In the present round of tests, the following distributions were tested:
For bench-testing purposes, the tests were done using a nest-box camera, monitoring a Blue-tit nest.
1) Ubuntu 20.04, Focal Fossa LTS.
Tests were made on a new installations of the distribution, one on bare metal and another in a QEMU/KVM Virtual machine. Another test was made on an upgrade from 18.04 LTS through 19.10 to 20.04 LTS.
Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Linux running in an Ubuntu 20.04 Virtual Machine running on a Fedora Host
In the version that was upgraded from previously installed versions, there were no issues, but in the new installs, both on bare metal and in the VM, AstroDMx Capture for Linux, once installed, was very slow to launch; taking up to 20s to launch. Once launched, the software ran normally. Currently there is no known fix for versions of AstroDMx Capture 0.68.1 and below. Both issues detailed here will be corrected in the next version (0.70.1) which is due for release soon.
There appears to be a dependency issue with current versions of AstroDMx Capture for Linux on Ubuntu 20.04 and possibly other very new Linux distributions. If this problem is evident, then AstroDMx will fail to start. It's important to note that this issue is hardware dependent and so might not be evident in all installations. To diagnose startup problems, run the software from the terminal as follows:
cd /usr/local/AstroDMx_Capture/bin
./astrodmx_capture -D2
If this problem is evident, the following message will be displayed:
X Error of failed request: GLXBadContext
Major opcode of failed request: 152 (GLX)
Minor opcode of failed request: 6 (X_GLXIsDirect)
Serial number of failed request: 139
Current serial number in output stream: 138
The fix for this problem is as follows:
cd /usr/local/AstroDMx_Capture/lib
mkdir backup
mv libstdc++.so.6 backup/
cd ../bin
./astrodmx_capture -D2
If the problem persists, then move all the dependencies except libwebcam.so.0, libgphoto2.so.6.1.0 and libCKCameraSDK_x64.so into the backup directory. The following commands can be used to do this:
cd /usr/local/AstroDMx_Capture/lib
mkdir backup
mv libstdc++.so.6 backup/
mv libgcc_s.so.1 backup/
mv libpng16.so.16libz.so.1 backup/
mv libstdc++.so.6 backup/
mv libz.so.1 backup/
2) Solus
Solus is a Linux distribution that has been developed independently and is not based on any other distribution. It does not use .deb or .rpm installation files because it uses its own package manager called eopkg. This meant that the manual installer provided on the AstroDMx Capture website had to be used. Full instructions are provided and can simply be copied and pasted into the command line if required.
Once installed, the software ran perfectly.
Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Linux running in a Solus Virtual Machine
3) Manjaro
Manjaro was installed on a QEMU/KVM Virtual machine running on a Fedora Host.
Manjaro is based on Arch Linux and uses the pacman package manager, so neither .deb or .rpm installation files can be used. Once again, the manual installer for AstroDMx Capture had to be used.
Once installed, the software ran perfectly.
Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Linux running in a Manjaro Virtual Machine
4) MX Linux
MX-19 Linux was installed on a QEMU/KVM Virtual machine running on a Fedora Host.
MX Linux is based on Debian stable and uses the APT package manager. This meant that the .deb installation file could be used as with Ubuntu.
AstroDMx Capture for Linux installed correctly and ran perfectly.
Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Linux running in a MX-19 Virtual Machine
5) Zorin
Zorin Linux was installed on a QEMU/KVM Virtual machine running on a Fedora 32 Host.
Zorin is based on Ubuntu and uses the APT package manager. This meant that the .deb installation file could be used as with Ubuntu.
AstroDMx Capture for Linux installed correctly and ran perfectly.
Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Linux running in a Zorin Virtual Machine
6) Voyager
Voyager Linux was installed on a QEMU/KVM Virtual machine running on a Fedora 32 Host.
Voyager is based on Ubuntu 20.04 and uses the APT package manager. This meant that the .deb installation file could be used as with Ubuntu.
AstroDMx Capture for Linux installed correctly but had the issue mentioned for Ubuntu 20.04 and failed to launch. This was easily corrected with the procedure explained for Ubuntu 20.04
Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Linux running in a Voyager Virtual Machine
7) Pop!_OS
Pop!_OS was installed on a QEMU/KVM Virtual machine running on a Fedora 32 Host.
Pop!_OS, by System76 is based on Ubuntu 20.04 and uses the APT package manager. This meant that the .deb installation file could be used as with Ubuntu.
AstroDMx Capture for Linux installed correctly but had the issue mentioned for Ubuntu 20.04 and failed to launch. This was easily corrected with the procedure explained for Ubuntu 20.04
Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Linux running in a Pop!_OS Virtual Machine
