Timaeus Software Release Notes

Note: You can download the text only version of the shareware release notes which is more printer friendly.

TIMAEUS v 9 Pro - RELEASE NOTES

This file contains important information. I recommend that you read this file in its entirety.

This program monitors the sky for changing astrological conditions and is geared toward medieval, horary and electional astrology. It is also capable of sounding audible alerts when a planet/degree crosses an angle. It displays the current planetary hour glyph in the system tray. Timaeus is a "real time" monitor of astrological events, but can be used to research future or past dates.

CONTENTS

INSTALLATION NOTES

Minimum system requirements:

Installing Timaeus:

** To install, after unzipping the files to a temporary directory, click on setup.exe and follow the instructions.

SETTINGS

Timaeus needs to know your geographic location. To find your location, go to:

http://www.astrology-x-files.com/install.html

You will need to set your time zone and check whether you are currently on daylight/summer time.

Then check how often you want it to recalculate the hour status and whether or not you want to have a beep at the hour change.

If you want to monitor your birth chart for aspects, you will have to set this up as well.

WHAT'S NEW IN THIS VERSION

Version 9.1.2.1 - Includes Olson time zone update 2020a.

Version 9.1.2.0 - Includes Olson time zone update 2019b - 2019c.

Version 9.1.1.9 - Includes Olson time zone update 2019a. Removed *.rtf (readme and license) files from installer as they are redundant (see *.txt versions instead).

Version 9.1.1.8 - Includes Olson time zone update 2018g - 2018i.

Version 9.1.1.7 - Includes Olson time zone update 2018e - 2018f.

Version 9.1.1.5 - Includes Olson time zone update 2018d.

Version 9.1.1.4 - Includes Olson time zone update 2018a - 2018c.

Version 9.1.1.3 - Includes Olson time zone update 2017b - 2017c.

Version 9.1.1.2 - Includes Olson time zone update 2017a.

Version 9.1.1.1 - Includes Olson time zone update 2016g - 2016i.

Version 9.1.1.0 - Includes Olson time zone update 2016e - 2016f.

Version 9.1.0.9 - Includes Olson time zone update 2016d.

Version 9.1.0.8 - Includes Olson time zone update 2016b - 2016c.

Version 9.1.0.7 - Includes Olson time zone update 2016a.

Version 9.1.0.6 - Fixed the Ptolemaic bounds of Jupiter in Capricorn which has a common off by one error (thanks to Maki).

Version 9.1.0.5 - Includes Olson time zone update 2015g.

Version 9.1.0.4 - Includes Olson time zone updates 2015e - 2015f.

Version 9.1.0.3 - Includes Olson time zone updates 2015c - 2015d.

Version 9.1.0.2 - Includes Olson time zone updates 2015a - 2015b.

Version 9.1.0.1 - Includes override of backzone file entries from the Olson tz database.

Version 9.1.0.0 - Includes the Olson time zone updates 2014h - 2014j. GUI styles have been updated to match what's available in Delphic Oracle 7 which includes the themes used by Delphic Oracle as well. You should find several new themes installed for colors, glyphs, wheels and visibility. It is important to make sure Timaeus isn't running while you install this update. When applying color themes, keep in mind that there is a ColorStyle property on the Wheels tab that should be set (if you don't like the way a color theme looks, change the color style for the wheel to something else and then apply and redraw. The font file AstroZTreg.ttf is now the default (AstroZT) font file included in the installation for Timaeus. If you have the semi-bold version of this font, you might want to remove it from the Windows Fonts folder to avoid potential confusion. Also, all Rave reports have been converted to FastReports which includes all of the new exports found in Delphic Oracle 7.

Version 9.0.1.0 - Added backup zone lookup for storage of duplicate locations when zone returns undefined in the Terran Atlas from the main source.

Version 9.0.0.9 - Fixed an obscure floating point error that affected about 1 in 500 charts with calculation of the prenatal lunation. The old code in the Swiss Ephemeris unit has been replaced by new code in the component that is both faster and more reliable.

Version 9.0.0.8 - Includes the Olson time zone update 2014g. Also includes improvements from Delphic Oracle 7.1.0.5 in regards to handling Terran Atlas duplicate data (which allows you to save location data as default that is a duplicate of the search result that is not first in the list). The main difference here is that the default location of the Monitor tab overrides the default location you have for new chart setups whenever you double click on one of the system tray icons to show a chart. This means that you can actually have 2 default locations active, but the one that is stored in the New Chart Setup window is overridden. To get it back, when the window is showing, click on the location button and click Restore.

Version 9.0.0.7 - Includes the Olson time zone update 2014f. Searches of the Terran Atlas included with Timaeus are now case insensitive.

Version 9.0.0.6 - Includes Olson time zone updates 2014c - 2014e. Also includes the speed update for Delphic Oracle 7.0.1.9.

Version 9.0.0.5 - Includes the Olson time zone update 2014b.

Version 9.0.0.4 - Includes the Olson time zone update 2014a. Also noticed an invalid floating point operation during chart animation which seems unrelated to my code so Pentium-safe FDIV is now checked and that error is gone.

Version 9.0.0.3 - Those who use European date format might want this update since it fixes an initialization problem in the database reading of .zcf files (the file save and restore is fine). This bug would cause the month would be one later than it was saved as in the database in some charts (for some reason not all were affected). I wasn't able to replicate this error on my machine, but I changed the initialization order and that seems to have fixed the problem according to Konrad Klawikowski.

Version 9.0.0.2 - Includes changes implemented in Olson time zone database 2013i.

Version 9.0.0.1 - Raised the limit of the number of autogenerated charts to be calculated to 5 (forgot to remove the restriction on drag and drop or the use of transfer buttons between the 2 lists, but double click circumvented this restriction anyway). Also enabled a couple of the View menu links which I forgot to connect.

