Software and other useful stuff from Matthew Eagles

Note: If your anti-virus or security software prevents downloading of any software on this page, this can be overcome by temporarily disabling the anti-virus software. None of my software has viruses or is in any way malicious, as I wouldn't even know how to write malicious code ...

This specially-written software (now at Version 6) takes lighting-up data for locations in the U.K. for 1987-2011. The switching-on times for four selected SOX streetlights are shown:

Lamp 1 switches on around 8 minutes after sunset on a fine day. Around 20% of all streetlights will be switched on by this time.

Lamp 2 switches on around 12 minutes after sunset on a fine day. Around 40% of all streetlights will be switched on by this time.

Lamp 3 switches on around 16 minutes after sunset on a fine day. Around 60% of all streetlights will be switched on by this time.

Lamp 4 switches on around 20 minutes after sunset on a fine day. Around 80% of all streetlights will be switched on by this time.

The colour of each streetlight is shown at the observation where it was first seen to be switched on. So for example, from the screenshot, on 2nd January 2009, lamp '2' was orange in colour at 4:20, meaning it switched on around 4:17.

As well as streetlight data, the sunset time and local weather conditions (from my own weather observations - another interest of mine since 1987!) are shown. The data can be filtered by date, so for example you can select 28th August and see how the weather conditions have affected lighting-up from one year to the next.

To run the Lighting-Up program you will need to download TWO files:

The program - click here (or click on the picture)(252 kb)
The data file (which can also be viewed as an ordinary .csv file) - click here (281 kb)

The data file should be stored in the same directory as the main program. However, you can use a alternative path if preferred. You may need to right-click on the above links and select "Save target as...".

I wrote "Eagles's Calendar" a few years ago to cover my own needs and am now offering it to anyone who would like a copy, free of charge. Its features are:

Easy to scroll - in increments of 4 months, 1 year, of 10 years; or go to a specific date;

This software is free and consists of a single file of 96kB - virus-free!! To download this for free, click here, or click on the picture. Enjoy!

Note (for those who have downloaded) - the "calculate" screen needs the year to always be included when you enter a date. So "16 Mar to 25 Dec" won't work, but "16 Mar 2011 to 25 Dec 2011" will. This is also true for "Go to" in the main screen. Sorry.

This game is another invention of mine (in 1990!). You move around the maze and collect the white counters; however, each time you cross from one tile to another, one of the tiles at random will rotate through 90° — making it difficult to complete the maze without becoming trapped! The chances of success are perhaps 5-10%. If you do complete the maze, you are taken to a new screen.

Moving your counter (red) around the maze is done by using the keyboard. You can choose the number of rows/columns of the maze, from 3 to 8.

Again, this software is free of charge, free of viruses, and consists of a single file of 84kB. To download this for free, click here, or click on the picture.

I also have a font of my own handwriting available! However, this is not free of charge. As well as the Latin alphabet, Russian is included (including Russian stress marks), plus a few extra symbols such as meteorological cloud cover symbols as I couldn't find them anywhere else. To find out more, please click on the sample on the left, or visit http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/matthew-eagles/matthew/

Click here (or the icon on the left) to get a HTML page with JavaScript that produces a huge screenful of keys for almost any character you want!These characters (at the top of the screen) can be copied to the Clipboard and pasted. Note that your security settings need to allow JavaScript to be run, and the keys will unfortunately not work in Internet Explorer — try Chrome or Firefox for example.

This is a novelty piece of software, and just a little nerdy. It is an on-screen clock that works in a large number of counting systems — including the usual base 10 (decimal), but also binary (base 2), octal (8), and hexadecimal (16); and ternary, quaternary, quinary, vigesimal etc. etc. — anything up to hexatrigesimal (base 36). For example, the time in the screenshot on the left is 9:17:28 in decimal. To download this free-of-charge and free-of-viruses software (a single file of 52kB), click here, or click on the picture.

All software on this page (unless specified otherwise) is freeware. Please let me know what you think of it! Contact me at

I trust that your computer has sufficient security protection against viruses etc., but you have my assurance I am NOT a hacker or any sort of malicious programmer!!

Matthew Eagles's FREE software