Limited options for a Mac User?

[Digz]

Hi all,

Whilst I await clear skies to put my new kit to the test I have been doing some research to get 'ahead' of the game.

Basically I have been researching the following:

Computer control of the mount (via Stellarium);

Post processing of images (for when I eventually start to capture);

Drift aligning software.

I am struggling to find a scope plugin for stellarium that will run on a mac (my mount is EQ6 pro) - can anyone help on this?

I understand that DSS or Registax is currently not on Mac but cannot find any decent alternatives - can anyone recommend anything?

Ive started to research drift alignment, after having issues with polar alignment and everyone recommends EQAlign - again is this available on a Mac?

I would be grateful for any light being shed on these topics.

[davy999]

You tried using bootcamp of parallels to run windows on your Mac?

I have win7 on parallels and it runs a dream, only for a few programs that won't work on MacOS

[Digz]

hey Davy, thanks for the response. Ive got Win7 on bootcamp, but this will just slow my workflow when processing images. Therefore I was wondering what the alternatives were?

[jgs001]

I use VMWare fusion... WinXP running in the virtual machine, I download the raw's into the VM, the VM runs DSS, then drag and drop the saved image to the shared folder and the image file appears in the mac file system ready for further work. It works well.

There is also Keiths Stacker, but I don't think it can handle raw. Also, Nebulosity by Craig Stark runs under Mac OS natively for image stacking and processing.

You could also look at running DSS under wine, but that may involve some programming of wine...

http://deepskystacker.wikispaces.com/DSS+under+Linux-WINE

[James]

I use Nebulosity for capture and sometimes stacking, usually for stacking I use PixInsight and for much of my post processing. Photoshop is also available if your pockets are deeper.

I haven't drift aligned yet (not properly) but have used the CCD Drift Align method again using Nebulosity.

In terms of telescope control I've not used Stellarium although I know other Mac users have and have made it work on an EQ6 but there's various other applications available such as Voyager, TheSkyX, Starry Night, Astroplanner, Equinox amongst others.

There is of course always the option of using the likes of Parallels or suchlike...

HTH

James

[tobot]

yes vmware fusion and xp is a great combo, i have it for those times when i absolutely have no other option other than to delve into the murky wilderness that is windows, and the bonus is that you can run the windows apps directly from your osx desktop in 'fusion' mode

[Digz]

Hi guys thanks for the response.

I havent heard of VMWare Fusion so ill have a look into that. Im not familar with WINE either but if it involves programming its probably best I stay away from that lol.

James, I appreciate the list of software, Ill have a look into these and see what the deal is. I already have PS CS4 so I only really need something to stack images. As for scope control Ill have a look into those apps, I only use stellarium as this is the first one I came across.

[thesatanbug]

I'm on Linux Mint. I have linux Stellarium 0.10.2 and also run the latest windows 0.10.5 version with telescope control on Wine no problem.

[tobot]

how is linux? ive been thinking about installing it as a secondary boot on my next laptop

[thesatanbug]

^ Linux is the best. Give Mint 9 a spin. I ended up dumping windoze altogether for both personal and business use after using Mint for a week. You can use InfraRecorder to make a bootable dvd from the Mint download ISO. The latest Mint 9 version gives you access to over 30,000 free software packages. The UI is very similar to windows but without any of the slow boot/shutdown time or security issues.

You can run it from the dvd to try before installing on it's own partition.