Computer Specifications

[MattJenko]

What computer spec are you guys and girls using for imaging and what is the minimum you would recommend for your setup?

[jgs001]

I'm using a 10 year old machine... single CPU core (1200Mhz I think), 2Gb ram. I did have to add an additional hard drive into the media bay, as the base one wasn't large enough for my lunar mosaic captures, and it needs to be internal, not USB 2 (which isn't fast enough for the data capture). It was on Windows XP until recently, and it's now running Windows 7 without Aero mode (I need to get the Astro software fully installed and tested, which is on the to do list). 

[frugal]

I use a second hand 10 year old Toughbook for image capture (CF29, 2Gb RAM and a 1Ghz Celeron processor). That runs XP and Backyard EOS quite happily. £99 on ebay.

I do use a much faster i7 computer for processing the images, but that it too expensive and big to be taken outside in the dark and the damp.

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[DaveLowe]

Hi Matt

I have a Dell Optiplex 780 with 4GB memory and a 64 bit operating system.  Currently using software that came with my Canon EOS 60Da camera.

Very much at the early stages of learning but have captured some images of the moon that are passable and a small fuzzy image of Mars. Biggest problems seem to be alignment and magnification.

[MattJenko]

I currently have a MacBook, so not planning on using that to do the capture side, so am looking at a second hand portable capture unit. I have a fairly beefy home made Windows 7 workstation which can do the heavy lifting after the fact on the many rainy evenings.

I've always loved Toughbooks from afar, although never owned one. My plan is to do the control/capture with an as-yet-unpurchased laptop and then do the post processing on the workstation separately, so good to know an old spec Toughbook can do the business at the scope itself rather than a more serious laptop for the whole shooting match like your Optiplex Dave. It also has the advantage of being rugged by its very nature.

Sounds like any capture system needs to save to its own disks as everything else is not fast enough? Guessing a NAS over wifi is not going to cut it either?

[jgs001]

My laptop is fine for deep sky, the slow download rate of the image within APT doesn't affect the overall performance much... what's 15 seconds download time when shooting 5 minute exposures... The issue was only for high frame rate imaging of the moon and planets. If you're not planning on doing too much of that, or your internal hard drive is large enough to store it (I had a 60Gb drive in here, now 80, and doing moon mosaics, 1000 frames was 1 Gb so ran out of storage too fast to do a complete mosaic. I added a 160Gb to the media bay instead of a DVD drive).

[Skipper Billy]

If you go down the Panasonic Toughbook route be aware that the CF18 wont run Stellarium - graphics card not strong enough.

I sold mine and bought a Dell 630 for £100 - bombproof and runs Canon software, PHD2, Ascom/EQDIR, Stellarium, game pad, USB filter wheel and Artemis all at the same time whilst capturing images without complaining.

[DaveS]

I have a 15" Dell Vostro running Win 7 for general imaging duties (i5 / 6 GB) but my main computer is a quad i7 / 16 GB with 27" wide gamut monitor and Quadro 600 card. I'll be putting together a RAID 5 box with maybe 15 TB, as I also use it for video work.

[swag72]

In the obs I have a 10 year old Toshiba Satellite running Vista. I've upgraded the RAM, but that's it. It copes absolutely fine with all that I throw at it. For processing I have a much newer laptop running an i5 processor and a load of RAM.

[PhotoGav]

I recently purchased the cheapest laptop I could from Staples, it's an Acer E1-501, windows 8.1, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD. Cost £299. Running EQMOD, APT, Alignmaster, Astrotortilla, CdC, PHD2 and teamviewer, plus other bits when necessary. Vast improvement on my very old thinkpad that I used before. For processing I use a top-spec MacBook Pro, though I have done some planetary processing on the Acer and it's very efficient.

[mitchelln]

The bottom seems to have fallen out of the 2nd hand laptop market. I just got hold of a Lenovo T410 with a 2.4GHz i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and 500GB HD, 64 bit Windows 7 Pro and extended battery (still good for 6 hours) for £180. An absolute steal. This machine was £1200 2.5 years ago! The RAM can be upgraded to 8GB for £60 and a latest gen 120GB SSD can be had for less than £60 further down the line. This kind of spec is good enough for some serious astro work Lenovo still fully this laptop and have released Win 8.1 drivers for it should I ever upgrade. Probably worth checking if the laptop is still supported when choosing one.

You will need a bit of CPU power to get a decent frame rate if using a CCD to capture. I'd say an i3 minimum. You'll also need 4GB of RAM to avoid Windows thrashing.  If you are just using it to control a DSLR then you don't need more than a basic dual core machine or (modernish) Celeron.

But whatever you do, check out the 2nd hand market before buying new. You can save a fortune. If you buy from Amazon you'll be covered (not had good experiences with eBay recently). Just avoid marketplace vendors with little feedback and make sure to ask if it has a legal copy of Windows installed. I got offered a machine with no OS on it. Not such a bargain then if you have to buy Windows.

