Posting charts from Astrolog

[Temair]

I'd like to make this a sticky, but I don't know how to do that. After several unsuccessful attempts at posting my astrolog charts and asking those who have done it, and asking the moderators how to do it, I finally asked Walter Pullen, author of Astrolog. This is what he told me:

>I have a question about Astrolog. I can see how to save the chart as a
>bitmap, but I am trying to upload the image to a site that does not accept
>bitmap images. They said to save it as a JPEG, but I don't see how to do
>that.

Hello! Astrolog can save as Bitmap (BMP) and copy such bitmaps to the
clipboard, but it can't save as JPEG or GIF. You need to have some other
program load an Astrolog bitmap and save it in the desired format. For
example, in Astrolog do "Edit / Copy Chart Bitmap", start MS Paint (should
be in the Accessories program group), then do "Edit / Paste" in Paint. Do
"File / Save As" in Paint, and save as GIF. If JPEG isn't available in that
program, use a different program that definitely supports JPEG like
MS Photo Editor. Note GIF looks better for Astrolog charts than JPEG, so
use GIF if that site above allows it.

O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O
* Walter D. "Cruiser1" Pullen :) ! Astara@msn.com *
O Astrolog 5.40 homepage: http://www.magitech.com/astrolog/astrolog.htm O
*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*
It worked for me and I finally got my charts up. I jsut wanted to share just in case someone else had the same problem.

[Fluffmeister]

It would be a good idea to make this a sticky - perhaps a mod could do it?

Astrolog is a splendid - and totally FREE - program. The original version is starting to look its age, though, and with that in mind Irish astrologer António Ramos has redone it, with support from the Astrolog community, for modern versions of Windows - and renamed it Astrolog32. This new version is still totally free, and you can download it at the Astrolog32 homepage here:

http://uk.geocities.com/astrolog32/

The extra features that Astrolog32 has that are very useful are:

1. You can use long filenames at last - the original Astrolog would only let you save a file as "chrismit.dat" with a maximum of 8 characters before the ".dat". Now you can save it with long filenames, like "Chris Mitchell.dat"

2. When you do a bi-wheel (eg natal and transit), the display now shows the date of the transit. Before it just showed the natal base info, with no indication of what the outer wheel was.

3. If you do a harmonic chart, the new version prints the harmonic number on the info bar - the original showed the chart, but didn't say what harmonic it was for.

4. The way that object selections (what planets and points to use) are done has been made a lot more logical and intuitive

5. The menu structure has been altered to make it a bit more logical - the keyboard shortcuts are exactly the same as before, but the Windows menu structure is neater.

6. Fixed stars are dealt with more logically (this was actually done a while back with Valentin Abramov's update to Astrolog) - instead of displaying over 80 stars on the wheel (it looked very crowded), the default is now to only display fixed stars that aspect planets.

7. One thing that always confused new users was the bizarre "offset for now" field; when you start Astrolog, it tries to show the chart for your local time and place, but it only worked if you tweaked the "offset", otherwise it gave you the chart for a different time to your current time. This has now been removed - Astrolog32 lets you set your default time zone and location, and always shows the chart for now correctly when you go into it.

Also, there is a Yahoo! group for Astrolog users, with lots of useful advice: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astrolog_List

[Temair]

Does Mr. Pullen approve the new version? He has been so helpful whenever I ask him a question about it and this time he answered me in less than a day.

[Kadynas]

7. One thing that always confused new users was the bizarre "offset for now" field; when you start Astrolog, it tries to show the chart for your local time and place, but it only worked if you tweaked the "offset", otherwise it gave you the chart for a different time to your current time. This has now been removed - Astrolog32 lets you set your default time zone and location, and always shows the chart for now correctly when you go into it.
Really?! :lol: And I thought it was just me!
I went ahead and downloaded it; I haven't had it since my old computer died and astro.com is pretty good about letting you do as many free charts as you want. :)

Oh if anyone wants to make this a sticky, just PM an admin. Their names are in bold if you're looking at the "who's online" list at the bottom of the main page. :)

[Fluffmeister]

Does Mr. Pullen approve the new version? He has been so helpful whenever I ask him a question about it and this time he answered me in less than a day.
Yes indeed - there's a link to Astrolog32 on Walter's page at http://www.astrolog.org/astrolog/astlink.htm

Walter Pullen has always made the source available, and encouraged people to develop Astrolog. This isn't the first development - there have been several ports to other machines (such as Mac and Unix), a special version for asteroids, and Valja's updated version. Astrolog32 is simply the latest in a long line of developments to Walter Pullen's original masterpiece - in effect, Astrolog32 is the Windows32 port of Astrolog (Walter wrote it for 16-bit OS). He doesn't post very often on the Astrolog list now, but a lot of astrologers who have been Astrolog champions (like Michael Rideout) have supported the development, and Walter is fully credited in this port of Astrolog; indeed, it's still very much his program.

There's even a very comprehensive user manual for it - though only in French at the moment!

Astrolog has never been a commercial program - Walter's original concept in creating it was to produce a state of the art astrology program free of charge; in those days, state of the art was DOS, and he subsequently developed a good Windows interface for it - but that was when state of the art was Windows 3.1, and Astrolog 5.40 was developed in 1998. Six years on, virtually all Windows users are now 32-bit users - so Astrolog32 is really in the spirit of the original concept.

