ASI drivers for Mac with ARM chip (M1 Silicon)

juan53

I just tried the last version of the ASI SDK on a MacBook with chip Apple M2. When initializing the drivers from Python:
asi.init('/usr/local/lib/ASI_linux_mac_SDK_V1.33/lib/mac/libASICamera2.dylib')
I still get the same error as in previous versions:
fat file, but missing compatible architecture (have 'i386,x86_64', need 'arm64')
I would appreciate very much if you could tell us which are the approximate dates of a SDK version compatible with the Apple ARM. I guess that there are many people that work with the new Apple hardware and are blocked by the lack of this compatibility. Will be great to have some kind of roadmap to plan the next steps of our work.
Many thanks in advance.

Tech@ZWO

juan53 Can you please try this beta version?
Thank you.

juan53

Tech@ZWO
Yes, it will be great. How I get the beta version?

Tech@ZWO

juan53 https://bbs.zwoastro.com/d/13554-asi-drivers-for-windows-on-arm-ie-mac-m1-silicon/55 you can download it here.

juan53

Oh yes, thank you. But it is a driver to be installed on Windows running on an ARM machine like is a Mac M1 with Parallel. But what I need is to run a software directly on the Mac OS controlling the ASI cameras through a new version of 'libASICamera2.dylib' compatible with ARM. Is there a beta version of this kind of library?

Tech@ZWO

juan53 Oh, sorry, I misunderstood, currently the SDK file for M1 is still under development. we will tell you if there is any news.
Thank you for your support.

ddompe

Tech@ZWO Is there any news for aarch64 dylib for Mac?

juan53

Tech@ZWO
Hello, is there any news on the availability of the SDK compatible with Apple Silicon. Your competitor Player One is already offering it two years ago. It looks me not very serious the slow response of ZWO to take care of the needs of its customers.

ewan

I have the same issue. Eagerly awaiting any news.

edisonbustos

Hello, I have the same issue.
I need to run my app using the SDK under Mac OS in my M1 portable.
Cheers
Edison

scopecat

@Tech@ZWO Hello, I also am interested in an aarch64 sdk for ZWO cameras.

edisonbustos

Hi
I'm using a Mac mini with Apple M1 chip.
I have a ASI462mm camera.
I installed ASIStudio v1.11 (Camera SDK v1.35) and all is OK when I use ASICap v2.11
But, I wrote a software in python that uses libASICamera2.dylib which is for X86_64 architecture, and it not working because the system python packages are for the native architecture arm64.

Apple's Rosetta is the key to use both arm64 and x86_64 architectures.

I followed the steps detailed in this link (it is very detailed):
https://or-levi.medium.com/python-management-on-apple-silicon-arm-x86-with-pyenv-f786cf8a48f8

to make a python 3.12 virtual environment under the x86 architecture and my app worked fine.

I hope it helps

Edison

3ZdDARO6

I'm also interested in mac arm (m1 silicon) support for your drivers. I know driver development is hell, but this would be really great!

Paulito Webb

Hello @Tech@ZWO any news with the official compatibility with Apple Silicon CPU?
regards,
Paolo

QX48RotZ

Dear ZWO support team, since we are several years after the transition to arm, and intel-based Macs continue to get phased out, it would be really good to know the roadmap to support current and future macOS installations.

Right now, the only option to use ASI-cameras on a non-legacy Mac is to run intel-software in an emulator (Rosetta). This also means that developers have to cross-compile on arm64 to produce x64-binaries, that will then be used in an emulation on an arm64 system. This makes little sense.

So can you please give us an idea when we can expect a macOS arm64 release of the SDK?

Thank you, best, LG.

Tech@ZWO

Hi,ASIStudio software now supports connecting cameras on MacOS ARM64. If you require Windows ARM64 drivers, please feel free to contact me.:rma@zwoastro.com. We hope you will inform us of the usage results and any troubles you encounter during the use process.

QX48RotZ

So after several back and forths, I wanted to summarize what apparently is the current status of MacOS support for the ASI camera.

The ASI SDK supports only intel-based legacy Macs under MacOS, not the current generations of arm-based laptops or desktops. I could not get any statement if native MacOS support on current Macs is planned in the future.

As long as Apple is supporting intel-emulation via Rosetta2, one can work with x86 / universal binaries, e.g. linked to the ASI SDK, on current Macs. Developers may also set up environments to cross-compile for MacOS/intel on current MacOS/arm machines.

All this is probably fine for current users (as long as this works), but not very future-proof and certainly less attractive for developers who would need to target a legacy architecture that has been announced to be phased out several years ago. Note that the next release of MacOS in 2026 is expected to be the last supporting intel-based Macs. For those considering to develop new software on MacOS, the only reliable option may be the various attempts to develop open source drivers for the ASI cameras.

(Obviously, there are other operating systems that one could install on a Mac (Windows, Linux, BSD, ...),but that is not the topic of this thread and I wonder if anyone buys a Mac to install Windows for Arm in it.)