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The first production release of Lightning/2000™ was version 1.0.4 on
September 7, 1999. Here's what's happened since then:
 | v5.6.1, January 23, 2012
 | The nearby flash recognition is now more sensitive to weak, nearby
storms. Nearly 100% of nearby storms should be detected reliably
now. |
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| v5.5.1, August 23, 2011
| The email problem, "fixed" in the previous version is
absolutely, positively fixed once and for all! |
| Now send automatic updates from Lightning/2000 to your Twitter
account. |
| Added option to uniformly reduce all of the rate counters' alarm
levels, so if you live in an area that doesn't get the really big storms
like we see here in North America, you can easily change the alarms red
and yellow alert levels. |
| Turbo mode -- allows users with the PCI StormTracker or LD-350 to
detect more strokes and never miss a stroke. |
| A meter has been added (in the Control Panel's Gauges tab) that shows how often the hardware is being queried for the occurrence of a new stroke. |
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| v5.4.3, June 10, 2011
| Fixed, once again, the problem of too many emails being sent out
automatically. |
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| v5.4.2, June 6, 2011
| Fixed a bug that caused the automatically generated email function to
not work properly in some cases. |
| Fixed a bug that caused the direction of a "nearby" storm to
be listed incorrectly in the Nowcast window. |
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| v5.4.1, June 1, 2011
| You may now have any number of custom summaries running simultaneously
via the new Custom Summary Manager. |
| Easily send text messages when lightning threatens. |
| The nearby flash determination has been augmented to more accurately
determine the flash counts when a storm is close. |
| An option to require CID strokes to be contained in all nearby flashes
has been added. This allows for fewer false alarms and fewer
missed detections when storms approach. |
| 4 new dialogs have been added, consolidating many things that were
formerly on the overly-cluttered menus. |
| The help has received an extensive makeover and is now exclusively in
the HTML format, allowing the context-sensitive help to work with all
operating systems. |
| The user's manual has received an extensive update. |
| Some new Custom Summary commands and keywords now allow for total
flexibility when sending emails or text messages. |
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| v5.3.3, January 28, 2011
| An HTML help file is now included with Lightning/2000. It was
just discovered that Windows 7 users cannot access the original help
file. A more comprehensive fix for this problem will be released
soon. |
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| v5.3.1, December 10, 2010
| The map may now be zoomed out twice as far as before. |
| A problem was fixed that caused error dialogs to not appear sometimes when incorrect input was entered into a dialog box. |
| A problem in the abbreviation of the time zone name was fixed. This probably explains the rare initialization problem that has cropped up from time to time over the years. |
|
| v5.2.2, September 15, 2010
| A change in the #ProduceScreenCapture keyword now allows screen
captures to be produced instantly on demand. |
| The initialization sequence for the PCI StormTracker hardware was
reworked to assure that 64-bit operating systems are not impacted by
future changes to the device driver. |
| The crosshair at the center of the map may now be removed. |
| The "Test" button on the email dialog box was found to not
be working properly and has been fixed. |
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| v5.1.3, July 23, 2010
| More accurate range determination for storms within 100 miles. |
| The addition of numerous Custom Summary commands and keywords allow
you to send commands to a serial port to control external devices,
produce screen capture images only when conditions warrant, and produce
any number of custom text files (that can then be uploaded to a server). |
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| v5.0.1, June 20, 2010
| Newly developed algorithms allow for the complete rejection of many
kinds of persistent electrical noise that were not formerly recognized
as noise. |
| An upgrade to the reflection rejection logic ensures that reflected
strokes (a by-product of the hardware) are recognized as such and are
correctly placed in their proper positions more accurately than
previously possible. |
| The addition of the "@MinutesSinceEmailSent" keyword now
gives us total flexibility in determining when to send an automatically
generated email via either the custom summary language. |
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| v4.9.6, January 27, 2010
| Fixed a bug in the map loading that affected a small percentage of
users. |
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| v4.9.2, January 12, 2010
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| v4.8.7, September 23, 2009
| Fixed a bug in the range scaling initialization. |
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| v4.8.2, May 8, 2009
| Screen capture images can now be in the PNG format. |
| Support for Windows 7. |
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| v4.7.3, September 8, 2008
| A bug was fixed in the Archive Player's text export function. |
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| v4.7.2, August 24, 2008
| The "nearby flash" technique first released in v4.6 has been
greatly refined and improved. |
| A problem in the ranging when using the LD-250 was discovered and
corrected. |
| The automatic email sending function has been refined to prevent the
sending of unnecessary emails when a storm was not nearby. |
| The auto-zoom function has been refined and improved. |
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| v4.6.3, May 20, 2008
| For the first time in any personal lightning detection product,
