47 replies to this topic

[Rolf]

Recently in this thread we discussed my new MoonPanoramaMaker software (starting with my posting on April 26). First I published a dropbox link for downloading the Windows installer that some of you have tried out. Today I created an open source project on GitHub where, apart from the source code and complete documentation, you can download the latest release. (The software is the same as the version I made available via dropbox.)

 

Feedback is always welcome!

 

All the best,

 Rolf

[StarDust1]

Hi Rolf, that's an exiting news. Thank you for sharing   

[Rolf]

The recent change of FireCapture's plugin interface to version 1.1 required a modification in my MoonPanoramaMaker software as well. This issue is solved with MoonPanoramaMaker V0.9.3 that I released today. You can download the updated Windows installer from my open-source project page on Github.

 

If you plan to update MPM, I recommend you de-install the current MPM version first (using the "Uninstall" entry in the start menu), then execute the new installer.

 

The start menu also contains the new version of the User Guide. Apart from the updated version numbers the only changes are some clarifications, in particular in the context of the camera rotation issue discussed in this thread.

 

Have fun with MoonPanoramaMaker!  

 

All the best,

 Rolf

[Rolf]

After one year of development, today I released a new version (V0.9.5) of my MoonPanoramaMaker software. The most important new feature is the so-called auto-alignment. So far, every once in a while the user had to align the telescope mount with a landmark on the moon. In the new version, MPM can do that itself. MPM uses the attached USB camera to take still pictures of the area around the landmark and automatically measures the offset against a reference foto. From the offset it computes the pointing error of the telescope. Of course, manual alignment ist still possible as well.

 

A list of all new features can be found on the release page of the open-source repository. There you can also download the new Windows installer. You can find most of the discussions with users in this forum thread.

 

Please read the documentation carefully. MoonPanoramaMaker is a complicated piece of software. Although I try to hide the algorithmic complexity from the user as much as possible, a basic understanding of the underlying process is very helpful.

 

I appreciate any comment on the new software.

 

All the best,

 Rolf

[Oleg Astro]

Rolf,

I'm waiting for the Linux version...

Is it a possible?...

[Rolf]

Rolf,

I'm waiting for the Linux version...

Is it a possible?...

No, unfortunately not. As far as I know, the only portable way to access astronomical equipment such as telescope mounts is via ASCOM. Since ASCOM is based on Microsoft's Component Object Model, ASCOM does not work on Linux. MoonPanoramaMaker uses ASCOM, so it only runs on Windows computers.

 

- Rolf

[Oleg Astro]

 

Rolf,

I'm waiting for the Linux version...

Is it a possible?...

No, unfortunately not. As far as I know, the only portable way to access astronomical equipment such as telescope mounts is via ASCOM. Since ASCOM is based on Microsoft's Component Object Model, ASCOM does not work on Linux. MoonPanoramaMaker uses ASCOM, so it only runs on Windows computers.

 

- Rolf

 

I'm a Linux user.

I use the indiserver, indilibrary and indi drivers for my astronomical hardware.

 

Welcome to Linux/Mac astrohardware drivers world!

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Edited by Oleg Astro, 31 October 2017 - 12:01 PM.

[Oleg Astro]

For ex., Cartes du Ciel/Skychart can use ASCOM for Windows and INDI for Linux and Mac:

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Edited by Oleg Astro, 31 October 2017 - 12:09 PM.

[Oleg Astro]

Look at this open project DCD: it based on Python.

DCD is a platform independent user interface for remote telescope and device control, compatible with the INDI standard.

[Rolf]

Hi Oleh,

 

Thank you very much for pointing me at the INDI and DCD projects. This is very interesting. I will look at this software more closely. Perhaps this would be an alternative for a future MPM release.

 

A big problem, however, will remain: Since FireCapture is only available for Windows, I would have to replace it with a Linux-based camera control program as well. That would be a lot of work, so I will not be able to do this anytime soon.

 

All the best,

 Rolf

[Oleg Astro]

Yes, FireCapture do not an INDI client

On the other hand, we have a very good multiplatform free image capture software CCDciel for Linux, Windows, Mac and ARM-minicomputers (Raspberry Pi 3 and etc).

 

"CCDciel has all functionality required for advanced imaging of celestial objects including sequences for fully automated unattended operation.
For communication it uses the INDI and ASCOM standards. It can control the CCD/CMOS camera, focuser, filter wheel, rotator and telescope mount and uses image resolving software such astrometry.net for accurate positioning. It can serve both the beginner astro photographer as the advanced who can take a nap while the equipment is imaging."

 

In any case, libindi developers can help you on http://indilib.org/forum.html

[Rolf]

Hi Oleh,

 

Thanks for pointing me to CCDCiel. I had a look at its documentation, and it looks like a promising project to me. Regarding camera control, however, it is very much focussed on deep sky work. The documentation itself says that for video work one would prefer other software. Therefore, it does not seem as if CCDCiel could replace FireCapture for me.

 

What I'm really looking for is a video camera software which can be fully controlled through an API. FireCapture only provides a very basic plugin interface which I use to trigger the videos and take still pictures. I cannot use it to control, for example, the exposure time or gain.

