sports' days.....

Vrooooooooooooooooooom............

Dave ... (Resting-In-Pieces)

[Cornelius Varley]

I have never found Stellarium a difficult or complex programme to use, for which you have to congratulate the authors for. I have used some commercial programmes (work related) that are so mind boggling complex and unintuitive that you are required to attend and pass a three day course before you are allowed to even log on to the programme. And then only for the simplest of tasks.

[SilverAstro]

3 hours ago, JOC said:

I'm sure you won't break it, and if you do for some unlikely reason mess up the settings beyond belief just uninstall it and go from the start again.

agreed, well said   but some peeps are well frightened of computals, especially if it is not 'theirs' or is a family one.

Actually, that is another of my campaigns on behalf of those who are a bit in awe of Bill, what's all this install stuff - what's wrong with being "portable" then no need of uninstall proceedures just delete its folder(directory) (and I remember times when the uninstall often didnt ! )

I think there is a portable version of Stellarium out there somewhere, but it isnt totally quiet, and I've lost it

 

[SilverAstro]

And in case anyone thought   I     was having trouble with Stellarium -- not ! I am well capable of writing my own planetarium prog. indeed I started to once, as well as writing a graphics package addon to a DOS compiler, (violins)

No, just a campaign on behalf of the OP, it never helps someone who says  " ....... oh dear" to tell them "well I dont have any trouble with it "  !