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Delphi is a free, accurate and intuitive astrology program for Palm OS devices.

It lets you create, view, organize and beam birth charts and view synastry charts.

Delphi can be downloaded at: http://astroblahhh.com/astrology/software/delphi_and_astrolib/index.shtml

Intuitive Use

Delphi tries to make the most of the small screen that Palm devices have. And it tries to do it in a natural, intuitive way. When you look at a chart printed on paper, you often focus your eyes onto different objects when needed. For example, you search for the symbol of the moon and then you look at what sign it is in or what aspects it has. Similarly you may want to focus onto trines or want to know which planets are in the 12th house.

Delphi lets you do this almost as intuitively as you are used to. Instead of focussing with your eyes only, you use the pen to focus too. Thus you search for the symbol of the moon, tap on it and immediately only aspects to the moon are shown, immediately it is indicated how strong those aspects are, and the position of the moon is shown with more precision. Similarly, you can focus on aspects, signs or houses.

Otherwise Delphi behaves like a standard Palm application. You can organize charts in categories, sort them manually or alphabetically, and, if your Palm device has infrared beaming hardware, send or receive charts to/from others. This allows you to exchange charts with others quickly and in a quite natural, non-technical way.

Finally, Delphi lets you view synastry (relationship) charts; either between two birth charts or between a birth chart and the built-in astrological clock.

Accuracy

Delphi uses the astrolib library to calculate positions of sun, moon, planets up to Pluto and the true moon node with an accuracy of the order of one arc minute. Also through astrolib, you have access to UNIX time zone data for about 350 locations world-wide, plus about 2000 additional locations of which each one has been assigned to one of the 350 UNIX time zone locations.

Click here for a detailed account of Delphi's accuracy, listing positions with errors for three charts, two from the 20th century and a historical one from the year 800, calculated using the Julian Calendar.

You be the judge if Delphi is fit to be used by professionals on the road, yet...

