Hitchhiker 2000
Version : 0.7
Author(s) : Aaron Worley (aaron-w@earthling.net)
License : GPL
Website : http://hirame.hiram.edu/~worleyam/
Installs from Open Source Astronomy for Linux cd 1
Disk space required for installation is 4.51 Mb
This package is installed using rpm
Hitchhiker 2000 is an astronomical simulation and visualization program; a digital orrery. It originally started out as a graphics project from my college studies at Hiram College. I now work on it occasionally in my spare time. Maybe people will find it interesting or educational or maybe even useful? Let me know, I always like to hear from people who use my program.
How to Use Hitchhiker 2000
Use the mouse to change the field of view. Move the mouse pointer over the window and drag the mouse around in different directions, while pressing the left mouse button. You'll notice the scene rotates based on your mouse movements. To zoom in or out, press the right mouse button and move the mouse up or down. To identify and object (a planet, asteroid, etc.) on the screen, click on it with the middle mouse button (it my help to pause the simulation; clicking a moving target can be difficult.)
Notes on the Movie Builder
The movie builder function will create an MPEG-formatted movie file based on the current Hitchhiker scene. It's currenty very crude; it will be made more polished in future releases. If you are going to us it, I suggest running it from an xterm window, so you can watch for error messages. Basically, you select "start recording" from the menu, then select "build movie" when you are done recording. Hh2000 will create a directory "/tmp/hhtmp" and build the movie file in it - the finish file will be called "/tmp/hhtmp/hh_output.mpg". You can delete the "hhtmp" directory after the movie is finished building. Hh2000 relies on the MPEG and libgr-progs packages to build the movie, see the web page for links to them.