A new release of AstroDMx Capture for Linux (Version 0.50.1)
The previous version of AstroDMx Capture for Linux (Version 0.10.2.0) was released in March 2018. Since that time Nicola has worked tirelessly to produce a new version that supports more cameras, has more features and has greater efficiency.
A series of factors has delayed the release until this time. Problems with manufacturer’s SDKs have produced significant delays and have sometimes had to be programmed around. Also, several more cameras have been implemented. Cameras with sensors having very large pixel numbers, produce significantly more data and this can have performance consequences that had to be addressed. Cameras that have been implemented have ADCs of different bit depths. These bit depths are 8 bits, 12 bits, 14 bits and 16 bits. The data stream produced by cameras with 12 bit, 14 bit and 16 bit ADCs have to be placed into a 16 bit container such as a SER file, FITs file or a Tiff file. Moreover, the data stream has to be displayed so that the object being imaged can be viewed for focussing and image composition purposes. Nicola has implemented a number of non destructive transformations on the displayed data (that in no way affect the data being saved). These transformations allow very faint objects to be viewed and adjusted easily, whilst not affecting the data being saved.
Screenshot of the new splash screen of AstroDMx Capture for Linux
AstroDMx Capture for Linux has grown over the past two and a half years into a veritable Magnum Opus. The Source code has grown to 32,118 lines of code (not including external dependencies and SDKs), with an additional 7,331 lines of internal documentation (comments) to facilitate maintenance of the code. Many of the ‘lines’ of code or documantation in fact, take up two or more actual lines. To put this in familiar terms; a book such as the 2006 Yearbook of Astronomy, edited by the late Sir Patrick Moore contains 39 lines per full page of text. This means that if AstroDMx Capture for Linux was to be printed in a book such as this, it would require two volumes of at least 506 pages per volume, to contain all of it (The Yearbook contained 331 pages). When projects reach this size, they require a very significant amount of time to maintain and develop.
In common with many Linux projects, Nicola has now included a Donate button (near the bottom of the right hand side of the program interface). A user is free to use the software as usual, but if the user finds it to be useful, please consider making a donation by the simple procedure, of an amount decided by the user. Some software authors call this a ‘coffee donation’, because a donation of say £5 is like buying the author a couple of cups of coffee. This is, of course, not obligatory, but it would help motivate the spending of considerable amounts of time maintaining and developing the software.
The new, pre-release version was tested by capturing data on the Orion Nebula using a ZWO ASI178MC (USB3.0, 14 bit ADC) camera at the Newtonian focus of a Skywatcher Explorer 130 PDS 130mm, f/5 Newtonian. 50 x 4s exposures, 50 x 20s exposures, and 10 x 60s exposures were captured with matching dark-frames, all as 16 bit Tiff files. The groups of images were stacked in Deep Sky Stacker running in Wine and the resulting images were combined in the Gimp 2.10 to produce a final image of high dynamic range, revealing the faint and bright parts of M42/43 without saturating any part of the nebula.
Photograph of the equipment used to capture the data
Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Linux capturing the data.
Final image of M42/43
List of cameras implemented in AstroDMx Capture for Linux at the time of writing
Astronomy USB cameras
DMK 21AU04.AS (8 bit ADC)
DFK 21AU04.AS (8 bit ADC)
DBK 21AU04.AS (8 bit ADC)
ZWO ASI120MC (USB2.0, 12 bit ADC)
ZWO ASI120MC-S (USB3.0, 12 bit ADC)
ZWO ASI120MM-S (USB3.0, 12 bit ADC)
ZWO ASI178MC (USB3.0, 14 bit ADC)
QHY 5L-II-M astronomy camera (USB2.0, 12 bit ADC)
QHY 5L-II-C astronomy camera (USB2.0, 12 bit ADC)
SVBONY T7 W2568A High-speed camera (USB2.0, 12 bit ADC)
Atik 314L CCD camera mono (USB2.0, 16 bit ADC)
Atik 320E CCD camera colour (USB2.0, 16 bit ADC)
Orion Starshoot Solar System Color Imager IV (USB2.0, 8 bit ADC)
Bresser MicrOcular Full HD Digital Camera (USB2.0, 8 bit ADC)
SVBONY SV105 HD (8 bit ADC)
Altair (Orion Starshoot) USB eyepiece (USB2.0, 8 bit ADC)
USB cameras
DMK 37AUX273 machine vision camera (USB3.0, 12 bit ADC)
ELP 1.3Mp CMOS board-level HD USB camera (8 bit ADC)
Lucky Zoom 5Mp microscope USB CMOS camera (8 bit ADC)
Vimicro USB2.0 UVC PC camera (e.g. Maplin USB2.0 Microscope) (8 bit ADC)
USB Capture cards
KWORLD DVD MAKER 2 (8 bit ADC)
UVC capture card (Motion-JPEG only) (8 bit ADC)
EasyCAP (Motion-JPEG only) (8 bit ADC)
USB webcams
Sweex WC066 HD webcam (8 bit ADC)
Sweex WC070 ViewPlus (8 bit ADC)
Sweex WC035V2 VGA webcam (8 bit ADC)
Philips SPC900NC including SPC800 and Philips 740 flashed to SPC900NC (8 bit ADC)
Philips 690 Vesta Pro Webcam (8 bit ADC)
Logitech HD C525 (8 bit ADC)
Microsoft LIFECAM 2 (8 bit ADC)
Creative Webcam Live (8 bit ADC) Bayer output only.
All Video 4 Linux cameras.
The software also controls the ZWO USB filter wheel.
AstroDMx Capture for Linux is under constant development, so this list of supported cameras will grow over time.
List of Linux Operating systems and desktop environments tested to date with AstroDMx Capture for Linux
Debian 9, Xfce, LXDE, Cinnamon, GNOME 3, MATE, Plasma
Fedora 24, 25, 26 Gnome 3
Fedora 26, 27, Cinnamon
Fedora 28, 29 Xfce, Cinnamon, Gnome 3
Linux Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce
Kubuntu 16.04 LTS
Kubuntu 17.04
Xubuntu 17.04, 18.04
Lubuntu 17.04
Ubuntu Gnome, Gnome 3 or classic
Ubuntu 16.04 with Unity (with the additional download package)
Ubuntu 17.04 with Unity (with the additional download package), and Ubuntu 18.04
Peppermint OS
Antergos Linux
PC Linux Mate
Mageia Linux
Elementary OS. Runs from the command line only at the moment
AstroDMx Capture for Linux can be downloaded HERE