		Installation
		Simply install all three files in the "install" directory into your Palm: - Delphi.prc - astrolib.prc - MathLib.prc (Please refer to the manual of your Palm device for information about how to install files, or let somebody who knows how, help you). Then tap the Delphi icon to start Delphi...
		Viewing Charts
		Initially, there is only a single chart in the list. Tap on its name to open it for viewing...
		Because the Palm screen is so small, a static chart drawing would often not be very useful. For example, it is not obvious in the chart to the left, whether there are sextiles only between the moon and Saturn or only between Pluto and Saturn or maybe both. To find out, simply tap the moon symbol in the chart or in the list at the right of the chart wheel...
		Now only aspects to the moon are shown. Furthermore, the list at the right shows how strong those aspects are and also indicates the position of the moon with more precision. As soon as you release the pen, the moon will go out of focus and the normal chart drawing will reappear. You can lock the focus if you leave the pen down for more than 3 seconds. As soon as you hear a clicking sound, you can release the pen and the moon will stay in focus until you tap anywhere on the screen again.
		Aspects to moon node, ascendant or midheaven are normally not shown in the chart drawing. To view them, simply focus (by tapping on their symbols).
		Focussing on a particular aspect is done by tapping on one of the aspect symbols in the list at the bottom of the screen. If you don't know aspect symbols by heart, Delphi helps you by displaying name and aspect angle at the top of the screen. The list on the right of the chart wheel shows all aspects sorted by how close the aspects are.
		Tap onto any star sign in the chart wheel to put it into focus. Only planets within the chosen sign will be shown. Focussing on the signs can be useful when several planets are so close together that it is not obvious which signs they are in.
		Tap onto the house symbol left of the chart wheel to view houses. The chart drawing will now display house cusps instead of aspects. Houses remain visible until you tap the house symbol again.
		To focus onto a specific house, tap the corresponding sector inside the chart wheel. Only planets within that house will be shown, plus information about which sign they are in. In addition, the position of the house cusp is displayed at the bottom left. Again, you can focus on planets or signs too. Now, tap the chart name on the top line of the screen to edit the birth data for the sample chart...
		Editing Chart Data
		Simply edit the chart data as desired and tap the Save button. If you change the name, a new chart will be created, else the existing chart data will be overwritten. While you have to edit name, birth date and time manually, you usually let Delphi help you fill in the birth location and time zone. Tap the triangle right of the country field to select a country...
		Scroll down to the desired country and tap to select...
		If Delphi only finds a single city within that country, like in this example, in Liechtenstein, it automatically retrieves position and time zone information and fills in all the fields.
		If Delphi knows several cities in a country, like in the United States, a second triangle will appear right on the city field. Tap on it to select a city...
		Tap the name of the city you want to select and Delphi will again retrieve position and time zone information for the city and fill in all the fields for you. Locations with a solid clock symbol have their own time zone information (UNIX time zone data). Clicking on the clock symbol reveals some information about the time zone. Locations with a dimmed clock symbol are linked to one of the UNIX time zone locations. Clicking on the dimmed clock symbol reveals which one.
		Astrological Clock
		It may not compare to the astronomical clock in Prague, but if you tap the clock symbol left of the chart wheel, a chart for now will be displayed. As with normal birth charts, you can focus on planets, aspects, or houses - and, as with birth charts, you can edit the chart data by tapping the top line containing the city name...
		Editing clock data is the same as for normal birth charts, except, of course, that you cannot edit date and time. If you want to calculate a clock chart for somewhere else than where you are, you will have to change the time zone manually. For example, if you are in New York but want to calculate the clock for Los Angeles, set the time zone to Eastern Time, i.e. to -4 for the example on the left.
		Synastry
		Synastry is the oldest astrological method that relates two birth charts. It considers relative aspects between planets and planetary positions in each other's houses. In order to view a synastry chart, choose "Synastry..." from the chart menu and then select a partner chart...
		Items belonging to the first chart are painted black, items belonging to the second chart are painted gray. As with birth charts, you can focus on planets, aspects and signs - with one exception: You can only directly focus on planets painted in black, but not on planets painted in gray. If you want to focus on one of the gray planets, you first have to swap partners by tapping the Pisces symbol in the title line...
		Now the two birth charts have completely reversed roles. Black has become gray and vice versa. Even the chart wheel is rotated like the other birth chart now. There is something new you can focus on in synastry. Tap on one of the two chart names in the title bar to plot the corresponding birth chart, while maintaining the current rotation of the chart wheel.
		Tap the clock symbol to replace the partner chart by the clock, i.e. by a chart for now. Tap the house symbol to show houses. In order to help you to orient yourself more quickly, the ascendant is labelled with AC in the chart drawing. The MC (midheaven) is then at the next solid line if you go clockwise.