Or there are some excellent refurb companies out there. These guys are very good and even offer a 6 month warranty: http://www.thelaptopcentre.co.uk

[Leveye]

Just for tracking and taking the pictures you don't need much processing power. I use a used 200 dollar Toshiba running windows 7 but if your in the field and using a DSLR and RAW files with a laptop your going to need a quite bit of memory.I suggest not having them go to the start up disc either. I also find through experimentation that having the files go to the cameras card really slows things down using a Canon camera.

[toxic]

if you want a desktop pc then this is a good starting point------------ http://www.ebuyer.com/643319-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7260-8000

if you want a laptop then have a look at this -----------------------------http://www.ebuyer.com/645880-lenovo-thinkpad-b50-laptop-mca28uk

or a good starting all round capture and processing pc ---------------http://www.ebuyer.com/642969-acer-aspire-xc-603-desktop-pc-dt-sulek-001

All a brand new

hope this helps

[toxic]

ps: i don't work for ebuyer lol i have used them for a long time now and have never been disappointed.

[jgs001]

My 10 year old Dell (as above) is more than capable of capturing video at 50 fps, controlling the mount etc... The only problem I had with it was the amount of storage was insufficient for capturing large amounts of video on the main hard drive

It also does a pretty good job at processing the same... Registax is very slow, but AVIStack 2 is really very good on here. 2 to 3 minutes to process, beginning to end a 1000 frame (1Gb) avi file and produce the end result image file. Registax takes 15 to 20 minutes for the same video.

[MattJenko]

Thanks for all the feedback. Dave - your workstation is a monster!

Sounds like a second hand laptop is easily going to fit the bill. I will do some experiments with wifi speeds writing to a NAS device as this means I can simply mount the storage on the laptop remotely and write directly to the NAS disks so I can access it from the workstation without needing to do anything (admittedly not lots of hassle, but hassle all the same). I tend to use a NAS for my documents anyway as it is backed up/mirrored etc and makes it easier to work centrally with my various other devices as well.

And ebuyer is indeed a great site. That and dabs are my component go-to sites, or were, as its been a while since i bought anything.

[James]

I use a 2008 MacBook and have no problems, except the battery doesn't quite last as long as it used to. For out in the field/garden/La Palma I suspect you can be quite relaxed as to specs - image capture is *generally* not too intensive on your kit. Processing the data afterwards.... well, that's different

James

[MattJenko]

I had to stump up for a new battery for my old backlit keyboard style MacBook Pro last year. Its just too nice a piece of equipment to do away with! If I can use it for capture purposes I would be happy to, but I was under the impression that Windows and possibly Linux was the only real option for starting out in AP?

[mitchelln]

Thanks for all the feedback. Dave - your workstation is a monster!

Sounds like a second hand laptop is easily going to fit the bill. I will do some experiments with wifi speeds writing to a NAS device as this means I can simply mount the storage on the laptop remotely and write directly to the NAS disks so I can access it from the workstation without needing to do anything (admittedly not lots of hassle, but hassle all the same). I tend to use a NAS for my documents anyway as it is backed up/mirrored etc and makes it easier to work centrally with my various other devices as well.

And ebuyer is indeed a great site. That and dabs are my component go-to sites, or were, as its been a while since i bought anything.

I've found saving video to my Synology NAS directly is touch and go over wifi. I save locally and then use sync software to automatically copy it over.

Nothing is more annoying that having a capture drop. Especially when clear nights are few and far between!

[MND]

I bought a Lenovo T410 also off ebay refurbished. Came with 1tb drive and 8g ram for 200 quid. Battery isnt up to much, they only guarantee 30 mins and mine lasts an hour so may replace that but run off mains anyway for imaging

[Uranium235]

For mount control and image capture I use a tiny Acer Aspire One netbook. Its only got 1GB of memory, but thats enough to run XP, Artemis, PHD and Stellarium (just about!). Captured images are then transferred to the home PC via powerline networking (speeds of about 2-3megabytes per sec, fast enough). The home PC is a quad core AMD Phenom, getting old but it still does the business on everything I ask it to.

[mitchelln]

I bought a Lenovo T410 also off ebay refurbished. Came with 1tb drive and 8g ram for 200 quid. Battery isnt up to much, they only guarantee 30 mins and mine lasts an hour so may replace that but run off mains anyway for imaging

If you replace the battery it's worth going for the 9 cell. Get loads of runtime then. Good bit of kit the T410

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[MattJenko]

Shame powerline type tech didn't take off look like I thought it would, growth of Wifi I guess. I have some lying around somewhere, although a different brand. Its a good call.

[mitchelln]

Shame powerline type tech didn't take off look like I thought it would, growth of Wifi I guess. I have some lying around somewhere, although a different brand. Its a good call.

I have the 500Mb Devolo ones. They work well. You get nowhere near 500Mb, but the connection is stable.

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[frugal]

Shame powerline type tech didn't take off look like I thought it would, growth of Wifi I guess. I have some lying around somewhere, although a different brand. Its a good call.

We live in a house that acts as a Faraday cage. We get around this by having the Devolo power line with wifi access plugs. So we have several wifi points around the house that also have cat5 connections and are also connected to the power line. Best of both worlds.

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