Psion Compass v1.06

For Psion Series 5, 5mx, 7 & Revo

© Aron Landy 2000-1

Contents
 
1. Description
2. Installation Instructions
3. Shareware Information
4. Instructions

1. Description

Compass is a direction finding program. You tell the program where you are, and it displays a compass showing the current positions of the sun, moon and 3 bright stars (if they are above the horizon). So simply line up the Psion with the heavenly body and the compass shows you which direction is North.

You can also get Compass to show the direction of the shortest route to any other city, and even see the route on a world map!

This way you can for example find the direction for prayer towards Jerusalem or Mecca.

2. Installation

You should have (unzipped) the following files:

File name	Description of file
Readme.txt	Basic information
Latest.txt	Last-minute information, if any
Manual.rtf	This file
Compass???.SIS	This is the main file in SIS format (??? Is the version number)

To install from a PC, connect your Psion to the PC and simply double-click on the .SIS file from Windows Explorer or equivalent.

Third party software
The installation process also installs Alarm.oxh and Systinfo.oxh which are copyright © Symbian.  They may not be redistributed. 

3. Shareware Information
Compass is shareware.  You are welcome to use it without payment, however if you find it useful you are asked to register.  

To register, please send £5/$10 or equivalent to Aron Landy at: 56 Primrose Gardens, London NW3 4TP, England, or use register on-line with your credit cards via www.aronlandy.com.  [You will be directed to the secure sites of RegNet or RegSoft who handle the payments.]

When I receive your cheque or notification of your registration from RegNet/RegSoft, I will give you further instructions. PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS if you have one, to make it easy for me to communicate with you, for example to let you know of upgrades (which will be free).

You may distribute copies PROVIDED that this manual is included in your distribution.

Any comments or suggestions should be emailed to info@aronlandy.com.

Note that unregistered versions of Compass are restricted in the following ways:
•	Toolbar buttons do not work
•	The city of origin is always your “home” city
•	You can only change the destination city once each time you run the program

Conditions of Use
Before using the software you must agree to the following.  By using it, you are deemed to have agreed to them.
1. 	Any legal relationship between you and the author shall be governed by the laws of England.
2. 	You agree not to decompile, reverse translate, reverse engineer or tamper with the software or licence in any way.

Disclaimer
Note that the software is provided as is, without any warranty of any kind.  The author shall not be liable for any loss of data or damage arising from the use of the software.

4. Instructions

When you start Compass you should see the screen divided into two parts. On the left, your home city, and the current date and time are shown together with (except on the Revo) the times of sunrise & sunset. Also shown is the altitude and azimuth of the Sun, Moon and the three stars Betelgeuse, Vega and Sirius. On the right is the compass face. Compass will show the position of the sun and moon and 3 stars if they are above the horizon. 

To find North, simply line up the centre of the compass, the position on the screen and the position in the sky of one of the heavenly bodies. The compass will then be correctly oriented. 

The screen is updated automatically once per minute (you can force an update by pressing Enter).

Location

To see the compass for a location which is not your home city, press Menu|Settings|From or Ctrl+f or tap on the city name on the screen and then select the relevant city from Psion’s “World” database.

Astronomical info

The altitude (i.e. how high above the horizon) and azimuth (i.e. compass direction) of each of the 5 heavenly bodies is shown at the left of the screen. “Not up” means below the horizon.

The position displayed on the compass screen shows both the altitude and the azimuth. The outer circle represents the horizon (i.e. altitude=0) and the centre of the compass represents the sky directly overhead (i.e. altitude=90º).

You can see how the sun, moon or a star progresses across the sky over the course of any day by pressing Menu|View|Fixed date or Ctrl+x or tap the “Fixed date” toolbar button. A symbol is drawn for every hour of the day (every 2 hours on the Revo). Every second symbol is replaced with the time of day. 

To change the body shown, press Menu|View|Body and select whichever you want. If you press Ctrl+b or tap the “Body” toolbar button, the display goes on to the next one in the list. The name of the body displayed is shown at the left.

To see this 24-hour progression for a different date, press Menu|View|Set fixed date or Ctrl+s or (except on the Revo, which has fewer buttons) tap the “Set date” toolbar button.

Daylight Saving Time (DST)

Note that Compass assumes that the current time is the time set on your Psion. It also calculates automatically the changeover dates for Daylight Saving Time (summer time) according to the "Zone" settings in the Psion "World" database. The rules used are:

Zone		DST starts		DST ends	
Europe		last Sun in March	last Sun in Oct 	
North		first Sun in Apr		last Sun in Oct	
South		last Sun in Oct		last Sun in March
Const		none			none	

To override automatic Daylight Saving Time, press Menu|Settings|DST or Shift+Ctrl+D.  Select either “On” or “Off” as appropriate.

Bearing towards another city

Select a second city by pressing Menu|Settings|To or Ctrl+t. The direction of the shortest route from the current location to that city will be shown. This takes into account that the Earth is spherical and so for example the route from London to Honolulu is almost due North.

The approximate distance between the two cities is shown in miles. To see it in kilometres, press Menu|View|Distance units|Kilometres or Ctrl+u.

You can see the route on the world map by pressing Menu|View|Map or Ctrl+m or by tapping on the “Map” toolbar button.