Version 9.0.0.0 - This version is almost identical to Delphic Oracle (minus the Hellenistic "System of Hermes" section) so much of the information about this version of Timaeus can be found in the Delphic Oracle 7 readme. The chart designer is now identical with Delphic Oracle 7 and includes the display of fixed stars and all display types that Delphic Oracle 7 has, including the Medieval and Hellenistic square views. It also contains all updates from the Medieval section of Delphic Oracle including the primary directions based upon Martin Gansten's PDDC course. As with version 7 of Delphic Oracle, it also includes import and export using Quickchart format so that you can bring charts from other programs into Timaeus 9 Pro.

Timaeus has also merged with the same databases used by Delphic Oracle 7 so you can create charts in Timaeus 9 Pro and save them and later open the same charts using Delphic Oracle 7. Also, if you only use the system tray functions of Timaeus 9 Pro and have Delphic Oracle 7 installed, you have a new option to run Delphic Oracle by double clicking on the planetary hour or rising sign icons. If you have no retained charts in Delphic Oracle 7, then it will generate a current chart with the ability to examine in Delphic Oracle instead of Timaeus. This process is not as fast as using the native Timaeus display window, but it has the advantage of allowing you to use the more advanced methods in Delphic Oracle 7 without having to copy the current chart data. To do this, right click on the planetary hour icon and select Options | General and check "Use Delphic Oracle to show current sky conditions". For this to work, you must also have "Current Sky" option enabled in the "On Double click, Show..." on the top right of the same tab.

In regards to database sharing, I haven't implemented any mutex (mutual exclusion object) since this is set up for a single user who will presumably not edit the same database in both programs simultaneously. If you're working in Timaeus and saving files to the shared databases (you can add your own that will only be seen by the program you use to add a new database), you will need to reopen the database in the other program to see the new data. If you want to add databases that will be seen by both Timaeus and Delphic Oracle, simply add the same file name and path. The new database will be empty in both programs until you add charts. If you have an existing database that you want the other program to see, be careful that you don't overwrite an existing database with a blank one. First back it up using one of the programs to generate a *.bak file, then when you have added the same named database using the other program, use the restore function to recover the one that was overwritten using the *.bak file (found under Charts | Database | Restore). The default location is in the users documents folder under \Zoidiasoft Technologies\Chart Database Files\.

If you're a user of Timaeus 9 Pro, you can upgrade to Delphic Oracle 7 at reduced price by logging into your registered users page.

PREVIOUS VERSIONS

Version 8.2.1.9 - Includes the Olson time zone update from 2013a. I also updated the Canada, Alaska, North Dakota and South Dakota CDS files with new time zone attributions.

Version 8.2.1.8 - Fixed a minor bug that prevented 3rd, 7th, and 40th days of the Moon derived charts from being calculated.

Version 8.2.1.7 - This includes the updated Olson time zone database files 2012f - 2012j.

Version 8.2.1.6 - Changed the prenatal lunation calculation to handle lunations that happen very close to the 0 Aries point so that it can handle lunations that happen to fall very close to that point.

Version 8.2.1.5 - Includes the changes from the Olson database 2012d and 2012e.

Version 8.2.1.4 - Fixed bug at end of array of planetary rays that duplicated the last list item. Also fixed a few more spellings at the request of Ben Dykes.

Version 8.2.1.3 - Includes the distributions of the solar revolution method using oblique ascensions at the request of Benjamin Dykes, PhD. This follows the same window format as Al Firdaria and Primary directions except that chart selection is not present, but implied based upon what charts are showing in the main window. To get solar revolutions, first set up a solar return and display the chart. The first combo box titled "Chart Selections" offers "Solar Return Only" or "Solar Return to Natal". With the first selection you only need to display the solar return chart in the main window, select the directed point to direct to solar return positions and click the calculate button. When the "Solar Return to Natal" option is selected in "Chart Selections", you need to display a bi-wheel (press Ctrl + W) and place a natal chart inside and the solar return on the outside. The directed point is then a point from the solar return directed to natal positions. The calculations use oblique ascensions in scaling encounters of aspects, terms and sign boundaries and include the option to use latitude for planets not on the ecliptic. This affects only bodily encounters since aspect rays are automatically reduced to ecliptic positions at this point. When one selects user defined point from the directed point list (last item), the degree, sign, minute and label fields become enabled. Just select the degree and minute to direct and enter a label. For example if this is the lot of the father, then enter "Father" and a typical direction will look like "Father -> dex squ Sun".

Version 8.2.1.2 - Fixed a bug in sidereal mode that gave incorrect alerts for transiting planets. This bug did not affect rising sign alerts.

Version 8.2.1.1 - Adds several more GUI styles to the list in the main window and includes a bug fix for those whose planetary hour icon disappears. It is using a new data structure and the old outdated one from 2001 is now gone.

Version 8.2.1.0 - Includes Olson time zone updates for 2012c.

Version 8.2.0.9 - Includes Olson time zone updates for 2012b. America/Creston was added to the Olson time zone override rules as well as the main database. This also includes the GUI Styles and the switch from gif to jpeg files for html file generation. See readme for Delphic Oracle 6.2.1.1 as this includes the same changes for Timaeus 8 pro except for the extended heliacal phenomena report.

Version 8.1.0.7 - Changed the Tokelau time zone (Pacific/Fakaofo) to make the date switch concurrent with West Samoa (Pacific/Apia). I have been tinkering with Primary directions and working to optimize the code. Also fixed spelling for Philippines lookup (using PH for country abbreviation bypasses this problem, but now it will work for the long spelling as well).

Version 8.1.0.5 - Added Significator aspects to Promissors to Primary Directions routines which is the other half Promissor aspects to Significators. Selecting all calculation options can result in significant hang time so the next step is to add a progress bar. I have therefore disabled automatic calculation upon showing the Primary Direction window to avoid unnecessary calculations, but keep in mind that changing the Chart combo box to switch between charts will generate a calculation so it is unnecessary to recalculate. Includes the ability to capture the screen as a JPEG image with function shortcut (F7) by providing a file name and saving it to your HD. This function can also be found under the view menu. I have also added the planetary day and hour to the chart info in both the standard and square chart view.

Version 8.1.0.3 - Includes the update from Olson zone file 2011n which includes the changes for Cuba DST and Fiji.

Version 8.1.0.2 - Includes the update based upon the Olson zone files from 2011j - 2011m. Have added 3 new zones to the Time Zone override button (Europe/Tiraspol, Africa/Juba, Asia/Hebron).

