ISYS OUTDOORS Newsletter 2009/01 Sudoku (follows 2008/6)
This is the Newsletter for users of ISYS OUTDOORS Software: Hillwalker, MapWise, PhotoMaps and Alpiniste. To change your subscription to ISYS Newsletters, please visit the User section of isysoutdoors.com.
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS NEWSLETTER, as it will not be read. ISYS OUTDOORS contact details are at the end.
The Sale has been very popular but all good things must come to and end. The sale has just a few days to run when we will revert to our standard prices. It is not every day that you can get all the Great Britain Landranger maps for £ 75; the paper maps of the same area would cost you over £ 1500. Click here for program details.
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Neither is it every day that you can buy all the Hills of the British Isles for £ 39.
Click here for program details. |
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Take advantage of these prices to upgrade to the latest level or to add some new maps or hillwalking guides.
Explorer Map Tiles are still £2 each with a minimum order of just one tile. Click here to buy.
The High Alps has been less popular and so I will reduce the price to £10. This is an unrepeatable opportunity to see this program written jointly with Martin Moran, Britain's most experienced Alpine Guide. Click here for program details.
As you download each program, please burn to a CD ar DVD, depending on the size, and use that disc to instal the program. Then you know that you backup copy works.
An alternative systems is available for Explorer Tiles, especially useful if you have bought many Explorer Tiles at different times. The Explorer tiles for each major Grid Square are held in directory called c:\isys6\db_FXqq where qq are the Grid Square letters. For example, the tiles for grid square TL are held in c:\isys6\db_FXTL. You can simply write all your db_FXqq directories to a CD or DVD. You might also want to backup the height data held in c:\isys6\db_BU\Tioh.* where * stands for any extension eg MB, PX or DB.
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Some time ago, I said unkind things about Sudoku such as why spend time solving a problem that a computer could solve for you? The reaction was swift and vociferous. Users liked Sudoku yet, for me, there is a lot of rather boring removal of possibilities and solving is often a case of careful and tedious removal of possibilities. The ideal seemed to be a computer program which would create a puzzle with a difficulty of your choice. You can then to solve it up to some predetermined level, leaving you with the difficult bit or not solve it at all but provide “intelligent paper” for you to solve the puzzle. The program has to solve the puzzle the way a human would but also have the brute force method to solve a puzzle of any difficulty. Such a program now exists and the even better news is that it is free. Download from www.isysoutdoors.com/sudoku. Enjoy. |
To upgrade from version 1 to 5, visit the user area of the website. Direct upgrades (where you upgrade from an earlier version to the current version of the same program) are in the sale but indirect upgrades (where you enhance the program whilst upgrading) are not. Given the sale prices, you just buy the new program.
There are several ways to scroll an image map. The most usual is to use the Scroll Panel. The Scroll Panel has eight lines of buttons radiating from a central button, like a Union Flag. Each line has three buttons. The button closest to the centre moves the Landranger map at standard scale 100m (or a tenth of a kilometre grid square) in the direction of the button, the middle button scrolls by a kilometre and the outermost button scrolls by a screen. The distance scrolled when viewing Landranger maps at other scales or non-Landranger maps, is proportionate.
The Scroll Panel can be hidden. To make it re-appear, right click the map and select Map Features and Show Scroll Panel
The map has scrollbars. Normally, to scroll an image you would move the thumb tab but with a map covering, perhaps the area of Britain, a tiny movement of the Thumb Tab is going to move the map a long way. You can play with the map in this way. Move the thumb tabs randomly and then try to guess where the resultant map is.
A more controlled method is to click the scroll bar between the tab and the end of the scroll bar. This will move the map the same distance as the middle button just described (1km for a Landranger map at standard scale). Clicking the little arrow at the end of the scroll bar moves the Landranger map at standard scale, 100m and or scales and maps proportionately.
If you have a mouse with a wheel, the wheel will scroll the map according to which scroll bar has focus (the last one used).
“Image on Vector” shows, on the Vector Map, the rectangular area covered by all open Image maps. As you scroll or re-size, these rectangular images move or change shape. Image on Vector is wonderful for showing you where about in the country your Image Maps represent.
All these methods are great, but if you want to move the map a long way, the easy method is to close the Image map and right click on the Vector map to create a new Image Map of the new location.
Become a Power User to have several Image Maps open at once
Walk long and safely
Iain R White
ISYS OUTDOORS Support
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support (at) isysoutdoors (dot) com