Astrology for Linux Users

I have just now gotten around to updating my astrology software collection since my last format and I think I've now acquired the best combination of software I've ever compiled (pun intended). All of this software runs on Linux, but there are Windows versions of some.

OpenAstro.org (Linux only)
Homepage: http://www.openastro.org/
This is a good spin-off of astrolog which satisfies the needs of modern astrologers. The most common information (tropical chart, aspects, position lists, and so forth) can be configured into a decent presentation. Most students of Western astrology would find this to be an useful quick reference.

Morinus (Linux and Windows)
Homepage: http://sites.google.com/site/pymorinus/ (The download link is at the very bottom.)
This is a program designed explicitly for Western traditional astrologers. It doesn't include the outer planets, but it does include a ton of methods and tools. It's highly configurable and includes a date scanning feature. You can provide the positions of the traditional planets and it will search for the date within a few thousand years. It also allows highly flexible, user-defined Arabic parts. Morinus is an excellent tool to have on hand.

Maitreya (Linux and Windows)
Homepage: http://www.saravali.de/
Alt Download: http://sourceforge.net/projects/maitreya/files/maitreya6/maitreya-6.0.5/
Install Help (Ubuntu): http://makegadgetswork.blogspot.com/2010/03/install-maitreya-vedic-astrology_22.html
This is a tool written by Vedic astrologers for Vedic astrologers. It has Western settings as well, but then it is no more special than any other piece of software. If you are familiar with Jyotish, you will love this package. It has a tool that allows you to lay out a timeline of a person's life and displays Dasas like tracks in a music mixing program. There are Vedic tools in here that I've never seen before (e.g. Sarvatobhadra) and there is no adequate space to describe them. This is an excellent program for all students of Jyotish.

KStars (Linux only)
Homepage: http://edu.kde.org/kstars/
As always, my handy desktop planetarium. This one is light-weight and attractive. It's got an healthy database of objects and the necessary interface to hook up with telescopes on computerised mounts. With or without a telescope, it will show you what the sky should really look like from a particular location. A good desktop planetarium is a must for any indoor-astrologer.

thanks for the post mark,

a friend converted my solar fire program to run on ubuntu, and i have morinus on here as well... i e mailed the folks at solar fire asking them if they thought they would ever get round to making it so the program could work fully in linux, but haven't heard back! free software seems to be getting better and better all the time, including the astro kind, like that morinus program.. hopefully some folks will jump on this great info you are sharing...

The folks at Solar Fire don't even know what Linux is if their support page is any indicator. One I don't see here but highly recommend is Janus from Astrology-House in New Zealand. It is one of the best, most affordable programs with both modern and traditional features and it works flawlessly with WINE. Solar Fire will cost you triple what Janus does and it isn't as useful imo.

May I suggest AstroApp (http://astroapp.com). It runs anywhere including Linux and Unix systems (as long as you have internet access).

It was designed as a traditional astrology program originally but has now grown into a universal tool for all types of astrology.

AstroApp (Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix, Tablets, etc):
Homepage: http://astroapp.com

I've been told that Delphic Oracle also runs well on Wine though I didn't specifically design for Linux. I'm now working on the XPF (cross platform) version of Delphic Oracle which will also run on a Mac. The IDE I work in also has the ability to compile for iOS and Android. It's the most advanced software for Hellenistic astrology in the world and it was also the first complete program for Hellenistic astrology in Windows that made it to market (2003). I started programming this stuff before it was cool back in the 90's when no one else was interested. I had asked the main companies at the time such as Cosmic Patterns and Astrolabe to add the techniques we were finding in the Project Hindsight translations but was largely ignored. Eventually I just had to do it myself because no one would listen.

I've focused my efforts at ease of use over the last several years so that users can do most things like transits, progressions, primary directions, circumambulations, zodiacal releasing and other time lords, etc with only a single click (no need to enter location every time like I used to have to do with Solar Fire).

has any one been able to build or run skylendar on KDE3?
the developer has seemingly abandoned it and i would like to use it as a launching point for some customizations.


daniel