Version 8.1.0.1 - Added the Alfirdaria window to Timaeus Pro which matches the same additions that were added to Delphic Oracle 6.0.0.6 - 6.1.0.1. The F5 key brings up the Medieval Time Lord / System settings for Alfirdaria which are added to an adjacent Tab from the Primary Directions tab and Essential Dignities Tab.

Version 8.0.0.9 - Corrects the LMT bug that Michael Sinclair pointed out and adds the Olson time zone changes in file 2011i.

Version 8.0.0.8 - I set the zodiac mode to be checked at the time of chart calculation so that one does not have to restart the program to use the new zodiac. I have also added a change in the Terran Atlas for location lookups in Arizona (which uses Arkansas by mistake when filter mode is used).

Version 8.0.0.7 - I have added the option to switch planetary hour type. The one based upon sect has been the standard in Timaeus and Delphic Oracle for years (Bonatti) but I've been hearing that although that was the theory, that the actual practice was to use the day lord (planet that goes about) for 24 hours until the next day lord takes over the following sunrise. This is the 2nd option named after Lilly, but I'm sure it was in practice before him. This can be found on the new Medieval Tab in the general options (F3) in Delphic Oracle and on the Options tab | General Tab in Timaeus.

Version 8.0.0.6 - Includes the changes to the Russian time zones. Russia abolished daylight saving time so all zones will stay in their current time without changes until the next politician comes along.

Version 8.0.0.3 - Fixed a bug where Installshield did not allocate the working directory to shortcuts and fixed the registry entries for docked / floating windows that caused a range check error.

Version 8.0.0.1 - The second version of the Terran Atlas with 13 million records and 700 different location types for 250 countries has now been integrated into Delphic Oracle. You will still have to download and install the standalone version of the Terran Atlas (2.0). I have also worked on the rectification toolbar which updates the date and time in the chart window now. Before, only the toolbar indicated the date and time of the chart while the natal data was still in place which could be confusing to some users.

There is a migration tool to help you move your registry settings from Timaeus 7 to Timaeus 8 Pro. You can leave your chart files where they are if you want, but you can also update to the new default location by creating new files by the same names as the ones you created in the old version and then simply overwriting the new files with the old ones in the new location. The file format is still the same so this is perfectly safe.

The Derivative Charts window has been enhanced to do planetary returns of all kinds for up to 100 returns. Obviously if doing Pluto returns, the range of the Swiss Ephemeris will be exceeded so in these cases those charts will not calculate planet positions. I have also made it impossible to edit charts of certain types such as solar returns. The Graphic Ephemeris has also been improved with persistent image spacing through docking and window resize operations so you no longer have to hit the redraw button to see the graph when switching between windows or resizing the graph. I have also added a 45 degree dial to the graph options.

I have made numerous changes in the main window and docking procedures. Users have the option of which windows to dock or float free. This setting is in the main program options (F3) on the new Docking Tab. It is similar to the Autogenerated Charts Tab in function where you drag windows from one side to the other to indicate whether it is a docked or floating window. I changed both tabs so that clicking the Save button at the bottom saves these defaults (or one could use the save button placed between the lists). Be aware that if you drag a window from docked status to floating, a program restart is required for the system to update (dragging from floating to docked does not require this).

The opened chart list is no longer at top right. I have placed this at top left above the group bar panel. There was a splitter between the Medieval and Hellenistic sections and I have placed these in the same group bar and placed the opened chart list above the splitter. There is no memo anymore that displays chart details. It wasn't necessary to take up the extra space, because simply clicking on a chart once displays the chart details in the popup hint (double clicking displays the chart wheel). There were too many splitters in the main window, so now it is down to 3 splitters. The group bar has been color coordinated and you will notice several small changes in toolbar glyphs that helps the visual appearance. Most of these icons are from http://www.aha-soft.com and some are combinations of icons placed together from free icon sources.

In the Miscellaneous Reports, I have fixed the spacing of text columns for the lots so they fall correctly in the rich edit memo pad (which users can edit). I also fixed a small bug in the Time Lords Graph where the clear button would become disabled if the window was hidden by docking another window in its place.

The Chart Designer Themes tab mirrors the 4 previous tabs (Wheels, Visibility, Colors, Glyphs) and there is a sub tab by the same name for each of these main tabs. All 4 of these used to be on the same Themes tab with a listbox split up by dividers, but users with small screens had a difficult time seeing the flattened controls so each now has a tab for itself. When you work on Wheel settings on the top level tab of the Chart Designer, then you go to the Themes | Wheels to save (or restore) these settings as a group. The same can be done with the other 3 main tabs. Themes are a convenient way to group settings so that you no longer have to set 20 - 80 controls every time you want to switch. Set up a theme and save it, and the next time you double click that theme all of the associated values will be brought back and used by the program.

I have changed all splitter styles in to ssGroupBar and extended the grabber areas to maximum which gives a more streamlined appearance. There have been a number of zone changes that have taken place during the equinox to Alaska, Russia, Chile, Turkey and a number of smaller countries. I have finished the new section on the essential dignities which includes full tabulation calculation of the almutem figuris according to Ibn Ezra, an essential dignities table that calculates almutens for the house cusps and planets, etc... The degree attributions of Bonatti have also been added to the essential dignities table (bright, dark, smoky, empty, welled/pitted, azemena, degrees of increasing fortune and masculine and feminine degrees which Bonatti used primarily for horary. Acrobat and printing routines for the almutem figuris and essential dignities tables have been finished.

Version 7.1.4.3 - Includes updates to the Terran Atlas that have to do with zone changes this spring for Chile, Russia, Alaska and several other locations.

Version 7.1.4.1 - There has been a new time zone added to the Olson time zone database (America/North Dakota/Beluah) because of the change from mountain to standard time for Mercer county. You will see the new zone in the Olson time zone override window (button to the far right of the time field).

