SkyMap Pro

What works

I've tested all the menus to test its features and so far almost everything works as intended.

In the Wine version that came with Feisty Fawn, SMP had problems with the HTML rendering in the about boxes of object, but this has been fixed in versions of Wine that came with Gutsy Gibbon, the remaining minor annoyances in HTML pages disappeared when I updated to 0.9.49.

What does not

1) The "About" box for each object (opened by right clicking on an astronomical object and selecting "About..." from the menu) has a "Close" button that should be in focus but is not. This means I cannot Esc to close the "About" box as I can in Windows.

2) Telescope control using ASCOM. I receive "Runtime Error '429': ActiveX component can't create object". Although this error comes from the ASCOM driver and not from SkyMap per se, it prevents successful usage.

3) Tip of the Day. It shows a blank window, but the tip appears when "Next Tip" is clicked. However it is ugly: only the text portion has a white background, the rest of the window retains its blank gray background.

4) Print Preview. Instead of showing a preview of the page to be created, it says "Before you can perform printer-related tasks such as page setup or printing to a document, you need to install a printer. Please install one and retry." Printing works from normap linux applications. This could be fixed by adding the following lines in win.ini:

[devices]
Wine PostScript Driver=WINEPS.DRV,LPT1:

[windows]
device=Wine PostScript Driver,WINEPS.DRV,LPT1:

and adding the same printer drivers in regedit (you should do both!). However this is too much work for ordinary users. Installing SkyMap should work without further configurations.

Workarounds

What was not tested

Telescope control using built-in drivers (non-ASCOM).

Hardware tested

Graphics:

• GPU:
• Driver:

Additional Comments

One of SMP's biggest advantage over its competitors like KStars is its ability to print professional-looking maps such as those found in books and sky atlases. Also one of SMP's most common use (like other planetarium software) is its ability to control the telescope. If printing and telescope control do not work out of the box, this seriously hinders its intended use.