it is now possible to determine when an individual flash of lightning is
nearby. This means more accurate and timely alarms when a storm is
approaching. |
| A red or yellow border is now drawn around the Analysis, Threat
Assessment, and Real-time Lightning windows if a storm is within the red
or yellow alert ranges. |
| Added a "Reset record..." option to each counter that keeps
a record value. |
| A problem in the reflection rejection logic was fixed. |
| The total flashes rate and total counters no longer include
CIDs. This is because each CID is part of a flash that has already
been counted. |
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| v4.5.4, February 14, 2008
| The custom summary language was improved to allow for much greater
flexibility and precision. |
| A minor initialization problem that sometimes could occur when using
the PCI StormTracker was corrected. |
| Ensure that the squelch is properly set when starting the application. |
| A #Sound command was added to the custom summary language. This
allows the user to cause any sound to be played, depending on the
conditions defined in the custom summary template. |
| The custom summary template may now be edited by right-clicking in the
Custom Summary window. |
| A problem with the playback of recent lightning activity was fixed. |
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| v4.4.9, December 19, 2007
| If you use the StormTracker PCI card, you can now install the latest device driver from Boltek. You do not have to uninstall the old driver. If both drivers are detected, the latest one will be used. The latest driver for the PCI card may be downloaded from the Boltek website. |
| We've added the ability to remove the title bar from any or all of the windows in Lightning/2000. |
| In addition to the old default arrangement of the display, there are now two new options. Choose "Window | Arrange" from the main menu to select one of these.
Those pesky icons at the bottom of the screen are now hidden from view automatically. |
| There is now a #BackgroundColor command in the custom summary. With this, you can change the color of the custom summary window to indicate dangerous conditions.
A bug was fixed that sometimes caused storms' ranges to be greater than they should have been. |
| A bug was fixed that prevented flashes from being exported into the Google Earth format when using the LD-250. |
| A bug was fixed that prevented flashes from being exported properly when the decimal point on your computer was not the period. |
| Added 3 new operators to the custom summary: <>, >=, and <= (not equals to, greater than or equals to, and less than or equals to). |
| A keyword (instead of just a number) can now be used as the object of a comparison in the custom summary. |
| The custom summary processor was re-engineered for maximum efficiency.
36 new keywords were added to the custom summary to permit access to the daily record values. |
| An auto-zoom function was added. This allows any (or all) of the map windows to automatically zoom (every 5 minutes) to show most or all lightning activity. |
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| v4.3.5, November 12, 2007
| Fixed a problem that caused the coordinates dialog to not appear when
using the Google Earth export function. |
| Fixed an anomaly with how the clock is drawn. |
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| v4.3.2, November 7, 2007
| You may now export flashes from your archive files into a format that
can be read by Google Earth. |
| Fixed a bug that sometimes would cause the wrong stroke type
checkboxes to be checked in the Control Panel. |
| Added a "Test" button to the Email Dialog. |
| The Custom Summary can now be automatically generate an email, based
on whatever criteria you choose. |
| Reflected strokes are now placed into the correct flash, rather than
simply being discarded. |
| Screen capture, FTP, and email settings are now retained when
switching from flash mode to stroke mode or vice versa. |
| The clock is now displayed on one line, if space permits. |
| The counters now occupy a larger portion of their panels. |
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| v4.2.2, August 3, 2007
| Optimized memory usage to avoid unnecessary reallocation of large blocks of memory used for drawing strokes. |
| The flash or stroke preferences are now always saved when switching between flash and stroke modes. |
| Control Panel's checkboxes now reflect the correct stroke type selections. |
| The labels on the Storm Statistics window's stroke type bar graph are now correct in flash mode. |
| Fixed a bug in the recent activity playback that prevented it from working correctly at all times. |
| Added the Custom Summary window. The contents of this text window are
controlled by a template file that you can change to produce virtually any information. |
| The General Status Line is now also driven by a template. |
| The Email Dialog now allows you to send any of the text windows as the body of the email. |
| You can now attach any or all of 6 screen capture images to an automatically generated email. |
| There have been some important improvements in the range determination process. |
v4.1.6, June 11, 2007
| A glitch in the screen capture of the Real-Time Lightning window could
be caused by changing colors of one of the window elements, and has been
corrected. |
| The screen capture of the Threat Assessment window sometimes showed
storms at a distance greater than their actual distance. |
| The range scaling settings are now retained when switching between
stroke mode and flash mode. |
| A problem was fixed that could cause the graph to display wildly
incorrect values for the strong flash count. |
| The "File | View | Recent archive" menu selection was added. |
| A problem was corrected that could cause slightly incorrect flash
totals to be tabulated when restarting the application. |
| The text "strong strokes" was changed to "strong
flashes" on the status line alert. |
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| v4.1.0, May 25, 2007
| More accurate determination of a flash's bearing and amplitude.