Version 7.1.3.2 - There has been an update to the Olson database with regard to Hawaii rules during world war II so the CMDateTime component has been updated to include the changes which is part of timaeus.exe. If you already have the database files for cities (downloaded Terran Atlas 1.1.1.1 or later) then all you need is Timaeus install. The exception is if you use the stand alone version, then terranatlas.exe should be downloaded as well. The time zone information is part of the date time component so that you can skip downloading the massive city database which rarely changes.

Version 7.1.3.1 - When editing the Terran Atlas database I disabled the search timer for smoother operation. You must keep the database in read only mode to do lookups. This helps stave off the possibility of data corruption should you hit the navigation edit buttons by accident, etc. I also updated the DateTime class property DateStyle so that it updates the Terran Atlas accordingly with the same date style used in the rest of the program.

Version 7.1.2.2 - I've included the Olson TZ definitions from version 1.1.2.2 of the Terran Atlas in this version of Timaeus which reflects minor changes - see the Terran Atlas readme for details.

Version 7.1.2.1 - I've tightened up the data associations between the Canada file and the Olson time zone database to use all zones that were created rather than using a default \zone based upon the most populated areas. Some countries do not have a one to one correspondence between region number or province name to zone rule and had to be searched using localization routines. There are a few areas like this such as Indiana, Idaho, eastern Oregon, etc. At this point this makes the associations fairly tight (within about 5-10 miles in most cases) except for regions that are in extreme northern latitudes 70N or 70S. Since so few people live in these areas, it isn't much of a problem, but if the location gives the wrong zone rule, there is the option to override the Olson time zone using the button attached to the far right of the time edit field.

Version 7.1.1.1 - Have integrated the new Terran Atlas into Timaeus. You may notice some changes in the controls that are more modern such as button edits. The Atlas seems to be working very well. For more information about the Terran Atlas, visit:

http://www.astrology-x-files.com/terranatlas.html

Version 7.0.1.1 - Fixed bug that caused some Solar Arc directions to go backwards. I've been working on the accuracy of return charts in the Derivative charts dialog window and added the topocentric option. Geocentric lunar returns and topocentric lunar returns for the natal location will work fine, but generating a relocated topocentric lunar return will show a position of the Moon that is not quite that of birth but may be derived from the topocentric lunar position at birth at the relocated nativity. I will have to check into this further with the debugger.

Version 7.0.0.9 - Went back over old code to make the Chart Designer (F2) load faster and eliminated the message dialog that lets you know that this is loading when you start it. Paul Hysen created unique sounds for all the zodiac signs rising on the horizon and these are added as well. Also I made the routine that finds the users documents folder unicode-safe. The changes will give a speed improvement in this version that allows it to run nearly as fast as Delphic Oracle 5.

Version 7.0.0.8 - Fixed planetary hour printing bug by using the export routines from Delphic Oracle. Now you can print planetary hours for several days in sequence by exporting each day's and night's hours and printing the assembled sequence from the Export Editor.

Version 7.0.0.7 - There is a new data window that shows ecliptic latitude, speed, right ascension, etc for all of the planets and currently 108 asteroids. The lists will sort when clicking on the header column. For instance, clicking on the speed column will sort asteroids or planets from fast to slow, or clicking on ecliptic longitude will sort according to longitude, etc. The asteroid database is a fully customizable, user defined database that is capable of calculating all asteroids for which there are ephemeris files which you can download by FTP from the Astrodienst website (www.astro.com). See the help file for details on how to add new asteroids to the database and download files by FTP (there is a help button in the lower database section for this). Because the update needs the files for the 108 asteroids, you need to download the new ephemeris installation from your registered users page which has also been updated to include these files.

Version 7.0.0.6 - Added the AutoSizeFont property to the chart designer (F2). When set to True (default), this has the effect of automatically setting the font sizes for all your glyphs in the chart display based upon a number of screen factors. Most of the time, this will be satisfactory, but if you wish to tweak the sizes, then you need to set AutoSizeFont = False so that your values will not be overwritten. Make sure you click Apply or Save at the bottom of the Chart Designer to keep these values.

In the Database window, I have added code to match the column widths for the search and chart database data and these will remain consistent when you resize columns.

Version 7.0.0.5 - Fixed initialization bug that got into version 7.0.0.4 because I forgot to set the tab to About which starts the initialization. If your icon never changes in the system tray, this is why. This release fixes this.

Version 7.0.0.4 - Finished the help file integration for version 7 of Timaeus. This file is very similar to Delphic Oracle so there are a few images that aren't quite exact, but they are very close to what is in Timaeus as I brought over the same routines just with a slightly different layout on the screen.

Version 7.0.0.3 - Changed default creation directory in Chart File Manager (new file creation) to be consistent with Timaeus 7 standards (startup usually overrides this anyway). I also changed the initialization sequence so that retained charts start when Timaeus starts and not when showing the chart display window. This also avoids potential duplication of the retained charts in the list. I finished adding the groups from the View and Edit Menu to the Group Bar on the left side of the chart viewer. The Planetary Hours function in the main chart viewer will bring up the hours for the date of the currently displayed chart, but if the chart display is not showing and you get the hours from right clicking on the icon in the system tray, then it brings up the hours for the current date.

Version 7.0.0.2 - Minor bug fix for displaying current chart - brought over latitude and longitude fields from Monitor Tab so that chart displays current location.

Version 7.0.0.1 - This version represents a move toward the same standards I used in programming Delphic Oracle with most of the code the same. In a sense, this program is "Delphic Oracle Lite", but as I add more calculations to this program it is likely to get as powerful as Delphic Oracle and a "Pro version" of Timaeus is likely to come out. The Chart Designer, Graphic Ephemeris, Rectification and Transits toolbars, and Chart Database formats are directly from Delphic Oracle and the chart drawing routines are the same as Delphic Oracle. What is different is that Schmidt's interpretive material is not in Timaeus and Timaeus is geared more toward a medieval interpretation for those interested in this and also for Horary and Electional astrology. For this reason the help file included in this first release of version 7 uses the parts of Delphic Oracle Help where it is the same or similar to Timaeus. There will be a later help file update to address those areas where Timaeus is different and to make already existing topics customized to Timaeus. Because Timaeus is becoming like Delphic Oracle in many ways, it is not quite a separate program, so users of Timaeus will be able to upgrade to Delphic Oracle and users of Delphic Oracle will get discounts on Timaeus through their registered user's upgrade page.

