JamesF

Thank you, Jake.

I don't know what the Windows SDK is like, but I have the open source one for Linux and it's, umm, well, a bit odd, let's say.  I knew I'd have to re-write the code anyhow as I want it in C and to match my existing API so I've really only used it as reference documentation.  There is some stuff that I just don't get; for example it has some sort of HDR mode that is unpacked into an image in a most unusual manner, but I think I can leave that for the time being.

James

Couldn't swim at the same time as the kids tonight because on Fridays the club takes the entire pool, so instead I took the laptop and QHY5LII, sat in the sports centre cafe and ironed out most of the remaining issues with the camera.  I need to sort out reading the temperature and do some tidying up, but I think the hard work for supporting this camera is all done now

James

Well, it's been slow work as I've actually had the opportunity to get out with the scope recently, but I'm getting close with the support for the QHY5L-II.  I am at least now getting images out of it.  They're just not quite right.  As tonight's "clear sky" is full of fogginess, instead I have used it to image a light switch

James

Just been looking at the brake disc prices.  Should a smaller disc be suitable for anyone else considering this, the Fiesta 240mm diameter disc looks like it might fit the bill at only £7: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-FIESTA-1-1-1-8-D-1-4-1-8-TD-1-3-1-0-89-97-Eicher-Front-Brake-Disc-/290993994457

James

Got abit of a problem. Just giving this ago but cant drag any of my pictures. Any suggestions

You mean dragging them onto the AS!2 application?

James

Nice idea to get the brake disc from ebay.  Best of luck with the build, and more importantly your treatment.

James

And the next release is out: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/209444-new-v004-beta-release-of-linux-capture-application/

James

reading stuff like this really makes me wish i'd got into engineering instead of stupid I.T. that was all outsourced leaving me on the dole... i'd love to be able to make my own stuff like this but the last time i used a lathe was over 30 years ago at school 

Before a year ago I'd never used a lathe at all.  Teaching oneself is slow, but it's certainly possible.  I've not attempted gears yet, but I've made a few other telescope parts.

James

Tonight I finally cleared my "todo" list for the next release with the one exception of updating the documentation.  Hopefully that shouldn't take too long as most of the changes I've made don't affect the UI because they mainly involve extending the existing functionality.  I now have a big pile of testing and a load of binaries to build, but I hope the next release should be sorted within the next week or so.

I already have a fair-sized list of ideas for the following release, but I think that must at least include support for the QHY5II.

James

That's excellent news  I don't tend to use unpowered USB hubs myself as I've found them to be unreliable in the past.  I have to admit that I completely forgot to try even one out.

James

And at last I'm there with the third release:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/207600-beta-release-of-linux-capture-application/

James

Yes, I realise you were joking  It's quite hard to control the application when you're running the application on the RPi and the display on a remote desktop, but I have ideas about that.  That's for another time though.  My "todo" list for the next release is getting a bit on the large side already.

It will be interesting to see how people will use it -- even more so when I have the camera library interface tidied up and it's feasible to use that in other applications too.

James

Might cause a bit of a buzz around the Rasperry Pi community.

Have to admit that hadn't occurred to me at all.  I'd not really thought outside the "astronomy" box on this one.

James

Yup, it's 640x480 at 8 bits.  I'm not sure about the SD card either.  It wouldn't surprise me if a NAS gave better performance.

James

Monitor problem solved.  It appears RPi had decided it would prefer to use the composite video output rather than HDMI.  Easily fixed.  And to celebrate here's a Raspberry PI "selfie":

James

Oh awesome nice one James , fps max of 2, actual 5 that's impressive 1fps would be fine for my project hehe.

Yes, not at all sure why the RPi won't talk to my monitor any more.  I might have to see about a new HDMI cable.

James

Woo!  We're nearly there.  Testing is pretty much complete.  Just need to write a final few notes and pack up the files now.  And here is a picture of it running on the RPi:

It was a bit slow because I was running the display over the network to my desktop (for some reason the RPi didn't want to talk to my HDMI monitor).  But it certainly works

James

And once I do i'm going to start requesting features from you to help make an all sky cam a reality with it most likely something just like a delay of 1 minute between several second captures

Actually, this should pretty much be possible with the new release.  The bit that really needs adding would be to write a file format that's useful.  I'd guess you don't particularly want the output writing as an AVI or SER file and even FITS might not be that useful.  Could be handy to have it throw out a load of PNG files or something in this case, perhaps?

James

Oh nice work James Good to know you've got it working on a Rpi, hopefully I will be able to then

It was a bit of a pain to get working, I have to admit.  The V4L2 interface in Raspbian is some what behind what is in Mint 15 and initially it wouldn't even compile.  Looks to be all ok now, but the proof will be when it works

James

I have written some documentation now, and tested another beta release of the ZWO SDK which appears to work fine.  I've also got the code to build and install on 32-bit and 64-bit Mint 15/16 and on the RPi.  Just need to do some testing of cameras now and package the files up and I'll be ready for another release

James

James - what version of Linux are you using? I'm assuming you're using libusb?

I'm mainly using Mint 15 and Mint 16 on my 64-bit and 32-bit Intel architectures, so effectively a relatively recent Ubuntu releases without the horrors of Unity or Gnome3  For anything on the RPi I'm using the latest Raspian release which is based on Debian Wheezy.

I make use of libusb for scanning for connected cameras and where I've had to write my own user-space driver for a camera (eg. the QHY5).  If the camera vendor supplies a Linux interface then I use that (just the ZWO cameras at the moment, and I'm fairly sure their SDK is layered on top of libusb anyhow).  For webcams such as the SPC900 and Microsoft's Lifecam and Xbox Live cam, as well as Imaging Source cameras, I go straight to the V4L2 kernel interface as there's no obvious good reason to reinvent the wheel.

I did find when writing the QHY5 interface that I needed a very recent version of libusb -- rather later than is included with many current Linux distributions -- so my build/install scripts create a private copy just for oaCapture.  In fact I started with libusbx 1.0.17 when I found problems with the QHY5 initially, but at the start of 2014 libusbx and libusb "unforked" and there's now a 1.0.18 release for the merged project so I'm going with that.

James

I'll see what I can do with the next release to make things easier.  Perhaps even make up an RPi binary release.  We've definitely found a few issues with that new SDK so once I'm done writing documentation I'll make a new release using the existing SDK version.

James

Oh, there's a new "testing" ASI SDK available here: http://zwoptical.com/software/asilinuxsdk.tar as of today.  I don't think Sam will mind me mentioning that as he's posted the location to a public mailing list.  I've not even tried them yet, though I did have to make some small tweaks to get the previous testing version to compile with my code, or rather, to get my code to compile with it.

I really do want to get the next release out asap though.  There are so many fixes and lots of support for new stuff that it will make quite a difference I think.

James

YAACA is similar but different, I think.

My capture application should be standalone, but I intend that it should provide a set of tools upon which other applications can be built.  YAACA appears to be more of a single-purpose thing targeted at a small set of cameras.  Or was, last time I looked.  I do hope I haven't maligned the author there.

James

The next release has been delayed slightly as I've been trying it out against the planned next release of the SDK and there appears to be a problem somewhere.  If it looks like it's my application then I'll fix it, otherwise I'll get the release sorted anyhow and do a further one if necessary for the new SDK.

James