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About this blog

The blog also contains updates as I go about AOSX - a mechanism to allow application developers and vendors to quickly and easily develop within OSX for Apple Macs. http://sourceforge.net/projects/aosx/

Entries in this blog

AOSX.. onwards!

AOSX has had a little bit of a backseat recently with ATIK and the wedding.. over the last few days I've been discussing and finalising some ideas with OzDave and I'm progressing nicely with the architectural changes we've been thinking about for a while. The focus of AOSX is the user, so we've been building in some heavy duty crash protection. This means now that each device in service has it's own process - a heavy approach but one that means if the driver "blue screens" or crashes then it wil
NickK

NickK

2

So what's next for ATIKDriverTest and AOSX?

V3 (latest), here in this post: So the next question is what next.. So basically the app will get some additional features to exercise the cameras (and yes you'll be able to set up a sequence of shots). When will I add filter wheel support in the sequence? Well after the driver is running.. I'll be putting some focus back into AOSX itself with the driver becoming a camera module, the filter wheel will also be supported and anyone can then use it :) I've been talking to Craig Stark (of PHD and
NickK

NickK

0

Pre-alpha ATIK test app takes it's first shot

Just a basic identify, connect and press the button to take a image (no temp setting or image save at the moment)... I'll tidy it up for people to try.. I'll also make a youtube guide.. note it's very basic functionality at mo..
NickK

NickK

0

BIG WARNING - Parallels & Mountain Lion = forced paid update to Parallels 7

I upgraded to Mountain Lion (10.8) and it appears my Parallels 6 doesn't work. Looking for a patch to get it to work has resulted in an 11 page thread on the Parallels forum full of vitriol about being forced to pay $60+ on a parallels 7 for very little gain. Parallels blaming Apple however to develop a product like this requires lots of understanding and planning.. peeved/livid - yes I am. So in order to use ASCOM I now have to pay $64.. so 13.99 for ML costs more than you think...
NickK

NickK

0

16GB of ram in the MBP..

I looked at 16GB originally when I first bought this MBP after the demise of my long serving previous MBP.. but decided that the update from 4GB to 8GB was better at that time than the ridiculous prices they charged for 16GB.. now with time 16GB is reasonable and so I took the plunge. Firstly everything is naturally quicker.. now HD limited on initial loading but after that everything is in memory making the machine pretty much instantaneous in normal use.. however this also means that compiling
NickK

NickK

3

mice, mouse and damned meeces

So the app has nice scrolly shifts to the windows but it has occurred to me that those that don't use a trackpad/laptop will be limited in the gestures which means buttons to navigate.. A restructure later.. and the app code is looking nicer. When i have the chance to get the camera and laptop in the same room we may see a video of it's first image capture..
NickK

NickK

0

First new-forum blog - back and continuing the ATIK work!

So, with the wedding done and dusted.. I've started to get the itch to crack on with the ATIK stuff again. With it being mid-summer.. it's a good time to get the camera work out the way ready for the coming 2013 galaxy season :D Sandrine has booked me a trip to Olly's so there's also another, further driver to have some things working! To recap I have a basic driver working for the Titan and 3-series, with the 4000/11000 waiting until a later release. I have an application with the basic connect
NickK

NickK

0

Progress of the test app

Connects and recognises the basic cameras - although I need to finish this with a full connect to read the full information. d7cTU0jqdOo After this it's sorting out taking images..
NickK

NickK

1

Test app anyone?

