Imaging laptop

[mickw]

I've just finished repairing an old Systemax laptop (just to see if I could)
Pentium 3 @ 1g running XP home
20g HD - (16 free so far - expansion not a problem)
Massive 248meg memory     Don't know how much I can upgrade to - assume twice the largest stick (whatever that is)
3 x USB 1 and 1 x Firewire plus a PCMCIA slot (so assume USB2 not a problem)

Question is - Would this be suitable for use as an image capture and initial processing device.
I'd like to keep web access on it as well for updates etc.
What upgrades should I consider ?

The first one that says a Sony Vaio gets a broken nose   

If it's "just no good" I'll find another use for it 

[Tony G]

Question is - Would this be suitable for use as an image capture and initial processing device.
I'd like to keep web access on it as well for updates etc.
What upgrades should I consider ?

The first one that says a Sony Vaio gets a broken nose   

If it's "just no good" I'll find another use for it 

I personally would use a camera of somekind. 

Tony G

[mickw]

I'll get you Gaynor 


AND LEAVE THE KNITTING CLUB ALONE

[Mike]

Yes it will be fine. You don't need lots of power to run imaging software. You might run out of HD space quick though.

[Simon E]

My spec on my laptop is

Pentium m 1,600mhz 512mb of ram 37gb hard disk partitioned to 27.4gb + 9.76gb.

I have got all my imaging software on it as well as well as AGE OF EMPIRES 3, AGE OF MYTHOLOGY, AGE OF EMPIRES 2, THE CONQUERS EXPANSION and it still runs fine.

Imaging software is Imageplus 3.80/ camera control 2 for the dslr
AMCap for the celestron web cam
Photostitch,Registax, Cannon remote capture,Paintshop pro 9 and Photoshop 2

si

[MarkS]

I think that will be OK Mick.

Mine has a 1.1 GHz processor, 512 Mbyte RAM,  40 Gbyte hard drive, 2 USB ports (I use a USB hub to get more ports).  It really does the business for guiding and DSLR camera control/image download.

Mark

[mickw]

Thanks chaps,
A new hard drive it is then and perhaps some more memory - can only add another 128m 

[RobertM]

I agree with Mark though 512Mb may be a bit low (depending what other c**p) you put on it.  I very much doubt 256Mb would be enough, after bootup (XP Pro) I have over 350Mb of memory used.  My imaging laptop is an old IBM T40 (1.6GHz/1Mb/40Mb/2xUSB2) which can be found quite cheaply on ebay.  We have them at the place I work and they never go wrong.  It also has two advantages for imaging - the cd-rom can be replaced with a second battery giving over 4.5hrs battery life (not playing Age of Empires though) and a light built into the top of the screen to illuminate the keyboard (so no torch!).  As far as I know no other PC laptop has either an illuminated keyboard or lit keypad (ignoring Apple Macs that is).

Also think about what your LT has in the way of USB ports - you really need 2 x USB2 high speed for webcams.

Hope that helps.
Robert

[Ian]

Mick, you might find processing on it a chore though

Also think about what your LT has in the way of USB ports - you really need 2 x USB2 high speed for webcams

IIRC, Toucams are USB1. You should give it a root hub of it's own, though. A little bit of digging in the device manager will help. Not all laptops are built with a root hub per port unfortunately.

[mickw]

Hmm, I've only got one memory slot and can only stick 256m in - it's got 128 onboard taking it up to 384  

However the intention is to just use it for imaging so it will only have XP (stripped down) and capture/control software.
I think the USB2 issue can be sorted by using a cardbus adapter.

I have previously used it with mapping and GPS to find my way around the US, can't remember what other crap was on it as I've just formatted the drive  

If I ever manage to capture an image, I'll transfer the files to a sensible PC

[Ian]

don't forget you've got other OS options too. Windows 2000 or Linux might be a better bet on that hardware...

[mickw]

other OS options too

Agreed but does capture and control software work under Linux or 2000 ?

[Ian]

depends what capture and control software. I'm reasonably confident that any software that runs under XP will run on Win2000.

Linux is a little more complex but not necessarily impossible.

[Simon E]

As in previous email

http://www.mlunsold.com/ILImageProcess.html

This runs on 2000

Good guide for you, pc spec to do the below, via this software.

