BoPlanets
BoPlanets is a virtual planetarium, which shows the positions of the planets in the sun system relative to an observing planet, which can be selected out of the planets and the sun. The planets can be shown in various views. In the ecliptic view the Cartesian coordinates, in the equatorial view right ascension and declination, in the horizontal view azimuth and altitude of the planets relative to an observing planet are displayed. In the horizontal view the position of the observer on the observing planet can be selected out of a list of locations or directly by its longitude and latitude.

A list of features:
  • Ecliptical View: shows the planets at their Cartesian coordinates of the ecliptic system
  • Logarithmic Ecliptical View: as Ecliptical View, but with logarithmic scaling of the radius vector
  • Equatorial View: shows the planets in the equatorial plan of the observer with right ascension and declination of the planet above the equatorial plane
  • Horizontal View: shows the planets in the horizontal system of an observer on the observing planet. The location of an observer is given by geographical longitude and latitude
  • Location (if Horizontal View is selected): select the location of the observer on the observing planet

System requirements
  • Minimum JRE: 1.6.0

BoPlanets on an eComStation machine with Open JDK


Installing BoPlanets
Download BoPlanets-V1.3-Up2.zip. Create a directory (folder) "BoPlanets". Open the zip file and go into the directory "BoPlanets-Inst". Copy the file "BoPlanets.jar", the file "guide_BoPlanets.html" and the file "orb_elem0.gif" to the directory "BoPlanets". That's it!

The BoPlanets.cmd file
BoPlanets works with Open JDK in OS/2-eCS. I have made a BoPlanets.cmd file with the following contents; 
@echo off
set path=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
set BEGINLIBPATH=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
set CLASSPATH=
[drive: BoPlanets]
cd [drive: BoPlanets]\BoPlanets
java -Duser.home=[drive: BoPlanets]\BoPlanets -jar BoPlanets.jar 2>BoPlanets-bugs.txt
I use 2 separate folders (directories), one for Java and one for BoPlanets with the files created by this program. The references used in the cmd file;

  • [drive: java] = drive with Java
  • [drive: BoPlanets] = drive with BoPlanets

should be replaced with real drive letters. Edit and save the file "BoPlanets.cmd" from the distribution. This file is copied to the "BoPlanets" directory (folder). Furthermore, different paths?, adjust according to your needs.
Create a new program object. Specify the path and file name: "[drive: BoPlanets]\BoPlanets\BoPlanets.cmd". In the tabpage Session check the boxes "OS/2 window", "Running as an icon" and "Close Window to end program". In the tabpage General you can enter the name "BoPlanets". You find enclosed in the file an OS/2 icon.

Parameters / options explained
  • You can use "javaw" instead of "java" if you like.
  • The specification "-Duser.home=[drive: BoPlanets]\BoPlanets" ensures that BoPlanets will save all necessary files in own directory instead of saving them in the home directory.
  • The addition "2>BoPlanets-bugs.txt" ensures that errors are saved in the file "BoPlanets-bugs.txt". The 2 in "2>" is not a typo!

Download
In the file you can find the above command file (all driveletters are set to C:) and an OS/2 BoPlanets icon: BoPlanets-ecs.zip.

revision August 10, 2016