One side-effect of this improvement is more accurate range
determination. |
| Strong flashes are now tabulated rather than strong strokes. |
| The Threat Assessment window has been significantly improved. It
now seems to be a more meaningful and accurate assessment of storm
activity. |
| The reflection rejection logic has been completely overhauled,
resulting in improved accuracy and performance. |
| Changes to the reflection rejection level now show up immediately in
the Real-time Lightning window. |
| Improved performance in the flash determination logic. |
| Storm Statistics may now be displayed by clicking in either the Threat
Assessment or Raw Lightning Data windows. |
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| v4.0.2, October 7, 2006
| The major change involved the move from a stroke-based system to a
flash-based system that is far more reflective of reality. By more
accurately mirroring what is really happening in a storm, we will be
able to provide more meaningful and accurate information to the user. |
| Automatic screen captures can now be performed for any of the windows
in Lightning/2000. |
| New approach to the Threat Assessment window should result in a more
meaningful depiction of storm activity. |
| The stroke rate graph has been totally overhauled. It is now
possible to easily display a graph showing flashes, strokes, or other
information. |
| Far less reliance on the operating system's memory allocation
techniques means increased reliability and the ability to process more
data, faster. |
| Addition of the Control Panel for fast access to commonly used
functions. |
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| v3.5.6, August 19, 2006
| Some LD-250 users were having problems getting a reliable COM
port connection to the hardware. This has been corrected. |
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| v3.4.4, August 15, 2004
| Support for additional COM ports was added. |
| A bug was fixed that sometimes (rarely) could cause the stroke rate
graph to be devoid of data. |
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| v3.4.1, July 17, 2004
| A bug was fixed that could cause the CG Flash rate and CG Flash total
records to be computed incorrectly. If you suspect your CG flash
records are incorrect, download this file.
Unzip the file and double-click on it to reset those two records. |
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| v3.4.0, July 1, 2004
| New email options to only send a brief summary, and to only send an
email when a specified stroke rate is reached. |
| The stroke rate activity graph can now be automatically captured and
uploaded to your website. |
| A thumbnail image of the real-time lightning window can now be
produced and uploaded. |
| A couple of intermittent problems have been corrected. |
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| v3.3.2, February 5, 2004
| New, completely flexible range scaling. |
| Faster FTP transfers. |
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| v3.2.0, December 30, 2003
| More efficient CPU usage, especially when there is little lightning
activity |
| CG Flash counters |
| CID (compact intercloud discharge) counters |
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| v3.1.3, July 15, 2003
| Minor cosmetic changes. Improved storm ranging. Fewer
false close storm alarms. |
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| v3.1.1, July 9, 2003
| an intermittent problem with the FTP transfer on certain servers has
been corrected |
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| v3.1.0, July 7, 2003
| automatic FTP of screen capture is now built-in |
| an email can be sent when lightning is detected nearby |
| optimization of stroke drawing means better performance |
| CPU usage is greatly reduced when there is little lightning activity |
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| v3.0.3, April 18, 2003
| Fixed minor bug in the map reloader function |
| Fixed bug that caused averages to be incorrectly calculated in the
daily summary file |
| Added a menu option to disable the little-used disk space monitor |
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| v3.0, September 20, 2002
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| v2.7.6, June 7, 2002
| Fix for the "stroke reversal" hardware problem with the PCI card. |
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| 2.7.5, May 20, 2002
| The Boltek PCI hardware is now supported. |
| LD-250 squelch now works properly. |
| Antenna rotation adjustment is now incorporated. |
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| 2.7.4, August 24, 2001
| A change was made that affected some European LD-250 users. |
| If you don't use the LD-250, or use it without problems, you won't
need this version. |
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| 2.7.2, March 8, 2001
| A debug statement was inadvertently left enabled and can cause a
"file not found" error box to pop up if you are using the
LD-250. |
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| v2.7.1, March 8, 2001
| A minor change was made to prevent the never-before-observed case of
an inordinate number of "storms" being detected during periods
of heavy activity. |
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| v2.7.0, March 3, 2001
| A new help file is available. |
| Improved memory management to help avoid memory fragmentation. |
| Support for the Boltek LD-250. |
| There is now a single version of L2K for all Boltek hardware and
supported operating systems. |
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| v2.6.4, January 12, 2001
| A newer version of the help file is available. |
