We are glad to announce the release of a new version of PixInsight: 1.8.4.1195 for Linux, OS X, and Windows. Installation packages are now available to all users on our software distribution system. A FreeBSD version should also be available during the next weeks.
Version 1.8.4.1195 is a maintenance release fixing bugs and providing performance improvements on all platforms. We encourage all our users to update their installations as soon as possible.
FreeBSD and Linux: Uncompress the .tar.gz archive on a directory under your home directory, then run the installer program as root from a terminal. Answer "yes" to the confirmation question and you're done. The old version (if any) will be removed, and version 1.8.4.1195 will be installed on the /opt system directory by default, as usual. Graphical shortcuts will be created automatically on most X11 desktop environments, including GNOME, KDE, Xfce and LXDE.
Windows: Uninstall the current version if you have it installed (this is absolutely necessary!), then run the new installation package, and follow the instructions. Once installed, you'll have a new entry on your Start > All Programs menu (or equivalent item on Windows 8), namely PixInsight Platform, where you'll find an option to launch the PixInsight Core application.
OS X: Copy the .zip archive to your /Applications folder, remove the previous PixInsight folder if you had a previous version installed, and uncompress the new .zip archive. A new PixInsight folder will be created, where you'll find a PixInsight.app application bundle. We suggest adding it to the dock for easier access.
- AutoHide windows could get freezed in version 1.8.4.1193 by right-clicking the mouse on the workspace very quickly during sliding animations. This has been fixed in version 1.8.4.1195.
- The Blink tool triggered an invalid paint event upon loading a set of files. This bug has been fixed.
- Mouse wheel events were incorrectly translated to zoom in/out events by tools with drawing panels such as HistogramTransformation, CurvesTransformation, ColorSaturation, and Blink. This was barely noticeable using devices with mechanical wheels, but was a serious problem with touch devices such as Apple's Magic Mouse. This problem is now resolved.
- User input events, such as mouse or keyboard events, were being allowed during swap file I/O operations, with a risk of potential conflicts. User input events are now either blocked completely or conveniently filtered during these critical operations.
- Images loaded from files providing image identifiers (XISF and FITS formats) were being assigned incorrect view identifiers. This was causing some weird problems, such as unselectable images from the View Selector and the Real-Time Preview window. This no longer happens.
- Transparency renditions generated on Retina high-dpi modes were incorrect. Transparencies (alpha channels) are now correctly represented at all resolutions and display densities.
- The XISF format support module was not applying some output hints. This is now fixed.
- Fixed a long standing focus stealing problem on Windows and OS X. Since version 1.8.4.1195, the PixInsight Core application no longer activates itself or steals the keyboard focus when a process finishes execution.
- Much faster image renditions in Retina high-dpi modes. For example, panning and zooming large 32-bit floating point images is now about 5-10 times faster on an iMac 5K machine.
- Faster and more accurate transparency renditions (alpha channels).
- The XISF format support module can now store preview rectangles in image files. Only preview coordinates and identifiers are stored, not preview states or processing histories. Stored previews are automatically recreated when the image is loaded.
- New license command-line command. This command writes user license information as plain text on the console.
The license file is still generated on the user's home directory by default, but now you can move it to the alternate directory if you prefer a more discreet location.
- The printing subsystem is now enabled by default on all platforms. Previously it was disabled by default on OS X and Windows. The three printing menu commands are FILE > Printer Setup, FILE > Printer Color Management, and FILE > Print. The printing subsystem can be disabled with the --without-printer command-line argument to the PixInsight Core application. Printing is still experimental in PixInsight, although it works quite well in most cases. This functionality will be significantly improved in future versions.
I hope you enjoy this new release. Thank you all for your continued support.
Can you tell me why the PixInsight window is still too large on my MacBook Pro Retina with display preferences set on high ("More Space")?
When will the FreeBSD version be released?
Edit: Just saw the bit about it being released in a few weeks. I guess I'll just wait, then. Is there a reason for the delay? ISTR Juan being a BSD user like me, and it being the primary development platform! Is it related to the QT5 issues?
Yes, the only problem on FreeBSD is now Qt 5. Version 1.8.4 uses the latest Qt 5.5.1 on Linux, OS X (with *a lot* of hacking, patches and rewrites), and Windows. It simply does not compile on FreeBSD. After days of work modifying Qt code, I have managed to build the core Qt libraries on PC-BSD 10.2. However, PixInsight depends on QtWebKit and some components of WebChannel, which are huge and extremely complex libraries. There is no way to build them, at least none that I am aware of, without investing a large amount of time and resources, which I don't have. Bear in mind that I am completely alone working on the PixInsight Core application.
Now I am trying to build PixInsight 1.8.4 with Qt 5.4.1, which is available as a port. There are problems because the code base assumes a newer version, but hopefully it will work. I am sorry for the long delay in releasing a new FreeBSD version, but I do what I can. Obviously the people behind Qt has zero interest in FreeBSD, which is a shame.
Yeah, this Qt 5 problem seems to be hitting a lot of other ports, also. I've been talking to a lot of maintainers on various projects on IRC (lots of resources and people to talk to there), who have had more or less success get their stuff to build with Qt 5 on FreeBSD, though I'm not sure about the QtWebKit stuff. I'd be happy to take a look at any problems if I can lighten the load, or, if you like, I can ask around to see how people are dealing with building against QtWebKit on IRC; I believe there's a ports build infrastructure patch incoming to fix a few issues with regard to Qt5, also.
Don't worry about the delay -- I completely understand your frustration! Let me know if I can be of any assistance.
I'm also just curious to see if this works for anyone else besides me.
After downloading and checking the SHA-1 checksum, I unzipped the file using the standard Apple tool using Finder. Then dragged/dropped it into the Applications folder. When I try to execute the PixInsight.app within the PixInsight folder, the following error message appears.
"The PixInsight Core application has been launched from a directory that does not meet the requirements of a valid PixInsight distribution. Either the main PixInsight executable has been moved, or the distribution has been damaged for some reason.
PixInsight cannot be executed. Please reinstall the application."
... but with this workaround no FITS files can be opened from the Finder starting PI etc.
I also already tried the --reset-all --default-modules options, but without benefit.