The first thing you will notice is that there are 2 icons in the system tray, one for the planetary hour as before, and another one with the glyph for the current rising sign. Right clicking on these will give a popup menu with several links to program functions. By default, double clicking on either of these icons will load the chart display, though you can change the behavior of the double click in the Main Program Options. Hovering over will give statistics in more detail about the current hour and rising sign and I also plan in the near future to include the applications and separations of the Moon, VOC status, etc.

Thanks to Paul Hysen for the new sound files that are now a part of Timaeus 7. The zip package that has been on my site for the last couple of months called "Tibetan chimes" are a group of files he modified so that it would be easier on the nerves.

Version 6.1.0.4 - I have removed support for Tele Hypnosis after having investigated what this was about. There has been a debate about whether astrological programmers should inject their own beliefs into what they write and the popular opinion has been that they should not in order to accomodate all schools of thought. I just thought that it was some form of hypnosis which I personally think is a bit goofy but harmless. But in this case, I believe that it crosses ethical lines even if I personally believe that it won't change anything for those who enage in such activities. I was contacted by the Tifareth Support team and asked to add this because some of their users were using Timaeus. I'm sorry if anyone was offended.

Version 6.1.0.3 - Fixed bug that reset the date on the Horoscope tab back to the current date when transits are wanted for different dates.

Version 6.1.0.2 - Allows launching of Tele Hypnosis Pro.NET from Timaeus when a new planetary hour begins. See the Options Tab for settings. You must specify the path and filename of Tele Hypnosis Pro.NET correctly or the program will not launch. Also the program only launches for planets that you have checked on the Options Tab.

Version 6.0.8.2 - Changed the date formatting in the Setup Wizard and changed the handling of latitude and longitude fields slightly. The date format now allows a '-' for the date separator. I recommend that for dates prior to 0 AD that you type "BC" after the date with a single space in between. You can use the '-' symbol to separate date characters but also for dates in the BCE range. Note that if you use '-' for BC dates such as: 6/10/-321 or 6-10--321 (latter looks a bit strange but works), you must remember to add a year. The above date is for 322 BC but must be written as -321 when using a '-' or you could just write it like this: 6-10-322 BC.

Version 6.0.8 - Removed the old technique of loading an application in the system tray using the IsLibrary prop in favor of using the TCoolTrayIcon component. I haven't actually implemented this component fully yet since the old code works. This is a test fix for a potential cause of Timaeus not running when the Kerio firewall is installed. Different firewalls seem to have no ill effect on Timaeus such as the Norton or Windows firewalls.

Version 6.0.7 - This synchronizes the font used between Timaeus and Delphic Oracle so that those using both programs will not have different glyphs used between the two applications. There is a new checkbox to switch to and from the hermetic lot glyphs for the Asc, Mc, Fortune and Spirit on the Glyphs Tab of the ChartWheel Designer.

Version 6.0.6 - Contains a fix for chart orientation bug. If the lot of fortune falls near a sign boundary and the glyph separation routines put fortune into the next sign so that other glyphs would not be overwritten, then it was possible to have the wrong sign at the 9 o'clock position, due to the fact that the glyph separation value pushed it into the next sign. This update uses the actual value for the lot of fortune when calculating the chart orientation now. Also I'd been playing around with the re-sizing of the chart window and forgot to re-include a line centering the drawing of the boundaries / terms which is important if you want the flood fill color to not bleed into surrounding boundaries. This has been fixed as well.

Version 6.0.5 - Contains a correction for the recurring GPF bug. This was caused by not initializing one of the new CMDateTime components in the Swiss Ephemeris unit to the correct date style.

Version 6.0.4 - Added debug info for those of you who are having problems running Timaeus. If you get a message stating "Access Violation at ... read of Address ..." then send me an email with the error address location so that I can trace this error.

Version 6.0.3 - Changed the glyph separation properties so that integers are read instead of real numbers since some regional settings could cause problems upon startup.

Version 6.0.2 - Improved the efficiency of calculations of updates to planet and angle positions. Also changed the behavior of the themes so that restoring a theme setting that has already been saved requires a double click on that theme. This is so that a single click will highlight the theme so that it can be deleted without loading that theme's settings into the ChartWheel Designer.

Version 6.0.1 - Added the Chart Designer from Delphic Oracle to Timaeus which includes themes for grouping your color and visibility settings. The installation includes my registry settings for color and visibility.

When coming up with a new color theme for your charts, it is helpful to set the foreground and background colors first, keeping in mind the contrast between these 2 colors is important. When setting the glyph colors, it is also important to keep the background color in mind.

Timaeus has the ability to show bi-wheels and 6 different chart orientations along with fortune, dynamical or topical house division numbering. The Wheel setup button handles this and is located on the birth charts tab and on the toolbar for the chart display as well.

To see transits to your natal chart when you double click on the icon in your system tray, you need to set the double click behavior to "Transits to Natal" on the Options Tab. You will also need to open your chart in the Birth Charts tab. Timaeus assumes that if there are multiple charts showing, the one that is selected in the list is the chart to be shown in the inner wheel, and if no chart is selected, that the first one on the list is to be shown on the inside wheel when you double click. If there are no charts open, then Timaeus shows a single wheel with the current sky conditions.

The new Chart Viewer can also be put into real time or static mode. When in real time, the chart display shows the current sky and keeps up with the position update frequency you specify on the Settings Tab. Static mode is the default and keeps the display the same so you can study the position.

Since the Chartwheel Designer is the same as the one in Delphic Oracle, you can read more about it online:

http://www.astrology-x-files.com/help-delphicoracle/ chartdesignercnt.html

Timaeus now uses the Swiss Ephemeris to find the times of sunrise and sunset. This includes calculation for atmospheric refraction with weather conditions as inputs on the Settings Tab for temperature, atmospheric pressure and altitude above sea level in meters. These last 3 settings have a very minimal effect, but should please the hyper-virgos among you.