		Tap the black/white icon at the bottom right of the screen to adjust the level of gray. If your device is capable of displaying at least 16 levels of gray, a slider like the one shown on the left will appear. On older devices that only have two shades of gray, tapping the button will immediately toggle between light and dark gray. Tap the return button at the bottom right to leave synastry and to return to the normal chart drawing.
		Advanced Settings
		Choose "Advanced..." from the options menu to set your favourite house system and orbs. You have the choice between Placidus or Koch houses or no houses. The last selection will always draw charts as if the Ascendant was at the beginning of Aries. Orbs determine when planets aspect each other. An orb of 5° for oppositions, for example, means that angles between 175° and 185° will be shown as oppositions in the chart drawing.
		In synastry charts there are more than twice as many chances for forming aspects because there are twice as many planets involved. This is why by default all orbs are reduced to 50% of their set values when synastry charts are drawn. If you increase the value to 99%, you get practically unchanged orbs in synastry (see picture on the left).
		Organizing Charts
		To sort charts manually, tap on a chart's name, drag it to the desired place while keeping the pen down, and then release the pen. If you want to keep charts sorted alphabetically, choose "Preferences" from the options menu...
		Set your desired sort order, then... Check "Don't replace fonts" if you want to use standard Palm fonts instead of Delphi's own fonts. (This checkbox is not visible in PalmOS 5.0 or later). Check "New charts are private" if you want new charts to be private by default. On color devices, check "Use color" if you want to use color for aspects.
		Tap the cateegory name at the top right of the list screen to select a different category or to edit categories using the standard dialog. If you want to move a single chart to a different category, open its chart data for editing, set the desired category, and tap the Save button.
		To delete a chart, choose "Delete Chart..." from the chart menu while viewing the chart and press OK. To create a new chart, either tap the "New..." button on the list screen, or choose "New Chart..." from the chart menu while viewing charts. Sometimes it might be easier to edit an existing chart and then to save it under a different name.
		Beaming
		Most newer Palm devices are equipped with an infrared beamer (similar to a TV remote control). To send a chart, place the receiving device aligned head to head with yours and choose "Beam Chart..." from the chart menu while viewing the chart. Make sure Delphi is running on the receiving device and it has beam receiving activated (in its Palm OS Prefs). If the chart is marked private, a warning will pop up before the chart is sent.
		To receive a chart, simply press OK when you are asked to. If the chart has been received successfully, Delphi will immediately draw it.
		To beam a whole category, select "Beam Category..." from the chart menu on the list screen. Only public charts will be sent. If you want to beam private charts, you will have to beam them individually. This is also what standard applications, like Memo, do.
		Tips and Tricks
		Here is how to enter time zone and position manually: Timezone: +1 -11 4 +3 [] -5 [mytime] 3:22 [LMT] Position: 22n34 2e53 13s 100e 13s 100e01 13s 100e1 100e 13s
		Instead of creating a new chart from scratch, it might sometimes be easier to edit the data of an existing similar chart and then to save it under a different name. The old chart will not be overwritten if you change the name.
		Calendar
		If you enter a date between 1582 and 1917, a dialog will pop up, asking you to select the Julian or the Gregorian Calendar. The Julian Calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar about 2000 years ago. Between 1582 (Vatican) and 1917 (Russia), countries have switched to today's Gregorian Calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, although most countries had made the transition already by 1800. The two calendars differ only in the way leap years are calculated.
		If you enter a date before 1582, the Julian Calendar is used automatically. If you enter a date after 1917, the Gregorian Calendar is used. For more information about when and how countries switched calendars, see e.g. the Calendar FAQ, or the text document "Theory" in the UNIX time zone data distribution.

astrolib

Calculation of planetary positions and access to UNIX time zone data have been compiled into a Palm OS shared library, called astrolib.

This library is available in binary form from Delphi's web site for use with other Palm OS applications and also in source form under the GNU Lesser General Public License.

Essentially the license means that you can use astrolib from commercial software, but you cannot make a commercial product out of a modified version of astrolib.

astrolib 1.03 is available here: http://astroblahhh.com/astrology/software/delphi_and_astrolib/index.shtml

About Delphi

Delphi 2.01
Copyright © 2000-2002 by delphi29@excite.com.

All Rights Reserved.

Web site: jove.prohosting.com/~delphi 29

The web site features the newest versions of Delphi and astrolib, including astrolib's source code.

Apollia's note: The above email address might not work. I am not the author of Delphi, but, if you really want to get in touch with someone regarding Delphi I suppose you can email me, though there's probably not much I'll be able to help you with.

You can email me at:

My reply may or may not be prompt.

Also, the above URL doesn't work anymore. Instead, you can go to:

http://astroblahhh.com/astrology/software/delphi_and_astrolib/index.shtml

Legal Disclaimer

This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The entire risk as to the results and performance of this software is assumed by you.

This page uploaded to web: November 19, 2006
Last modified: Oct. 12, 2007

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