ZmanimPlasma (Linux) Released

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ZmanimPlasmaMoshe Wagner recently released ZmanimPlasma for the Linux platform. This KDE Plasma desktop widget displays the Hebrew date and zmanim on a Linux desktop. The zmanim calculations use Moshe’s C++ port Zmanim CLI wrapper that enables a C++ program to call the Java Zmanim API. There are no current plans to make this widget available on any other platform. It can be downloaded from the Luach project download page. Moshe has in the past used the Zmanim API for use in Linux and some cross platform projects. These include the above mentioned Zmanim CLI, and Zmanim GUI that uses the ZmanimCLI.

Updated on 4/13/2010 ג׳ אייר תשע״ג to reflect information from Moshe explaining that this was not a port.

Zmanim GUI Released

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Zmanim GUI screenshotI was recently contacted by Moshe Wagner who wanted to know if there was a graphical front end to the Zmanim API. While there are various programs that do use the API, there is no standalone Java GUI that uses the API (the zmanim clock applet is not easily useful for looking up zmanim for various locations). As first announced in Hebrew (ZmanimGUI – ממשק להצגת זמני היום ההלכתיים), Moshe took the API and wrote a Java Swing GUI for the API. The Zmanim GUI (called זמני היום in Hebrew) can switch between Hebrew and English display and shows the most common list of zmanim typically used. The program requires Java 6 and can be launched by double clicking on the ZmaniGui jar file (or execute the command ‘java -jar ZmaninGui.jar’ from a command prompt). As with the Zmanim API, the GUI was released under the GPL2 and is available (including source) on our download page (direct link to version 0.0.87 updated on י״ח אייר תשס״ט May 12, 2009). Questions and comments can be posted here or sent directly to Moshe at moshe.wagner -AT- gmail.com.

Zmanim Clock Applet Alpha Release

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Note: Java Applets are obsolete, and the applet is no longer available
A while ago, Dr. Irv Bromberg mentioned to me, that my Zmanim API was in use in the Astronomical Clock Applet created by Ali Adams. The applet was a modification to Antony Pranata’s clock applet that displayed Islamic prayer times. Apparently the Zmanim API was so flexible that without any modification it was able to be used for generating “zmanim” well beyond anything I had envisioned. At Dr. Bromberg’s suggestion I modified the clock applet to display zmanim. Using the same Google Map API used in the Calendar Generator, I created the Zmanim Clock page (no longer available). The clock on the Clock page is very configurable, and allows selection of the location, zmanim etc. I contacted Antony Pranata, the original author of the clock who allowed my to release it under the GPL. An easy to use downloadable version will be made available in the near future. For those who think that the clock is upside down, there are more than enough configuration options to tweak the clock to your heart’s content.