The ACS Atlas lookup now behaves differently. Upon lookup, the Atlas will either display the results if found, or give a message as to the result just to the right of the checkbox "ACS Atlas Auto Lookup". If nothing shows and new data is found, it is listed in the edit fields, but if the Atlas requires further input, it will either say "Not Found" or "Duplicates". In the first case, the Atlas did not find what you were looking for. In the 2nd, it found multiple results. In either case, you must open the Atlas window by clicking the globe speed button next to the Zone button. This means that if you are fortunate enough to live in a location with a unique name, that you can leave the Auto Lookup checkbox checked, and expect it to update Timaeus when you make the switch from Daylight/ Summer time to Standard time and vice versa (Timaeus checks this at program startup).

One last note: On the chart display, you will notice that if you hover your mouse over a glyph that there is alot of new information. The most information is found for the planets [Sun..Saturn]. The new info is hellenistic in origin and originally comes from Delphic Oracle v 4 which will be out soon.

Version 5.7.0 - Finished writing the delineations for the aspects according to house lord.

Version 5.6.6 - Added ability to draw dynamical house division lines along with whole sign house lines (at Zero degrees of each sign). New checkboxes for these settings are found on the options tab under the house selection.

Version 5.6.5 - Fixed a bug in the time exception handling section of the Horoscope Tab.

Version 5.6.4 - Added transparency to the chart drawings for chart position locations. Before this, if you used a small glyph separation value, the degree symbols could partially white out an adjacent degree symbols if they were too close.

Version 5.6.3 - I decided to reverse the conditional ACS Atlas checkbox so that now Atlas lookups will only happen when Auto Lookup is checked. It is important to note that when the Atlas finds a duplicate location, the ACS Atlas window will pop up so that you can specify which similarly named location you want to select. Afterwards, be sure to uncheck this checkbox because the tab order could cause the Atlas window to show again if you forget. Click Apply or Save to make the settings permanent.

Version 5.6.1 - Fixed bug in Atlas duplicate lookups by adding a checkbox that suppresses further lookups after a duplicate city has been found. It is advised that the first time you do a lookup for a location that you leave this checkbox unchecked.

Version 5.5.4 - Added more delineations, but still a few left to do.

Version 5.5.3 - I am in the middle of adding delineations of transits by local determination (lord of house).

Version 5.5.2 - Corrects a bug where Chiron shows at 0 Aries if Kronos is not checked in the Options Tab (It should have been Chiron assignment, not Kronos). Also added the ability to use shortcut keys in cut, copy and paste in edit fields for latitude, longitude, date, etc.

Version 5.5.1 - I have changed the internal file format in order make birth chart files (*.cht) independent of runtime changes between European, American and Scientific date formats. A new format has been implemented and in order to use your existing chart files, you will need to download and run the file conversion utility (fileconv.zip).

http://zoidsoft.fileburst.com/programs/fileconv.zip

Version 5.5 - adds the dll interface for the ACS Atlas. You will be able to lookup location and zone info for more than 250,000 distinct locations worldwide. Internally a new chart file format has been implemented, but Timaeus can still read the old file format. You may pick up your copy of the Atlas directly from Astro Communications Services at a discount (see below in the Credits section). With the Atlas, Timaeus automatically checks for time zone changes that occur with daylight savings / summer time at startup, streamlines the setup of birth charts and allows you to switch between locations by a single click on the settings tab.

Version 5.0.4 - Lowered price to $19.95, and CD shipping charge is now $5 instead of $6. The exe and dll files are now compressed (without loss of computation speed) by UPX. See credits section for more information.

Version 5.0.3 - Makes corrections to trial period checking so that Timaeus does not end your trial period prematurely.

Version 5.0.2 - Uses the new InstallShield to install Timaeus which has a repair / modify feature. This also means that the installation file will be significantly more compact, insuring quicker downloads. A new icon will appear on your desktop for the Setup Wizard. You should run this the first time you run Timaeus to set up your location and your first birth chart.

Version 5.0.1 - Adds an updated help file with thoroughly integrated help context support. Click on the question mark at the top right of the window and click on what you don't understand. A help window will go directly to the explanation.

Version 5.0.0 - There are two major features added to this application. First is the ability to cast charts for planetary positions and display them graphically as well as the ability to display a chart for the current sky. This program now uses the Swiss Ephemeris to calculate planetary positions.

The next feature added is similar to the audible alerts when a planet/degree crosses an angle, but instead, Timaeus monitors the sky for aspects to natal charts that you cast, and displays aspect information and delineation meanings of the aspects. This is found on the horoscope tab. To use this feature you will first have to cast a natal chart by clicking "New" on the "birth charts" tab. A new chart dialog will open up. Once you have created the chart it will display in the main listbox on the birth charts tab. All charts that remain in the list are automatically retained and do not need to be saved, but if you wish to transfer the chart to Delphic Oracle, you need to save the chart and open it in Delphic Oracle, which is the reason for the other buttons because you can also open charts in Timaeus that were created in Delphic Oracle. You can monitor as many charts as you wish to. Once you have the charts set up, then you go to the horoscope tab and select a chart from the "select chart" listbox. Double clicking here will display the chart, a single click sets that chart as the one to be researched. Next set the date directly below the listbox (switching to this tab automatically sets it to the current date and time). Now you are ready to see what aspects exist between the current sky positions and the natal chart, so click "transiting aspects" and a new list at the top will say "Astrological Indicators for..." (the name of the chart). It lists the aspect, the number of degrees it is from exact, and whether it is applying or separating. Applying aspects will be exact in the future and show things that are in the future, separating aspects show things from the recent past. By clicking on the aspect, you will get what it means in the memo field below. The other button in the "Horoscope Types" section that says "planetary hours" shows the meaning of the current hour, and is a hold over from previous versions of Timaeus.

*** One important note: To save on system resources, the program stops updating planetary hour and position stats whenever you have the notebook tab window open, with the exception that updates resume if the statistics, schedule, registration or about tabs are showing. This means that if you have been looking at aspects, and have spent 20 minutes with that window open, clicking "View Current Sky" will show the sky as it was 20 minutes ago. To resume, click on the statistics tab and wait until the interval has updated.