[Temair]

Thanks. I just didn't want anyone to be taking his work and claiming it as their own. I have now downloaded it and it will take a bit of adjusting. I've been using Astrolog 5.4 for several years now, probably since 2000 or so. I do so like not being restricted by 8 characters for files, too. Thanks again for the info.

[Kadynas]

Is there any way to save it in a different file format if you /don't/ have a graphics program on your PC? :huh:

[Fluffmeister]

Is there any way to save it in a different file format if you /don't/ have a graphics program on your PC? :huh:
No - Astrolog will save in BMP or WMF format, but not in JPG. However, if you have Windows, MS Paint does come as standard - it's in the "Accessories" bit accessible from the Start button. MS Paint does allow you to load a BMP file and save it as JPG or GIF.

[Kadynas]

Thanks! I didn't even realize MSPaint came standard! :D

[corsai]

wow!! this is great thanks alot, i love this comunity, energy to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nantonos]

No - Astrolog will save in BMP or WMF format, but not in JPG. However, if you have Windows, MS Paint does come as standard - it's in the "Accessories" bit accessible from the Start button. MS Paint does allow you to load a BMP file and save it as JPG or GIF.

And for that type of graphic, gif (or png) is going to be both crisper and smaller than jpeg.

If you want to print the chart or put it in a wordprocessor, wmf is a better option. it will use the higher resolution of your printer.

[Nantonos]

There's even a very comprehensive user manual for it - though only in French at the moment!

Where is the manual? There is a readme (in ms word!) of the plain text help (ie, a list of all the switches etc) but I didn't see a manual.

[Fluffmeister]

Where is the manual? There is a readme (in ms word!) of the plain text help (ie, a list of all the switches etc) but I didn't see a manual.
The user manual is only in French at the moment - the online version is here:

http://philipeau.free.fr/astro/mode_emploi_astrolog32.htm

and the PDF version is here:

http://philipeau.free.fr/astro/mode_emploi_astrolog32.pdf

These links are hidden in the "Download Astrolog French version" link on the homepage - however, I think there are quite a few people who want the English version of Astrolog32, but would still like the user manual even though it is in French. I've posted on the Astrolog List asking if they can put this on the home page, too, to make it easier to find.

The online list is a great support group for Astrolog (all versions), too:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astrolog_List (you need to subscribe to Yahoo groups, but it's free).

[Kodachi]

Do you have any advice for me? Ive tried to download every single free astrology thing I could find just to get a message that I can't run it due to a DOS issue. Says I can't run it cuz its for Windows (Which is exactly what I have (XP to be exact!)) Any help? Cuz I already was told that my System32 could be messed up due to a virus but I just can't delete the file. Any Techie Witch can help me?

[Fluffmeister]

Do you have any advice for me? Ive tried to download every single free astrology thing I could find just to get a message that I can't run it due to a DOS issue. Says I can't run it cuz its for Windows (Which is exactly what I have (XP to be exact!)) Any help? Cuz I already was told that my System32 could be messed up due to a virus but I just can't delete the file. Any Techie Witch can help me?

Do you have virus protection on your PC? If files in your System32 directory have been corrupted, you may need to reinstall Windows XP, but this is a pretty extreme measure.

[KEishin]

What's the exact error message? Is it something like "Invalid Program File Name, Please check your pif file"?
If it's that, you have corrupted system files and you should do a reinstall of XP (but not reformat).

You may also have to run the program in Compatibility Mode under XP. Try here for info: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/appcompat.mspx

[ciuboda]

From Astrolog software you can save the chart as a bitmap and than converting into GIF or JPG file.

And then you can uploaded here http://www.imageshack.us (http://www.imageshack.us) . You will get several links so you can add the picture to any forum post.

I added for test purposes a chart. See below:

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/9577/cristina7dt.gif (http://imageshack.us)

[Fluffmeister]

From Astrolog software you can save the chart as a bitmap and than converting into GIF or JPG file.

And then you can uploaded here http://www.imageshack.us (http://www.imageshack.us/) . You will get several links so you can add the picture to any forum post.





Hi, Dan - you can upload GIFs anyway to Mystic Wicks using the "Manage Attachments" button under the "Submit Reply" button, like this. If this pic is quite big (like a chart), then the thumbnail image is shrunk, like the pic of the chart below, but you can click on it to get the full size pic. If the pic is small (like the pic of me and the monkey), it doesn't bother shrinking it:

[Queen]

Does anyone have any experience with downloads and macs? I tried to download astrolog, but when I do I can't get it to open. This goes pretty much for any program I download.

[Fluffmeister]

Does anyone have any experience with downloads and macs? I tried to download astrolog, but when I do I can't get it to open. This goes pretty much for any program I download.

Astrolog32 won't work with a Mac - there is an older version of Astrolog available for the Mac, available at www.astrolog.org (http://www.astrolog.org)

This is the problem with astrology programs in general if you're a Mac user - there aren't any really good ones available, and they're expensive. Io is the standard one for the Mac, but it's expensive and looks very dated and basic compared to modern astrology programs for PCs.