[Nova-Net] Stability of Nova for Windows

[Bob Christy]

Am I alone in finding Nova a little flaky in operation? Initially, I thought
it might be down to the PC, but I have moved the installation from a desktop
to a laptop and the issues persist. Any assistance/guidance will be very
welcome.

My major problems are:


VIEWS

Creating a new view by Cloning or by using the Wizard gives the impression
of success. I then start to see changes in View content and see duplicate
"Default" and "Current" Views in the list, replacing named views. Some Views
actually disappear (and "yes, I have saved the edited configurations").
Deleting or attempting to change the names of duplicates eventually results
in an unusable collection of Views where the content bears no relation to
name. 

Views created by these two methods only become available for use after Nova
is shut down and re-started.

I resolved this by creating all views as "New" by using the "Configure
Current View" button in an already-open View. It seemed to work, and Views
became usable immediately.

I have just created a new View - it appears on the list of stored Views seen
when clicking the "Configure Current View" button but once created, it is
not available from the "Views/Create New View" menu. Basically - I cannot
use it.


FREQUENCY DISPLAY UTILITY

I have never succeeded in using Nova and successfully creating a Frequency
Display that holds stable values between sessions. Nova ignores the
instruction not to write changes back to the frequency file. If I create the
frequency file in Notepad, then I seem to have control.

If I change satellite in the Utility, it loads the new frequencies from the
file, except that the first one in a list remains at the value for the
"dismissed" satellite. Closing the Utility and re-opening it results in
correct values being displayed.


TIME

I set all my views up in UTC. If I then use the "View's Clock" option, I
have to set the new time according to the PC, not the time for the View -
very confusing.


ORBITAL ELEMENTS

Nova is a very useful and resourcefully-programmed piece of software. There
is one major drawback for me - it only works from current element sets. It
is not possible to run "what if" simulations using previous element sets. I
believe this is down to a decision that Nova will run only on its internal
database containing one element set per object. The one thing I would bring
through from the other programmes I have used is the ability to use an
element file of my own as an alternative to Nova's.


Nova is a wonderful tool, outclassing previous Windows software I have used.
I just wish it was reliable and intuitive.

Bob Christy