There are many new settings on the options tab, most are related to the way graphical charts are displayed. The most important setting that you are probably interested in is the "Transiting Aspect Orb". This is used to exclude aspects outside a given range. Make this value higher to include more aspects in your listing on the horoscope tab, or make it smaller to reduce the number of aspects listed. The "Default tab on double click" option is for selecting the behavior of Timaeus when you double click the icon in the system tray. Select "View Current Sky" if you want to see a graphical representation of the planets in the sky when you double click the icon in the system tray. The other options show various tabs in the application itself. The Swiss Ephemeris path is the path to where you installed the Swiss Ephemeris if you have it, if not then it uses the Moshier ephemeris to calculate positions. If you're using the Moshier ephemeris, then check the checkbox below the ephemeris path to hide Swiss Ephemeris messages. The button with the manila folder is used to browse to the location where you installed the Swiss Ephemeris. There are options for setting the zodiac (tropical or sidereal) whether to use the true or mean node, whether coordinates should be topocentric or geocentric and for date format of the charts. The chart display options allow you to change the size of the glyphs, hide or display glyphs, change their color, etc. You may also drag the corner of the chart window to make the display larger or smaller. Timaeus retains information about the display options between reboots. After changing the settings make sure you either click the OK or Apply buttons at the bottom to save the settings.

Version 4.0.6 contains a fix for the leap year bug.

Version 4.0 - This version calculates the positions of the planets. The planetary calculation algorithms used are those derived by Jean Meeus in his book "Astronomical Algorithms" (c) 1991. Jeffrey Sax (Belgium Astronomical Society) wrote the Pascal routines that calculate the planetary positions in Timaeus following Meeus's algorithms (with the exception of the Sun's position, Asc, MC, I/O routines/ windows routines, etc... which were done by Curt Manwaring). Calculations of planet positions are highly accurate for the current era and gradually get worse the farther away from J2000 (Jan 1, 2000) you calculate positions for. Timaeus rounds position results to the nearest arc-minute and all of the planets except Pluto are well within this 1 min arc accuracy. The accuracy of Pluto however is not as good and can be as far off as 30 - 40 arc minutes off for any date in our lifetimes and gets worse, as the time diverges from J2000.

The option to use any sidereal zodiac has been included in this version (along with the tropical zodiac) in the new "Options Tab".

Also, the alert capabilities have been expanded to include the transiting planets crossing any of the 4 angles. As for alert sounds, that too has been expanded and you can add your own *.wav files as long as they correspond to the reference in the Sounds drop down list box. Make sure your spelling is correct and that you include the ".wav" extension. For example, "aries.wav" or "sound1.wav" are acceptable names and will be picked up by Timaeus as long as it is in the same directory as Timaeus.exe. You can test the sound with the button to the right of the sound drop down list box to see if you did the assignment right.

Version 3.13 - I realized that when I fixed the bug for the July errors last summer in version 2.1 that I had inadvertently reinstated the Jan 11th bug (see below). I decided to redo several routines in my CMStarDate component and also try the iteration method for finding sunrise and sunset (also explained below). I only did one pass of the data (I want to know if it works first before going further). Sunrise/Sunset times appear to be more accurate and I am guessing to within 30 seconds in most cases. This method will be most accurate at the equator and less accurate farther north or south. At my latitude of 43 N, the accuracy appears to be within 30 seconds of clock time (checking against Solar Fire v4). The Jan 11 bug appears to be gone, but I will only know for sure after running it for several months under various geographic locations and with the help of users. Please let me know if you find hour start times running backwards or odd length hours (about 3x's normal).

Version 3.12 makes some minor changes in hot keys, making sure there is no redundancy in underlined letters. It also takes some safety precautions to check for certain preconditions prior to registration.

Version 3.11 includes slight changes in the registration routine to make sure the days elapsed in trial period are not showing after registering without restarting Timaeus.

Version 3.10 includes a setup wizard to guide you through the proper steps of entering values in the settings tab. It automatically shows itself when the "Settings.txt" file is not present (meaning you have not saved your settings) or this is your first time running Timaeus. You can also run this every time you wish to change your settings. This wizard includes tips on how to use Microsoft Streets or the internet to find your latitude and longitude settings in either decimal or degree, minute, and seconds notation.

I have also moved the notification of days remaining in the trial period to the more logical location of the registration tab. I also changed my company banner.

Version 3.03 includes small changes to make it easier to register Timaeus.

Version 3.02 added code to make sure the invisible lisbox gets cleared before printing in case someone clicks the OK button on the schedule tab more than once to list the hours. Timaeus will also now remember where you leave the main window after rebooting the machine. It no longer automatically comes up to the center of the screen. Many users prefer for the window to pop up near the system tray. If this is your first time running Timaeus, it will show up at the top left.

Version 3.01 makes small modifications to the data output so that the appearance is a little cleaner. I also took care of a long overdue improvement in the settings tab:

In previous versions, if you typed in a "n" or "s" for latitude or something similar in longitude, or just made a typo, and then selected "update every second" you would get an error every second (faster than you could close out the popup windows) which required a <CTL> | <ALT> | <DEL> to solve the problem. Now if you make this mistake, there is only a single error message and a default value of either N or W is entered (depending upon whether it is latitude or longitude). Also, lowercase values that are not in error are automatically converted to uppercase.

Related to the above issue, Timaeus now guesses your time zone based upon what you entered into the longitude part of your settings. It isn't guaranteed to be correct, but it will be at least close. You should still check it to be sure.

Version 3.0 includes several new features:

*** Calculation of the ascendant, midheaven and vertex in real time based upon the coordinates on your settings tab. Until I include the nutation calculation, the accuracy of these angles will be to about (+/-) 5 arc minutes (about 20 seconds of clock time). The nutation algorithm will increase accuracy to about 1/10th of an arc minute (about 0.4 seconds of clock time). However your actual accuracy is partially dependent upon what you set the "update frequency" to in your setting tab.

