Code here is addresses bugs in full-release versions and also is where new features will first appear. In general, the code should be stable, but one purpose of the pre-release page is to give users a chance to shake out any bugs in new features before they get into a “full release”. So, if you’re packing up and headed to a dark site and the software is currently working for you, don’t grab these versions here without at least having a backup copy of something you know works for you.
PHD 1.12.2 Download OS X Universal, Download Windows
This pre-relese includes:
- (1.12.2) Tweak to Star Mass tolerance. Hopefully, it's less prone to rejecting things now. You can disable it entirely (promise!) by setting it to 1.0. Also, it will only reject two frames in a row because of this.
- (1.12.2) Calibration portion of log file cleaned up to put commas between values for easier analysis
- (1.12.2) If entering calibration data manually, current value will be pre-filled in dialog
- (1.12.1) Log file changed: Another column has been added to list what kind of fault PHD might have found with a star during guiding. 0=OK, 1=saturated (but still trying to work with it), 2=Low SNR, 3=Low star mass, 4=High change in star mass, 5=Large motion detected. Anything above 1 causes PHD to sit still and not move.
- (1.12.1) "Max RA Duration" parameter added to Advanced menu(default is 1000 ms). Can be used to cap the RA duration during guiding.
- (1.12.1) Flip RA data entry added to Tools menu to flip the vectors post meridian-flip
- (1.12.1) "Star mass tolerance" added to Advanced menu (default is 0.3). If the change in mass from one time to another exceeds this fraction, the current sample is rejected and not used for guiding. So, if the star mass on one sample is 10000 and the next it is 12000, the command is sent. If the next is 14000 (or 6000) it isn't (with the threshold set at 0.3 -- if it were at 0.4, these would be sent).
- (1.12.1) Reworked Advanced dialog
If you're running an Orion autoguider and you've not upgraded their drivers for some time (you're not on 1.12 already) and things don't work - upgrade their drivers from their site.
Nebulosity 2.3.3 Download OS X Universal, Download OS X Intel/Leopard+ , Download Windows
This pre-relese includes:
- (2.3.3) Added Preference to toggle crosshairs during frame/focus. Useful to turn them off for "real time video" mode.
- (2.3.3) Added Preference to control the display orientation (horizontal mirror, vertical mirror, and rotate 180 choices). Note, this does not affect the images as saved to disk - just how Neb orients the display Known bug: Star selection and cropping will not work properly if enabled.
- (2.3.3) Support for Opticstar DS-336C XL camera
- (2.3.3) Initial support for Moravian G2/G3 cameras. This will support G3 cams and G2 cams with v3 or higher firmware. If you want their filter wheel to show up the filters, either wait for their update (with SIMS v1.1.7) or create a "g3ccd.ini" file (see your operating manual for details under "G3 CCD Camera driver for SIMS").
- (2.3.3) Beta-level support for controlling Nebulosity via TCP/IP sockets added. With this, script commands can be sent to Nebulosity via sockets (in addition to through text files and the clipboard). There are several things to know about this:
- To engage the mode, run a script that has the command "Listenport #" in there. For example, you might have a script with one line saying: Listenport 4301 and when run, Nebulosity would begin waiting for a connection on port 4301.
- Nebulosity first waits for the connection to be formed (if you wish to bail, the Capture Abort will break out) and after that, it enters into a loop. It will wait for any data to come in using "blocking sockets". There is a timeout of 1s per read though, giving you the ability to break out. Many commands can be sent at once and if there are commands still to be processed, Nebulosity will do them without waiting (currently, a 2kb buffer is used for each read). Thus, it's not like you can only do one command per second. You can only abort once a second.
- To leave the mode and return control to Nebulosity itself either a) break the connection (Nebulosity will pop up a "connection lost" dialog) or b) send the command "Listenport 0".
- During all this, a small dialog will pop up that will show what Nebulosity is getting over the port, the status of the connection, etc. -- all useful info for debugging. At the moment, said dialog is not functioning on the Mac but you will see things flash by on the status bar.
- (2.3.3) Fixed startup for .txt and .neb files on Mac
- (2.3.3) Fixed issue that could lead to 16-bit warnings during pre-processing
- (2.3.3) Stability fixes
- (2.3.2) Should now recon QSI color images on the fly if so desired
- (2.3.2) Tweaks to make HFR metric more stable
- (2.3.2) Revised FITS header tool to allow scrolling and be more stable on some systems.
- (2.3.2) Fixed Canon support for EOS 1D Mk IV
- (2.3.1) Fixed reporting of bin mode in Image Info dialog
- (2.3.1) Fixed support for Canon 7D
- (2.3.1) Blink tool added to Preview tool. Once you have loaded a set of images, you can "lock" a current display by pressing the lock button. Then, change to another image (or change the B and W sliders) and hit the "blink" button to start blinking back and forth between the current setup and the locked version. To change the blink rate, shift-click on the blink button (can be done during blinking).
Craterlet OS X (0.3) Download 0.3 Download 0.2
Craterlet for OS X is designed to give Mac users simple capture application for DCAM-compliant firewire cameras such as those from The Imaging Source (sorry, the iSight is not DCAM-compliant). It's main application here will be to let you stream planetary or lunar images to disk. However, given the long-exposure options present in these cameras, other applications (e.g. DSO work) will certainly exist.
Currently, this is an early release. Heck, it may stay an “early release” forever. I have tested it with a monochrome camera (DMK 31AF03.AS) and with monochrome and color Unibrain Fire-i cameras. Images can be streamed to disk in BMP, JPEG, PNG, or TIFF formats (and SER in v0.3). On color cameras, it will stream color images, currently using the camera's onboard debayers even if pure RAW modes exist. I welcome bug reports and any other assistance users can provide in testing. Let me know what camera you are using, what modes show up (note, you can only selet a mode while Preview is not active), and how it behaves.
Version 0.3
- Added support for SER format. This is a RAW format that can be read by Registax. What’s great is that you can now stream a file rapidly here on the Mac and process the data in Registax. It’s possible this has broken support for a number of cameras, so I’ve left 0.2 up as well. (Remember, this program is far from prime-time).
- Note: If using a color-bayer DMK camera, make sure to select the “RAW” mode from the Mode pull-down. It may show up as “Y800”, “RAW RGB” or “Mono-8”. It won’t be called “Color”. Also, odds are the correct selection when asked what the sensor format is “GBRG”
Version 0.2
- Initial pre-release
Craterlet OS X is freeware. OS X 10.4 is required (some chance it will work with 10.3.9).
Please report your experiences on the Yahoo Group