KStars v3.5.0 Release Date?

Giles Coochey giles at coochey.net
Wed Oct 14 12:45:29 BST 2020


Hi All,

I'd echo a lot of Wolfgang's fears - if the UI is going to change, and 
it will be more difficult to get 3.5.0 to function as 3.4.3, or the beta 
has then I would like to see that the documentation is updated (at least 
for major UI changes) before it is released as stable.

I understand 3.5.0 is more than a minor release, I look forward to using 
StellarSolver, especially as I have Windows on my laptop, which I'd use 
at a remote site (although I can remotely astrometry.net onto my Pi, 
which works fine, but is a bit slower).

Thanks

Giles

On 14/10/2020 12:35, Jasem Mutlaq wrote:
> Hello Wolfgang,
>
> Your concern is greatly appreciated! I'm afraid I agree with you, 
> we're not ready for Oct. 15th as the release date, I think it's safer 
> to push it to Oct 22nd to get more user feedback on this.
>
> Regarding StellarSolver, everything is there. So if you go to options 
> you can select "Local Astrometry" (which is astrometry.net 
> <http://astrometry.net>). You can still select ASTAP and online. 
> Robert didn't miss anything and he did an outstanding job with 
> StellarSolver that is the primary reason I decided to skip 3.4.4 and 
> go to the 3.5.0 release. This is finally going to allow folks on 
> Windows to finally solve images without installing third party software.
>
> With StellarSolver, KStars can fully perform all the astrophotography 
> tasks without relying on _any_ external programs and this is the first 
> in Ekos history! This is why I am very excited for StellarSolver.
>
> --
> Best Regards,
> Jasem Mutlaq
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 14, 2020 at 10:03 AM Wolfgang Reissenberger 
> <wolfgang at openfuture.de <mailto:wolfgang at openfuture.de>> wrote:
>
>     Dear all,
>     I am a little bit concerned that the introduction of StellarSolver
>     is not smooth enough. Please don’t get me wrong, I fully
>     appreciate all the work behind and the intention is perfectly fine.
>
>     But a user not familiar with all the discussion behind might be
>     confused with the new UI. When I opened the new Align tab I was
>     surprised that my only choice is StellarSolver and it looked like
>     astrometry.net <http://astrometry.net> is no longer supported -
>     and I was aware that there was work ongoing behind introducing a
>     new framework.
>
>     I then discovered that I could go back to my old astrometry.net
>     <http://astrometry.net> solution - but still I am not sure which
>     are the right options so that it simply works as before.
>
>     We should be aware that we have a substantial amount of users that
>     use nightly builds or even build from source on their own. And
>     some of them will discover the new setup late in the evening
>     shortly before the photography session starts.
>
>     I personally would really appreciate if the old setup with
>     astrometry.net <http://astrometry.net> and ASTAP remains as an
>     option directly on the Align tab and we leave us more time for the
>     transition.
>
>     Does that make sense to you?
>
>     Cheers
>     Wolfgang
>
>>     Am 05.10.2020 um 12:55 schrieb Jasem Mutlaq
>>     <mutlaqja at ikarustech.com <mailto:mutlaqja at ikarustech.com>>:
>>
>>     I concur! The documentation needs to be updated. I don't think
>>     there is time _before_ 3.5.0 is released fully, but hopefully
>>     close to the release date.
>>
>>
>>     --
>>     Best Regards,
>>     Jasem Mutlaq
>>
>>
>>
>>     On Mon, Oct 5, 2020 at 11:03 AM Hy Murveit <murveit at gmail.com
>>     <mailto:murveit at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>         Another thing re 3.5.0.
>>
>>         I propose we get the kstars manual in better shape--review
>>         the major sections and make sure they're up to date.
>>
>>         https://docs.kde.org/trunk5/en/extragear-edu/kstars/index.html
>>
>>         There seems to be some issue now where the manual has not
>>         been updated to reflect the latest additions (e.g. I put in a
>>         section about Analyze on August 17, but it is still not
>>         showing up).  Once that issue is resolved (I have no info
>>         about that), then I can update the Ekos Guider and Analyze
>>         sections. Perhaps others can pick a section or two?
>>
>>         Hy
>>
>>         On Thu, Oct 1, 2020 at 8:05 AM Wolfgang Reissenberger
>>         <sterne-jaeger at openfuture.de
>>         <mailto:sterne-jaeger at openfuture.de>> wrote:
>>
>>             Same for me, sounds good.
>>
>>             My question is how we should handle the two bug fixes
>>             contained in
>>             https://invent.kde.org/education/kstars/-/merge_requests/60 At
>>             least one of the bugs is quite severe: currently, EKOS
>>             cannot handle two meridian flips in the same session.
>>
>>             On the other side, the entire meridian flip functionality
>>             is quite complex and each fix bears the risk of
>>             regressions. That’s why I concentrated on developing
>>             automated test cases, which are meanwhile included in MR
>>             60. They cover the most common situations where a
>>             meridian flip occurred.
>>
>>             From my perspective, it would make sense to include MR 60
>>             into v3.5.0 - as long as the MR review is successful.
>>
>>             Wolfgang
>>
>>
>>>             Am 01.10.2020 um 06:20 schrieb Hy Murveit
>>>             <murveit at gmail.com <mailto:murveit at gmail.com>>:
>>>
>>>             Sounds good--perhaps a couple of weeks testing, assuming
>>>             all goes well.
>>>
>>>             For me, it would be good to know ahead of time any
>>>             StellarSolver algorithmic (sextractor parameter) changes to
>>>             focus and guider, or if the changes should be identical
>>>             from a numbers point of view--just quicker/better.
>>>
>>>             Hy
>>>
>>>             On Wed, Sep 30, 2020 at 9:07 PM Jasem Mutlaq
>>>             <mutlaqja at ikarustech.com
>>>             <mailto:mutlaqja at ikarustech.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>                 Hello everyone,
>>>
>>>                 Today I discussed StellarSolver integration progress
>>>                 with Robert and it's coming along nicely. I think
>>>                 within a week we'd have a version that can be tested
>>>                 by users. Then perhaps we give another 7-10 after
>>>                 that for a full release of v3.5.0?
>>>
>>>                 The other major milestone is DSO: integration
>>>                 https://invent.kde.org/education/kstars/-/merge_requests/93
>>>
>>>                 Though I think this would probably slip to v3.5.1
>>>                 since it's still in progress, but very promising
>>>                 indeed and Valentine would make KStars finally load
>>>                 large DSOs catalogs without significant performance
>>>                 impacts!
>>>
>>>                 Are there any pending milestones for this release?
>>>                 --
>>>                 Best Regards,
>>>                 Jasem Mutlaq
>>>
>>
>
-- 
Giles Coochey

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