*** Hints in the system tray saying what the ascendant and midheaven degrees are: in "dd SS mm" notation.

*** The ability to set user defined alerts for when any degree of the zodiac is rising, culminating, setting or anti-culminating. These alerts can either be a system beep, user defined 'wav' file, or silent tray icon alert. All three options include changes in the system tray icon at alert time but the last option is silent. Also the name you give for the alert will appear as a hint in the system tray at alert time. The icon at alert time appears with a red exclamation point to the right of the glyph that represents the current planetary hour. I included 12 alerts by default which will alert you when a given zodiac sign begins to rise (set at 0 degrees). You can set any degree you wish such as important degrees that are occupied by planets in your natal chart. When setting an alert for the IC or descendant (say you want to know when your natal Moon at 11 degrees Leo sets), just select the opposite degree (at 11 Aquarius) with the rising option, then name that alert something like "Natal Moon setting".

*** The ability to print out planetary hours listed on the schedule tab. You can either click the speed button to the lower right or right click the listing and select print.

Version 2.1 gets rid of the Jan 10/11th and July errors that produced incorrect sunrise/sunset times! As far as I know, planetary hours will now be accurate to within 2 minutes. While I am not entirely happy with this level of accuracy, it is quite sufficient for astrological use. Astrologers who use planetary hours know that the time when a planetary hour changes is really about 50% of the previous hour and 50% of the next hour. Most astrologers recommend that you wait 10-15 minutes into the start of the hour to be sure the planetary energies are more "pure". Part of the reason for this approximation is that the Sun's position is not known exactly and will move 1/2 degree every 12 hours, since 360 degrees represents 24 hours, 1/2 a degree represents about 2 minutes. I used the Algorithm in J. L Lawrence's "Basic Astronomy with a PC" for sunrise/sunset on pages 69-70. It interpolates a set of sunrise and sunset data based on midnight UT for the date in question and again 24 hours later. The problem is that the position of the Sun for a given location is only an approximation. What is really needed is an iterative algorithm that will first approximate the Sun's position in that location at the expected time of sunrise to see if that position matches the position of the ascendant, if not then find the difference in degrees, converting to time and subtract or add the difference in terms of minutes and seconds, repeating until the difference reduces to a sufficient level of accuracy.

Here is what was in the old Readme.txt about this error:

(*** There remains one problem where planetary hours calculated on Jan 10th or 11th each year are aprox. 3 x's as long as they should be, resembling the error that those in the far east were having with previous versions. This is a bug which corrects itself on the next day each year. This error existed in the previous version and still affects everyone. There is also the flipside of this which shortens the planetary hours about 6 months later for about 12 hours. I charted this error and the pattern is that on July 6th each year those living in the San Diego - Los Angeles area (about a 250 mile wide corridor) will experience this error. On July 7th this error zone moves to the north east near Las Vegas but is correct for the Los Angeles area. On the 8th it moves to SW Utah, etc and moves in a line like this one day at a time until July 29th near the Hudson Bay in Canada. This error zone is probably in the pacific ocean before July 6th.)

In version 2.02 I have added code to update the meanings if the hour should change after you first look at it. This was only an issue if you set the default tab to the meanings tab. Now it will update to the current hour without your having to switch tabs back and forth.

In version 2.01 I have added code to update the latitude and longitude for users in southern and eastern hemispheres when they click the "Here / Now" button on the schedule tab. It was an oversight on my part but easily fixed by adding 2 lines of code.

In version 2.0: Many have been asking for inclusion of a "Schedule Tab" to get a listing of planetary hours that are not current. It is now available in this version. I have made it a simple matter to get the hours for the current date in your default location with one click of the "Here / Now" button. Then all you have to do is select which hours to find (day or night) or click the "Find Hours" button. You also have the flexibility to edit any of the search settings to find planetary hours for dates between Jan 1, 4712 BC to Dec 31, 10,000 AD in any non-polar area of the globe!

Timaeus now includes "wav" files for sound at the change of the hour. This provides the advantage of knowing what hour it is without having to look at the monitor at the start of a new hour. The system beep is still available for those who lack a sound card in their PC. To change the hour find a new *.wav file to replace the hour sound you wish to improve. All you have to do is rename the "wav" file to the planet whose file you want to replace with the new file. If you are unsure you want to get rid of the file then you should rename the original file to *.oldwav. Make sure this new file is in the same directory as timaeus.exe.

There is a new setting for loading a default notebook tab on the settings page. Before if you double clicked the planet glyph in the system tray, it brought up the "Current Hour" tab without any way to change it. Now you can set your own preference and save it along with the other settings.

TIMAEUS KNOWN ISSUES

Opening windows that dock to the dock tab area, some windows may pop under other docked windows rather than coming to the top. This is easy to check: dock all windows until they show as Tabs at the bottom, then open new windows.

DOWNLOADING UPDATED HELP FILES

The online Help files that accompany this release may be updated from time to time to provide corrections, clarification, additional examples and other new information. Updates will be available for download from the Lost Horoscope X-Files Web site at:

http://www.astrology-x-files.com/help-download.html

ZOIDIASOFT ON THE WEB

Zoidiasoft Technologies:

http://www.astrology-x-files.com

For More Information On The Ancient methods:

http://www.projecthindsight.com

TECH SUPPORT

The author, Curt Manwaring may be reached for tech support:
phone: 315-200-2025

CREDITS

Timaeus uses the Swiss Ephemeris available at astro.com.

The ACS Atlas was developed by Astro Communications Services and can be found at: http://www.astrocom.com. Contact Astrolabe (www.astrology-x-files.com/acs-atlas-info.html) for details as they are maintaining the Atlas now.

Kenneth Hirst developed the "Astro" font back in 1993 and with a few modifications, it is now also licensed to Curtis Manwaring. This font was originally used in the program "Astrology World". As for the modifications, Ken "fontified" the drawings of the glyphs that I made for the lots of fortune, spirit, exaltation and basis.

Astro font is Copyright 1993, Cosmorama Enterprises, P.O. Box 5362, Irvine, California 92716. All rights reserved. This font is proprietary.

Copyright (c) 2003-2019 Zoidiasoft (tm) Technologies
By Curtis Manwaring, All rights reserved.











 

Zoidiasoft Technologies Astrology Software