Linux SDK wishlist

jamesf

As I near the next release of my Linux capture application (which will include source code this time) I'm thinking there are a few things it would be nice to have in some future release of the Linux SDK. My first few items are:

Remove the diagnostic code that enumerates the USB devices.

Remove the diagnostic code showing the captured frame size.

Or, even better, leave the code in place for the above, but allow the user to set a debug option that will enable it.

It would also be very useful if there were some way to get an integer value (either an enumerated type or a #define value) representing the camera model. I'm doing this in my own code at the moment by comparing the camera name with a set of strings and setting an integer value accordingly, but that's a bit ugly and this functionality would be better placed inside the SDK.

None of these are a big issue, but it would be nice to see them.

James

Sam@ZWO

thanks James

we will remove the debug info in next version

about to get an integer value representing the camera model. do you think we need to provide a new function?

knobby

In the absence of any replies James... In my very limited experience... Would a focus aid based on file size be possible, the file size apparently gets larger as focus / definition improves.

jamesf

I shall be looking at implementing some sort of focusing aid in the application, but that's definitely in the "enhancements" list for the time being. I'm not sure it's really the sort of functionality that belongs in a camera interface itself.

My plan is to get another alpha release out this month, spend a while tidying up bugs that get raised and implementing a bit more functionality to the point where the application could be said to be "complete" (eg. handling non-debayered camera output, writing SER output files and a few other bits) then do a beta release and hopefully release v1 early in the new year. At that point I'll start looking at the enhancement list (which is quite large at the moment :)

James

knobby

It was a clutch at straws , let's try to be helpful with a sensible suggestion moment James ;-)

Sam@ZWO

thanks for all your done james

Any suggesture welcome!

jamesf

Sam wrote:
thanks James

we will remove the debug info in next version

about to get an integer value representing the camera model. do you think we need to provide a new function?

As there is already a "getCameraModel()" function I guess most elegant solution would be to change that to provide both an integer and a string to the caller, but that would break backwards compatibility. Perhaps the practical solution would be to provide a new function. So you might have, say,

typedef enum {
  ZWO_ASI130MM = 0,
  ZWO_ASI120MM    1,
  ZWO_ASI120MC    2,
  ZWO_ASI035MM    3,
  ZWO_ASI035MC    4,
  ZWO_ASI030MC    5,
} ZWOCameraModel;

ZWOCameraModel getIntCameraModel ( int camIndex );

or something like that?

James

jamesf

Another item...

The shared libraries are obviously quite sensible, but for distributing binaries it might also be helpful if static libraries were available too so I could avoid having to tell people they need to install the SDK or have a script to download the SDK and install it myself.

James

Sam@ZWO

thanks James

we will add the static lib in next version