So what's next :D I'm going to create a little test application to support a sub-set of the cameras for people to test and give feedback on (not an image capture app!). Just need to sweet talk Sandrine into giving me a an evening or two..
NickK

NickK

1

Long weekend.. a few days more on the library

So I've spent a few days on the ATIK support over the wet & cloudy weekend after a little break (including SGL7).. The productive points: * EFW2 support should be simple - I'm happy with the research on that part. * The final refactoring/restructuring of the ATIK driver library is in full swing - after which a large portion of testing!
NickK

NickK

4

First Light of the 383 on OSX - The Bear Paw Galaxy

I took an image directly using the Mac last night with the 383 (the PC was still performing guiding using the 16IC and controlling the mount as it was the end of a late session). This is a raw image with all the dead pixels, the refractor aberrations and no processing.. Here's a link to the raw 17.1MB 16 bit TIFF of the Bear Paw Galaxy You may want to do some curves to pull out the target(s).
NickK

NickK

3

And the titan gets it's first exposure on OSX!

Hot on the tail of the 383 video.. the titan makes it's first light on the mac! It helps when you remember that shift right is actually >> and not << (for the technically minded!). I still have more work but I thought I'd spam the blog some more :D
NickK

NickK

0

Video blog post of the 383 on OSX taking an exposure

Rather than write.. The 383L taking an exposure on the mac. GacWol1KbpU Here, the 383 is initialising then taking a 10 second exposure before downloading the exposure. Please excuse the wedding preparations in the background!
NickK

NickK

3

Let the countdown begin!

Well it's friday and the last day before a week of carry-over holiday that I need to take. With Sandrine at work this gives me the opportunity to push ahead with the ATIK support :hello2: (stop here if you're feeling over-geeked) So on my checklist this week I have, in priority order: * Finish the 383L support, this includes resolving the slow transfer rate (I know how to resolve this but I've not had time to resolve it). * AOSX module using the above code - this is a relatively straightforward
NickK

NickK

1

First light with the 383 on OSX..

As Sandrine is away doing female wedding things (dresses).. it's left me a free weekend to sit down and push forward the project. There's still a way to go, mainly down to differences between windows, OSX and Linux that will need additional work but the core goal of today has been achieved - namely getting a first downloaded image from the 383 onto the mac. So the event may be impressive, the image isn't (lol) as it's a saturated white from the pentax on a sunny day pointing at the garden ground
NickK

NickK

0

A new baby in the family - Titan arrives!

Big difference in speed between the 16IC and the Titan! (the 16IC is USB 1.1, the Titan is USB 2.0 High Speed) I've had a 5 minute play.. I've got a tweak or two and I should be able to get the images off it. :evil6: Can't wait to point this at M42!
NickK

NickK

1

ATIK repair turnaround - awesome!

Well the 383 was shipped off on saturday, I check the royal mail - it arrived today at 11:38.. only to have a message today at 16:30 to say that it's in the post! Awesome service!
NickK

NickK

0

AOSX.. Oops *mayday*mayday*383L down!*

Last night I managed to trip up and take out the USB cable and the centre plastic pin inside the USB socket.. so I'll be arranging a repair trip for the 383L. Perfect conditions but ho-hum! The additional downside is that the 383L support will have to wait for it to be fixed but it does mean I can continue with the 16IC :D I've also just found out that there's an open source project that allows connection for my little Garmin Geko 301, a RS232 serial connection... GPS support :D But 16IC first!
NickK

NickK

1

Tentative Image transfer!

In between returning from kickboxing and getting to bed I managed to spend an hour working on this. I've now got the first 17MB image transferred. I've still got additional work todo but it's a milestone in the project. :glasses1:
NickK

NickK

0

Click - Click as the 383L+ initialises itself on Apple for the first time!

Many thanks to Sandrine putting up with my obsessive behaviour this weekend! For the first time, the ATIK 383L+ initialised itself with the characteristic click-click. The plan was to get the image downloaded for something to show.. however some stupid unwritten behaviour of Apple's USB implementation meant banging my head against the wall for two days straight trying to figure it out - that's sorted! :glasses1: So the camera initialises, chats and will initiate a download of the image.. the rem
NickK

NickK

0

Spot the camera ;)

This is the Xcode USB probe application. I thought I'd just give you a hint that it's slowly advancing ;)
NickK

NickK

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