 

I will keep an eye on CCDCiel. As soon as it provides what I need, I will be happy to give it a try.

 

All the best,

 Rolf

[Oleg Astro]

Hi Rolf,

 

1. I'm waiting for the answer from CCDciel author;

2. look at this topic KStars 2.7.7 is released for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

 

KStars tool Ekos can support video record from cameras.

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[Oleg Astro]

I have a very interesting news!

More information on site http://www.firecapture.de

 

 

 

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[jberman]

What a great bit of software - is there proper place to report Bugs (I cant actually run it) 

 

Regards

John B

[Oleg Astro]

Hi Rolf,

 

FireCapture v2.6beta (x64) for Linux is ready for download and test.

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[jberman]

Further to my recent post a bit more info

 

Im running Windows 10 64 Bit

 

moonpanoramamaker v 0.9.5

 

I installed as admin and run the software as admin but get the following error

 

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "moon_panorama_maker.py", line 27, in <module>
  File "PyQt4\QtGui.pyc", line 12, in <module>
  File "PyQt4\QtGui.pyc", line 10, in __load
ImportError: DLL load failed: The operating system cannot run %1.

 

Help really appreciated. 

John B

[Rolf]

Further to my recent post a bit more info

 

Im running Windows 10 64 Bit

 

moonpanoramamaker v 0.9.5

 

I installed as admin and run the software as admin but get the following error

 

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "moon_panorama_maker.py", line 27, in <module>
  File "PyQt4\QtGui.pyc", line 12, in <module>
  File "PyQt4\QtGui.pyc", line 10, in __load
ImportError: DLL load failed: The operating system cannot run %1.

 

Help really appreciated. 

John B

Hi John,

 

Sorry for my late reply. Today I returned from the hospital where I had a surgery on Wednesday. I will look into your issue as soon as possible.

 

And yes: This is the right place to report bugs.

 

All the best,

 Rolf

[Rolf]

Hi John,

 

I installed MPM 0.9.5 on two Windows 10 64bit systems using the standard installer. On both machines the program works as expected.

 

I guess there is a conflict with another version of PyQt4 on your computer. Did you install Python on that machine before? And if yes: which version?

 

Could you please open the file explorer, point it to your system partition (most likely C:) and search that partition for "PyQt4". You then should get something like the following screenshot shows for my computer (please note: I used the German OS version).

 

On my computer there is no other PyQt4 software than the one which comes with MPM, so there is no conflict. Could you please run the search on your computer and post the result?

 

All the best,

 Rolf

[jberman]

Rolf

 

Thanks the screen shot

 

John B

 

  

[Rolf]

Hi John,

 

Thanks for the screen shot. I assume that the 7 search results were the only ones reported.

 

Could you please answer my other questions regarding other Python installations?

 

All the best,

 Rolf

[jberman]

Rolf

 

yes the result were the only ones reported

 

Never installed Python before (as far as im aware)

 

John B

[Rolf]

John,

 

That is very strange. It seems a dll is missing on your computer, although it should be included in the MPM distribution. I googled the problem and found this tool which helps to find unresolved dependencies. If you download the tool for your computer (I chose the "Download Version 2.2.6000 for x64 [468k]" for mine), you just open the exe in the downloaded zip file. A gui opens, you selece "file/open" and point it to the location of your "PyQt4.QtGui.pyd" file (the one included in the above search results). Then you get a list of unresolved references. On my computer the result is:

 

As you see, there are some dlls missing in my case as well, but they don't seem to be harmful. It would be interesting to see if on your computer there are additional entries. This could be the missing module we are looking for.

 

Another idea: Do you have access to some other Windows 10 computer? In that case you could try running the installer there and open the program. (You can de-install MPM without a trace later on that computer with the de-installer in the installation menue.)

 

A question to anybody else on the forum who tried installing MPM 0.9.5 on Windows 10: Could you please tell us if MPM starts correctly on your computer??

 

All the best,

 Rolf

 

[jberman]

thanks for your patience

 

screen shot  attached

 

John B

 

 

 

[JonOz]

Hi Rolf,

 

I hope that you are recovering from your recent surgery.

 

I too cannot run MoonPanoramaMaker v 0.9.5.

 

I have Windows 10 Pro 64bit on two machines with no previous installation of Python that I am aware of on my main PC and definitely not on the small PC that is mounted on my scope. Both machines have exactly the same problem.

 

Both machines could run the previous version of MPM but since then I have updated MPM to 0.9.5 and Windows 10 to v 1709 (Fall Creators Update). Since updating to Win 10 v1709 I also cannot run Remote Desktop (now running TeamViewer) but that might be a totally unrelated problem.

 

When I first run MPM I get this error message;

 

 

When I open moon_panorama_maker.exe.log it contains the following;

 

 

I note that the above error message is the same as the one jberman has observed.
I tried searching C: drive for PyQt4 but the search did not complete within 1 hour, so I did a search in Program Files (x86) folder and obtained the following result;

 

 

A similar search in Program Files came up negative.

 

I note your latest reply to jberman.

Hope all the above helps. I am still suspicious of Win 10 v1709 though.