Tuesday, December 30, 2008

FREE astronomy software and OS

Ok, got your attention with the FREE software title. In my web surfing I recently came across a neat little Linux CD that is full of over 2 dozen fun, educational, and useful astronomy software programs. Yeah, it's the dreaded Linux, but don't be afraid, this is an easy disk to use and you don't need to be a Linux guru. If you can use Windows this is just as easy. Much to the annoyance of friends and family, I've become a hard-core Linux user and keep trying to push them to at least dual-boot and try it. Being the "family computer guy" I end up fixing all the Windows problems and know that this works very well. I'll stop here before I write what I think of Vista....
Anyway, this is a boot CD and will install into your computer's memory so you don't have to install a new OS on your computer to use it. Windows will not be harmed. Simply put it in your drive and reboot. Wait a few minutes and all the nifty astro stuff will appear on the desktop to play with. When you are done, just remove the disk, reboot and your usual operating system will return.
The download is an ".iso" image, so just use your CD burning software to burn the image onto a blank CD.

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