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COMPUTER REQUIREMENT NEWS
The ever-changing world of computers and computer software is a constant challenge for all of us. In this section we share the ways in which we are keeping up with the latest hardware and software changes that affect your Solar suite of products.
WINDOWS 7
All of Esoteric Technologies' current programs for sale are compatible with Windows 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, and this includes our world-class Solar Fire Gold program.
If you have trouble installing your old Solar Fire Gold CD on a new computer with Windows 7, you will need to email us for an updated CD. The cost of the upgrade is AUD$65 to update your Solar Fire Gold from v7.0 to v7.3 (there is also a downloadable version available) or AUD$190 from previous versions of Solar Fire (there is also a downloadable version available). All new purchasers of Solar Fire Gold will be receiving the Windows 7 compatible version. If you already have Solar Fire Gold, it is not recommended that you get version 7.3, unless you purchase a new computer or would like some of the new features.
If you would like to see the new features that have been included in Solar Fire Gold since v7.0, please click here and view the top part of this page. If you don't yet own Solar Fire Gold, click here for more details on the program and how to purchase it.
PLEASE NOTE: It has been discovered that Solar Fire v5.1 has some issues with Windows 7 AFTER it has been installed so we recommend that if you do have the Solar Fire v5.1 version that you do not install it on a Windows 7 computer but instead upgrade it to the latest Solar Fire Gold version for installation on a Windows 7 computer.
We are pleased to assure you that the Solar Fire team is working hard and creatively to keep your software up-to-date.
Please contact us for Windows 7 compatible updated CDs for all of our other programs: Solar Writer v2.3, Solar Maps v3.1, JigSaw v2.2, and Solar Spark v2.2
Our latest versions will operate on all versions of Windows from and including Windows 2000. If you have an older version of Windows (i.e. Win 98) then you will either have to update your Windows operating system or please do check with your agent or with our staff to see if we have some older CDs in stock.
For those of you who have enquired about Solar Fire Deluxe (v6) and previous versions, please note that there is no guarantee that these older versions will work on Windows 7. We suggest that you upgrade to the latest Solar Fire Gold and take advantage of the wonderful new features and the work that the Solar Fire team has put into this latest astrology software.
For some of our older programs, although they will work under Windows 7, there is an issue with the Help system. This issue currently affects most older (non-current) versions of our programs, as well as the following current program versions: Solar Spark v2 and AstroTides v1. Users are able to download an update from Microsoft which will remedy this issue. See the following web page for more details: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607. Once you complete the download, as suggested on the Microsoft page, there is still another minor issue whereby an error message pops up when you access the Help system. This error message can be eliminated if you first scroll down further on the Microsoft page, locate the "Microsoft Fix It" logo then click on this link to remedy this issue.
64-BIT VERSIONS OF WINDOWS
You may not even know what a 64-bit version of Windows means. If so, then don't worry - just carefully note, print or copy the computer requirements on the product page for whichever product you are interested in and take it to your computer software salesperson before purchasing your software.
Windows 7, including the older Windows Vista and Windows XP, is available in either 32-bit or 64-bit versions. The 64-bit version of Windows 7 is now more widespread than previous 64-bit versions of Windows.
You can check whether you have the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows by the following steps:
* click on the "Start" button to see the Start menu
* on the Start menu, right-click on the "Computer" menu item (or "My Computer" menu item) then click on the "Properties" menu item
* on the resulting screen, under the "System" heading and next to the "System type:", you will then see whether you have the 32-bit or 64-bit Operating System (the version of Windows).
The 64-bit version of Windows is capable of running 32-bit software, but no longer supports 16-bit software code. Most of our current software products (including Solar Fire Gold) are 32-bit programs, so they can be installed and run on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows. However, some of our products still contain some 16-bit components, and therefore cannot be installed or run on 64-bit versions of Windows.
We are expecting that as we release new version of our programs, in most cases we will be able to ensure full compatibility with 64-bit versions of Windows. However, older programs (such as Solar Fire Standard Edition) cannot be made 64-bit compatible. Solar Fire Standard Edition users wanting to run their programs on 64-bit versions of Windows would have to upgrade to Solar Fire Gold.
To ensure that users who have 64-bit versions of Windows are fully aware of any possible incompatibility with any of our programs, we have added information about this to the computer requirements that we provide on each product’s webpage on our site.
