Linux version of the Hallo Northern Sky planetarium program.

[han59]

A Linux version (beta) of  the free "Hallo Northern Sky" or HNSKY planetarium is available. 

webpage:

http://www.hnsky.com/software.htm

It is compiled for AMD64 and the  executable is "hnsky". Just unzip the files somewhere at your home drive.

Any feedback is welcome.

Han

 

[kamayok3]

Hi Han,

Are you planning to release a verrsion for Raspberry pi? 

Regards,

Tom

[han59]

That was not in the planning. However what operating system are you using on the Raspberry pi? If it is supported by the Free Pascal Compiler it is possible.

In the next days, I will release a Linux version of ASTAP (Fits viewer and stack program). Then I will start working on the development of HNSKY version 4. It will have an improved swipe functionality  (like the ASTAP viewer) and some other minor things.

Han

 

[kamayok3]

On 12/9/2017 at 00:03, han59 said:

That was not in the planning. However what operating system are you using on the Raspberry pi? If it is supported by the Free Pascal Compiler it is possible.

In the next days, I will release a Linux version of ASTAP (Fits viewer and stack program). Then I will start working on the development of HNSKY version 4. It will have an improved swipe functionality  (like the ASTAP viewer) and some other minor things.

Han

 

I am using ubuntu mate in my raspberry pi 3. is it supported?

Regards,

Tom

 

[EWHB]

23 hours ago, kamayok3 said:

I am using ubuntu mate in my raspberry pi 3. is it supported?

Regards,

Tom

 

Yes you would be able to install it. 

[kamayok3]

5 hours ago, EWHB said:

Yes you would be able to install it. 

But how and where to download it?

Regards,

Tom

[han59]

The Linux Mint will be no problem. The processor in the Raspberry is ARM. Since I don't have a Raspberry, I need a ARM environment to run it in.  There is an emulator QEMU. I will have a look if I can get that running. Lazarus/FPC can compile to ARM, but i have no idea what compiling problems I will face. This is what they call unexplored territory. No promises.

For my information and understanding, how is the Raspberry used in your setup?

Han

 

[JamesF]

I have found QEMU to be painfully slow (to the point where it wasn't really usable) when emulating the RPi.  If you succeed in making it work I'd be interested in hearing how.

James

[EWHB]

1 hour ago, JamesF said:

I have found QEMU to be painfully slow (to the point where it wasn't really usable) when emulating the RPi.  If you succeed in making it work I'd be interested in hearing how.

James

True.  You can speed it up by using hardware acceleration, if your machine supports Intel-VTX / VTD or equivalent.  ☺️

[JamesF]

Doesn't look like I tried that last time, so I'll give it a go.

James

[GreatAttractor]

On 12/13/2017 at 23:56, EWHB said:

You can speed it up by using hardware acceleration, if your machine supports Intel-VTX / VTD or equivalent. 

I believe this only applies to an x86 guest on an x86 host. But virtualizing the Pi is an ARM guest on an x86 host.

[EWHB]

5 hours ago, GreatAttractor said:

I believe this only applies to an x86 guest on an x86 host. But virtualizing the Pi is an ARM guest on an x86 host.

Hi there, you cannot virtulise ARM, unless you use full software mode.  You can, however, virtualise the RaspPi's O/S (RaspBian).  This will allow you to install the software and test.  Hope this helps

[han59]

Before I put effort in this a possible small adventure, I have to know if a ARM version is usefull for some users and secondly if I can simulate the RaspPi environment.

EWHB, what is the "full software mode"?

An other solution is to just buy a Raspberry PI to play with.

support seems good: http://wiki.freepascal.org/Lazarus_on_Raspberry_Pi#Raspberry_Pi_3

Han

[Gina]

I run planetarium software indoors on the client machine and that's an AMD64 running Linux Mint so no problem.  I use the Raspberry Pi as server on the imaging rig.  Currently using KStars on  the client machine but good to see alternatives

[han59]

14 hours ago, Gina said:

I run planetarium software indoors on the client machine and that's an AMD64 running Linux Mint so no problem.  I use the Raspberry Pi as server on the imaging rig.  Currently using KStars on  the client machine but good to see alternatives

That is what I think a typical setup and confirms my impression. Planetarium programs are mainly run on an AMD or Intel processor system. When I look to the download numbers of the ARM version of CCDciel they are very low. For the next months I will work on version 4 of HNSKY.

Han

 

[han59]

As a test I have an old RaspberryPI operating system (2012) running under QEMU. Lazarus (0.9x) and FPC (2.6) are installed. While the compiler is too old,  compiling HNSKY gives too many error messages to solve. With a new Ubuntu image I have other installation problems under QEMU. If somebody can build for me a running QEMU  image of Ubuntu of Debian ARM version including the installation of  FPC & Lazarus, I could retry it.

HNSKY 4.0.0 is in the beta stage and almost finished.