[time-nuts] FW: HeyWhatsThat: January 15 Solar Eclipse

[Dave Baxter]

Works OK here.

FF3.0.x  XP SP4 + all updates.

You need scripting enabled, and Google Earth loaded on the machine.  You
can block GoogleAnalytics if you need.

Otherwise, it works fine.

Dave B.
F/G0WBX


> -----Original Message-----
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] FW: HeyWhatsThat: January 15 Solar Eclipse
> 
> John,
> 
> Thanks for the reply. I expected to hear from someone besides 
> me who was 
> also experiencing problems trying to run the link. I wonder if anyone 
> can confirm that they are able to use the page successfully 
> from an XP 
> machine (or other MS OS), using the Firefox browser. Perhaps 
> someone can 
> confirm that this combination is capable or working or not.
> 
> I wouldn't expect this machine to be challenged. It is an Intel Quad 
> Core processor at 2.8 GHz and has 4 GB of RAM. That is not 
> state-of-the-art, but is pretty high performance. I haven't seen any 
> other software problems in the ~6 months I've been using this PC.
> 
> Today I was wondering if I could find a way to update the GE 
> plug-in in 
> Firefox. I couldn't, but I checked for a Firefox update and there was 
> one. After updating Firefox, it automatically started loading 
> a new GE 
> plug-in, so I should now have the latest versions of Firefox and the 
> Google Earth plug-in. When I tried the page again, I got 
> basically the 
> same hang result.
> 
> The browser window fills with what looks like a very noisy picture of 
> several copies of one window. So much video noise that I 
> can't tell what 
> the windows are, but they look like empty windows with some kind of 
> control or status along the bottom. On the right half of the firefox 
> window is one big area of just blank video noise. While this is going 
> on, any cursor movement doesn't happen for 5 - 10 sec after I 
> move the 
> mouse. I can eventually kill firefox if I gradually move the 
> cursor to 
> the upper-right X and click it. If I let this continue for several 
> minutes I eventually get a box that says a script is not 
> responding -- 
> asks to stop it or continue. If I stop it, I eventually 
> regain control.
> 
> I started to try it in IE earlier but didn't let GE load so no 
> information gained. Just now I did it again with IE and let it load 
> Google Earth. The page does run under IE, so seems the the 
> application 
> script has some compatibility with Firefox and the GE plug-in. Surely 
> anyone else will see the same problems if they are using Firefox. I 
> abhor IE, so I guess I won't be running this tool.
> 
> Do you have any connection to the page owner? Can you pass 
> this report on?
> 
> -Rex
> 
> John Allen wrote:
> > Hi Rex, sorry to hear that.  Apparently the page uses a new 
> Google Earth
> > plugin (For Firefox).  Google Earth is known for it's 
> demands on hardware,
> > particularly Graphics memory and possibly Main Memory.
> >
> > Please let us know if you find out what is going on.
> >
> > John Allen K1AE
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com 
> [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
> > Behalf Of Rex
> > Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 2:47 AM
> > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] FW: HeyWhatsThat: January 15 Solar Eclipse
> >
> > The link doesn't play nice on my machine. The page opens in Firefox 
> > browser and shows some simple graphic of the earth with 
> some clickable 
> > spots (I think). Then I see a message from my firewall that 
> Google Earth 
> > is going out to the internet and all goes weird. The page gets new 
> > grainy overlays and the machine essentially freezes. Something is 
> > downloading but no joy after several minutes. Just 
> regaining control is 
> > a mess because my mouse movements take about 5 seconds to 
> show on the 
> > monitor. Two tries with a reboot between and I gave up.
> >
> > Is it just a problem on my machine, or more common?
> >
> >
> > John Allen wrote:
> >   
> >> This is worth checking out for the path of Jan 15 eclipse.  
> >>
> >> John K1AE
> >>