System Requirements for processing a group of 50 or more 4064 x 2704 16-bit color TIFF, FITS, or larger images.
Any 32 or 64 bit Windows operating system. Windows 2000, XP Professional, Vista x32, or Vista x64 preferred.
Highly multi-threaed to take full advantage of dual core, quad core, and multiple processor computers.
Screen resolution of at least 1024x768 is recommended
Minimum of 256-512 MB of RAM
Minimum Pentium 3 or 4 processor
Mouse is required
True color (24 bit) or better

Don't forget this is the processing part. I have just got the capture part, so can easily be run on Windows 2k

si

[Simon E]

I can always give you a demo of camera,scope,laptop and software working, in me backgarden.

si

[Ian]

I'm sure that's good software Simon, but there is a raft of free stuff to use too. I'd recommend not paying for something until you know you'll get the benefit of it. I know the majority of imagers in the society use paid-for software, but I don't think any of us started out that way.

Demos are always useful. Get your head around what the software should do first then try as many different ones as you can before committing the hard-earned...

[mickw]

I think I'll set this thing up as it is, I'll stick Nebulosity on it as it's got a working demo - and the real version is cheap  
Then I'll give it a try, if it works I'll spend some dosh on it, if it doesn't I'll use the other laptop.

[Simon E]

No probs, offer is always open.... ie try before you buy... I went out on a limb and was pleased with the control. However Celestron want over £100 for there Nexstar remote software, that allows total control of the scope remotely. Does look good on the 30 day demo. You get a working picture of the remote, which allows complete remote goto access. Cool but a bit expensive.



si

[Mike]

Why not try one of the PC control options? I think EQ-MOD might work with your mount.

[Simon E]

Why not try one of the PC control options? I think EQ-MOD might work with your mount.

Is it free, If so will do.

si

[Mike]

The software is free. The connector you can either buy or make it yourself (open source)

[mickw]

I'll see if capture kills the laptop (or me), then have a crack at guiding.
Installed Nebulosity and it seems to work in simulator mode - no input as yet.

Small steps Sparks  

Once again thanks for all the advice and offers - much appreciated

[Rocket Pooch]

don't forget you've got other OS options too. Windows 2000 or Linux might be a better bet on that hardware...

Linux, you having a laugh windows 2000 grandad!

Actually bring back dos thats what I say, it was easier and I did not have 3 groups of developers then, 1 for the from end, 1 for the components and one for the database!!!!!

Bring back Clipper 5!!!!


Boy work can get you down.

[Ian]

and breathe.

How is therapy then Chris?

[RobertM]

Bring back Clipper 5!!!!

OMG... but at least it did what it said on the tin.

Look on the bright side, at least your language coders aren't doing the database work.  They only test with one record in each table ... index ... err what's that guv ...

***** THREAD HIJACK ALERT *****

[The Thing]

I used to use a little Sony Vaio baby laptop with 128mb/20Gb. The thing it didn't like was guiding as it had to process more data than it could fit in memory to find out if the star had moved. But it did work. Captured DSLR images were stored eventually but got in the way of guiding (PHD). It still works- slowly.

Now I have a Canon DSLR I can use my grown up laptop as the drivers work with Vista.

[mickw]

Must admit this little laptop is starting to bug me 

USB1 only although it's got firewire.
Wireless networking doesn't work because I can't find a driver that works with XP - Not really a problem because I can use a network cable, but it's annoying.
To give a bigger HD, USB2 and more memory will be getting close to £100 
Can get a new Xp laptop for about 3................

I sense a spending frenzy on the horizon 

[mickw]

OK for some strange reason common sense has prevailed, this thing goes back in the cupboard and I'll be using my Acer 

Thanks again for everyones input

[Rocket Pooch]

Bring back Clipper 5!!!!

OMG... but at least it did what it said on the tin.

Look on the bright side, at least your language coders aren't doing the database work.  They only test with one record in each table ... index ... err what's that guv ...

***** THREAD HIJACK ALERT *****

I remember creating arrary's to hold indexing in before B-Tree etc was invented, and doing it in 2k of memory on a, wait for it, ABS Orb!  Or Nascom 6E etc......



Still think Sun pinched Clipper 5 dialect for Java...

[RobertM]

Oh yes, though the detail has long faded, I also remember an old Olliveti PC hard drive chuffing away through 10,000 records in what seemed an eternity with DBase 4+.  If you look at a 'Modern' (and I use that term loosely) Trading platform like Murex, most of it's tables are still called XXXXXXXX_DBF (dos 8+3) - showing it's roots or what !!!