19 Mar 16 04:18, you wrote to All:   
      
    AK> I need the XP drive to contiue to use FIDO and also to run a ham radio   
    AK> program called STSPLUS which I use to track satellites, especially the   
    AK> Shuttle.   
      
   actually, no you don't... STSPLUS is pretty limiting in the number of sats   
   that it can track at once ;)   
      
    AK> Well STSPLUS will not run on the machine.  It just blanks out the   
    AK> screen and the only out is to reboot the machine.   
      
   STSPLUS was written QuickBASIC and for early EGA modes... it is long past time   
   to upgrade to software that is operable with today's systems and hardware...   
      
    AK> Anyone have any ideas why this program will not work on this machine?   
      
   no clue... the author, Dave Ransome, passed away of congestive heart failure   
   back in Nov 2006... SOP0223 was the last release of STSPLUS...   
      
    AK> It it worked well on my "old" XP machine which still is a pretty slick   
    AK> system.   
      
   agreed, STSPLUS is a nice system... i used to use it all the time... still   
   have it installed on my OS/2 system... had it taking snapshots that i was   
   posting to my space tracking web page... i stopped that a few years after   
   dave's death... i switched to using Orbitron and HeavenSat (on my sole   
   remaining Vista box) and several other tracking type programs that i use on my   
   *nix boxen... there is also an online site called Heaven's Above which is very   
   good and i also use satflare.com's live tracking map to replace the static   
   updated every 5 minutes one that i used to get from STSPLUS...   
      
   Orbitron was written by a kid in highschool... it has very little support   
   these days but it is a good winwhatever program to use... it has the same type   
   of ground tracks as STSPLUS as well as a prediction center that is very   
   similar... here's a link to the author's site... http://www.stoff.pl/   
      
   HeavenSat provides several views but is not as polished as STSPLUS was and is   
   not as graphical as Orbitron... it is also low in the available support   
   area... i don't have a direct link to heavensat's page where i downloaded it   
   from but this one should get you started... you might want to check out the   
   stuff that the satobs guys have, too... https://www.google.com/s   
   arch?q=heavensat   
      
   here's a link to satflare and its tracking app for ISS... http:/   
   www.satflare.com/track.asp?q=25544#TOP   
      
   here's a link to heaven's above... http://heavens-above.com/main.aspx   
      
   FWIW: i also use another program called Stellarium... it is a plantearium   
   software package but it has the ability to pull TLEs and show them on the   
   openGL 3D sky dome that it projects... https://sourceforge.net/p   
   ojects/stellarium/   
      
   they're all good and i use some combination of all of them at various times...   
   i've even written my own TLE tool to replace dave ransom's old orbitel program   
   because it is extremely limited in the number of TLEs that it can handle...   
   for example, a supposedly complete list of all available TLEs processed by   
   Orbitel results in only 1903 satellites in the list but there is actually   
   16581 satellites available in my TLEs... yeah, Orbitel is much too limited,   
   too... like STSPLUS it has also reached its EOL...   
      
   )\/(ark   
      
   Always Mount a Scratch Monkey   
      
   ... Jewish Dilemma: Pork chops; half-price.   
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