The following is a summary of 64-bit compatibility status of our main products:
Products which are 64-bit compatible
* Solar Fire Gold
* Solar Writer v2
* Solar Maps v3
* JigSaw v2
* AstroTides
* Solar Spark
* Asteroid Add-on
* Solar Font
* Book of World Horoscopes
* Stock Market Data
* Chart Data Collections
Products which can be installed and run on 64-bit versions of Windows but with patch updates that cannot be applied on 64-bit versions of Windows
* Imperial Astrologer
Products which cannot be installed on 64-bit versions of Windows
* Solar Fire Standard Edition
Over time, we will be expect to have all of our programs 64-bit compatible, with the exception of Solar Fire Standard Edition
APPLE MAC COMPUTERS
All of our programs have been written specifically for PCs and the Windows operating system and, in general, are not directly compatible with the Mac operating system. However, Apple Mac Computers can run Windows programs if you have i) a PC emulator program installed and ii) the Windows operating system where you own the license key (serial number).
The main PC emulator programs for the Mac are: Boot Camp, Parallels and Virtual Box. The following information has been supplied by Ray White from our technical support team at Astrolabe, Inc. in the USA:
For anyone who is curious, we have Solar Fire and Windows running on a Macbook laptop here using Boot Camp and it works great. There are also a couple of other options besides Boot Camp that I mention below.
Boot Camp is included on new intel OS-X macs and there are installation instructions in the Macintosh help, search for Boot Camp in the help, or look here: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Boot_Camp_Install-Setup.pdf
It's easy in fact to make a Windows partition and you can change your mind later and easily take Windows off again in a couple of minutes. Windows on Boot Camp runs as fast or faster than a regular PC.
The only issue is that you will probably want a mouse with two buttons on it. The current Mac mouse allows you to effectively "right-click" by first holding down the "ctrl" key on the Mac keyboard then clicking the mouse button. Here is a link to information about the "right-click" feature: http://www.macinstruct.com/node/66. This works unless you need to control-click and drag all at the same time. I plug in a PC USB mouse most of the time anyway because I love my mouse wheel.
On the Windows keyboard there is a Delete key and a Backspace key and they do different things, but the Delete key on the Mac keyboard acts like a Backspace key only. I recommend you get some keyboard hot key program and reprogram the right hand command key to be a Windows Delete key. Here's the free software called Keytweak that I used: http://www.brothersoft.com/keytweak-70740.html. If you use this program then click on button #62 and change it to say 'del' The command key by the way is the same as the Windows key in Windows.
In addition to Boot Camp there's also software called "Parallels" that lets you run Windows inside of a window on the Mac desktop. Some of our customers use this software. This is also fast from what I hear. If you use Parallels the only proviso is to disable the "Shared Profile" setting (normally enabled by default) or Solar Fire Gold won't be able to find it's user files or save files. Here is a link to the "Shared Profile" settings page: http://download.parallels.com/desktop/v5/docs/en/Parallels_Desktop_Users_Guide/23544.htm.. Here is a link to the Parallels website: http://www.parallels.com
There's also a free emulation software sponsored by Sun Microsystems called "Virtual Box" that is fairly fast and lets you set up Windows inside of a file on your hard disk so you can run Windows on the Mac desktop. I have tried this and it works pretty well. This is probably a little harder to set up than Parallels but not really hard. Virtual box will also work on Linux. http://www.virtualbox.org/
All of these Windows options isolate the Windows environment from the Mac environment so viruses can't jump from one side to the other side. All of these options also require that you have a Windows disk and a license key (serial number) that you are not currently using somewhere else. An old disk from an old derelict computer should work. Solar Fire will work on any windows from windows 98SE onwards so you can use an old version of Windows with Virtual Box or Parallels.
The Virtual Box emulator I mentioned above wants XP, Vista or Windows 7 though it will work with older versions of Windows but doesn't have drivers for Hi Res video. I used this video driver to load Windows ME and Solar Fire on Virtual Box: http://www.bearwindows.boot-land.net/vbe9x.htm.
With Boot Camp, you need a full version of Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. If you have an upgrade version you can't eject the CD while Windows is installing to insert the older Windows CD when it asks you to. However, if you have an external CD you can insert both CD's at the same time and it will work. Put the older Windows disk in the external CD drive and just press the ENTER key when the Windows install asks you to insert the old CD.
By the way, Boot Camp will make a Windows partition and format it for you, but you still have to let the Windows install program format it again or it won't install properly. If you don't use Windows much then let it make the default small sized FAT32 partition (which OS-X can also use). But if you use Windows a lot you might want to make a bigger partition and let windows format it with NTFS.