Thank-you for trying the "special edition" of Distant Suns 4.

Welcome to one of the world's premier desktop astronomy program! Over the years, Distant Suns has won the support of tens of thousands of users, and numerous awards from magazines and trade shows.

Distant Suns version 4 was originally released in 1995 and is the final version for Windows 3.1. I would urge you to consider upgrading to the new version 5 which is fully Windows 98  compliant, which means it is much faster and makes use of standard Win98 interface conventions.

Please check the Distant Suns web site at http://www.distantsuns.com and register your copy for upgrade information and special offers.

There are two versions of the manual available. The first, called simply "manual" is formatted for a computer screen, while "printable manual" is optimized for printing. I hate electronic manuals as much as most people, but the manual is typically the most expensive part of any computer package, so an electronic manual is absolutely necessary to keep the costs down.

For SETI@Home users

This version of Distant Suns 4 is virtually unchanged from the original, except for the addition of a new menu item : My SETI Target, located at the top of the File menu. This will show you the part of the sky which your current SETI data set was taken. Distant Suns will automatically point you towards your target, highlighting it with a green diamond. Zoom in, and the actual strip of the sky will come into view showing you the exact region. Use the "View->Mode->Local" menu selection to see where your strip currently is in your sky. It will take a little getting use to, but with some practice you should be able to proudly point out to your friends and neighbors "your" piece of the heavens!

Note that in order to work properly,  you must have installed SETI@Home into its default directory of "C:/program files/SETI@Home".


This is a full working application. The only features that are locked out are those which would require large amounts of data, available on the CD-ROM version. 

You will need Adobe's Acrobat reader for the manual. If you do not have that installed, you may download it from www.adobe.com.

If this serves your needs, enjoy it and let me know how you use it. If you would like the additional data which includes much better texture images for the planets, 16 million stars, over an hour of movies, and a catalog of space images, I would urge you to check in with the Distant Suns web site at www.distantsuns.com. 
Download upgrades at http://home1.inet.tele.dk/ivory/

This freeware version is based on the older Windows 3.1 software originally released in 1996. You may want to order the new Windows-98 edition, which will not only give you the additional data, but a much faster program. Furthermore, version 4 will no longer be supported, due to time constraints, whereas Distant Suns 5+ will be.

Even if you are not interested in purchasing the CD at present, please register with the Web site for announcements of upgrades, special deals and tips on how to use Distant Suns. 

Distant Suns 4 (special edition) is copyright 1998 by Mike Smithwick and may be duplicated for personal use only. It is available in special customized editions for non-profit organizations which promote space and science, such as museums or astronomy clubs. It may not be resold alone or in a bundle without permission from the author, mike@distantsuns.com.

Distant Suns is a Trademark of Mike Smithwick.

Order at:
"www.mbyte.com"
"www.distantsuns.com"
"www.alsoft.dk" for scandinavian countries.

NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW
The new 4.02c SETI@home upgrade is available for this demo.
Download from http://home1.inet.tele.dk/ivory/top4.html
NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEWNEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW

Danish Distributor:
Alsoft
Tistrupvej 25
2650 Hvidovre
Danmark
Phone: +45 36492251
Fax: +45 36499923

At http://home1.inet.tele.dk/ivory/distant.html you can find a cool Distant Suns T-shirt that you may want to order, as well as anything to make your Distant Suns even bigger and better.

Also, check out the Distant Suns Message Board at:
http://www.egroups.com/group/distantsuns
Nearly 1000 members are ready to help you out.