| JPEG images may now be used as background maps. |
| A periodic reload of the background map image may now be
performed. This is useful if you wish to use a radar image as your
background map. |
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| v2.6.1, January 2, 2001
| A minor problem with the stroke click has been fixed. |
| A couple of minor additions to the help file were made. |
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| v2.6.0, January 1, 2001
| Built-in help has been greatly augmented and expanded. |
| Stroke click sounds have been added. |
| A tiny problem with the time zone abbreviation has been fixed. |
| An expanded manual is now being shipped with new orders. |
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| v2.5.6, July 31, 2000
| Reflection rejection now adjustable between several levels. |
| Internal changes for more efficient handling of unused memory
collection. |
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| v2.5.1, July 11, 2000
| Reflection rejection logic more efficient and less heavy-handed than
before. |
| Real-time window updates now performed much faster. |
| Old strokes are now not replotted. This allows the user to
visually see where storms have been and get a general impression of
their movement. |
| Old strokes do not vanish from the real-time window prematurely. |
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| v2.4.7, June 29, 2000
| Further investigation resulted in further improvements related to the
changes made in the v2.4 release. |
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| v2.4.6, June 27, 2000
| A problem related to some efficiency improvements made during the
recent release of v2.4 has been corrected. |
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| v2.4.1, June 13, 2000
| "New" strokes in the real-time lightning window are now
displayed as "new" for the amount of time set by the user. |
| Bulletproofing has been added to prevent problems when a
"live" screen-capture is taken by a third-party screen-capture
program. |
| Azimuth radials can now be drawn on the real-time lightning window. |
| New "reflection-rejection" logic now permits reflected
strokes to be eliminated better than ever before. |
| Some minor problems with the archive player have been corrected. |
| Some minor efficiency increases were implemented. |
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| v2.3.0, April 17, 2000
| Low stroke rates are now grouped into "storms" far more
accurately than before. |
| The "reflection rejection" logic is now disabled by default. |
| Users can now adjust "scale factors" to tailor the
performance of Lightning/2000™ to the peculiarities of their
installation. |
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| v2.2.11, April 8, 2000
| The user is now prohibited from zooming-in to a ridiculous level,
thereby avoiding an embarrassing predicament. |
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| v2.2.8, March 25, 2000
| Added a 12 hour "recent activity" playback option. |
| Added some bulletproofing to the automatic screen capture, in case the
file selected by the user is temporarily unavailable. |
| Added global bulletproofing. |
| The number of exceptions trapped is now in the About box. |
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| v2.2.3, March 17, 2000
| Preferences incorporating the "new" Counters window are now
stored properly. |
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| v2.2.2, March 15, 2000
| Auto screen-capture is now more efficient. |
| Added 2, 3, and 6 hour "recent activity" playback options. |
| Counters are now better centered vertically. |
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| v2.2.0, March 13, 2000
| The "Counters" window is now more flexible and easier to
configure. |
| Time stamp added to auto screen capture image. |
| 3-D effects may now be specified for red and yellow alert status in
the "Counters" window. |
| Time zone is now interpreted correctly for areas which do not use
daylight savings time. |
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| v2.1.6, March 4, 2000
| The "Load preferences..." function now loads map info. |
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| v2.1.5, February 27, 2000
| The archive player is now minimized (rather than closed) when the
close button is clicked. |
| The title of the popup menu in the real-time lightning window is now
correct. |
| The background color of the map in either the real-time lightning or
analysis windows may now be changed. |
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| v2.0.8, February 17, 2000
| Range rings and the crosshairs are now drawn (if enabled) in the
screen capture file. |
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| v 2.0.6, January 22, 2000
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| v 1.0.8, November 15, 1999
| A minor annoyance related to daylight savings time was fixed. |
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| v 1.0.6, October 3, 1999
| All "unusual" characters were removed from the name of the
default installation directory. |
| The loading of the background map was further
"bulletproofed". |
| The drawing of the background map was further
"bulletproofed". |
| The default preferences file for 640x480 screen resolutions was
modified. |
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| v 1.0.5, October 2, 1999
| This was the first attempt to fix the intermittent "class
id" error. |
| This fix led to the discovery of the "final solution" which
was implemented and uploaded the next day |
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