Version History

V2.70 - April 8, 2012 - Build 120

• Made Gemini PEC Write to mount work better with Gemini-II.

V2.70 - February 7, 2012 - Build 119

• IMPORTANT FIX - PEC Phase was sometimes calculated incorrectly (in builds 114-118).

V2.70 - January 22, 2012 - Build 118

• Allow all Celestron mounts to connect even if PEC is not fully supported by the mount/scope.

• Added Paramount MX mount type (Beta - please report success/failure to the PEMPro forum).

V2.70 - January 1, 2012 - Build 117

• Fixed a trial date issue.

V2.70 - November 19, 2011 - Build 116

• Added Inter-exposure delay in step 2  of the Polar Alignment wizard. This allows the time between polar alignment exposures to be adjusted. The default is 1 second between exposures.

• In step 2 of the Polar Alignment Wizard the "Measure Now" button is now active when a camera is connected (previously both camera and scope needed to be connected).

V2.70 - October 30, 2011 - Build 115

• Fixed a bug in StarTrailViewer.

V2.70 - October 25, 2011 - Build 114

• Fixed issue with Polar Alignment Wizard controls not displaying correctly on Windows 7 with 125% font scaling.

• Added LX200GPS fundamentals to Known Fundamentals list on the Frequency Spectrum tab.

• Added option for PPC files to clear bias, create files relative to phase=0, and of arbitrary cell count.

• Fixed issue with vertical star trails calculating wrong angle in StarTrailViewer.

V2.70 - July 27, 2011 - Build 113

• Added prompt for Paramount type when not connected to the mount.

• Swapped direction for Altitude Polar Alignment in southern Hemisphere.

• Added more meaningful messages for Calibration Wizard errors.

• Reworked Autostop timer logic.

V2.70 - June 12, 2011 - Build 112

• Fix: Gemini Guide rate should now be read correctly

V2.70 - June 7, 2011 - Build 111

• Fix: Paramount ME PEC format was wrong.

V2.70 - June 5, 2011 - Build 110

• Added frequency info for Celestron CGE/CGEM mounts.

V2.70 - May 15, 2011 - Build 109

• Fix: In Meade Handbox clicking "Sync PE" immediately after "PEC On" would erroneously pop up a message indicating to turn PEC on first.

V2.70 - May 4, 2011 - Build 108

• Fix: In step 2 of the Polar Alignment wizard PEMPro would still re-center the scope if "Re-Center after measure" was unchecked.

V2.70 - April 30, 2011 - Build 107

• Put in extra checking for TheSkyX to nail down problems connecting under Windows 7 x64.

V2.70 - April 1, 2011 - Build 106

• Added a splitter control to Polar Alignment tab. The splitter control can be pulled up/down to make more area visible and thus make visible some controls that are sometimes hidden on netbooks with short vertical resolution.

V2.70 - March 26, 2011 - Build 105

• Update PEC table format for Paramount ME so it can be used with TheSkyX.

V2.70 - March 6, 2011 - Build 104

• Reset Trial so anyone wishing to try again gets another 60 day trial.

• Fixed slow startup that would happen sometimes.

• Fix: Simulator now shows PEC recording data.

• Fix: When connecting to Meade DSI cameras prompt for 1 second exposure to initialize camera. If you need to read the camera settings setup previously by Envisage first then click "no".

V2.70 - February 6, 2011 - Build 103

• Minor bug fixes, official 2.7 release.

V2.70 - January 23, 2011 - BETA - Build 102

• Added a Restart button next to the Start button on the Acquire tab. Clicking Restart skips the full-frame download to find a star and instead uses the last CCD sub-frame used.

• Added beta version of Gemini PEC drift correction feature.

• Fixed application exception when clicking the "Custom Commands" button in the Mount/Scope Configuration dialog.

V2.70 - December 21, 2010 - BETA - Build 101

• Updated documentation to reflect changes in v2.7.

• Bug Fix - clicking Use Curve on the Refine tab now switches to the Program Mount tab instead of the Frequency Spectrum tab.

• Enhancement - added option to disable the automatic star re-center on steps 2 and 4 of the Polar alignment Wizard. Because of a bug in the firmware in some Meade mounts a short slew would sometimes cause the scope to slew wildly.

V2.70 - December 7, 2010 - BETA - Build 100

• Added Custom Stop/Start/Move commands to Polar alignment Wizard, Calibration Wizard, Backlash exerciser, and Video Interface.

• Made several User Interface improvements and bug fixes to the Video interface.

• Added the PEC Simulator back into PEMPro. There is no need to launch it any more as it is built into PEMPro instead of being a separate application.

• NOTE: I will be updating the documentation soon to reflect the above changes.

V2.60 - October 3, 2010 - Build 98

• Changed range of Dec Move Distance in Step 3 of the Polar Alignment Wizard. Previously the range was -15 to 15 arc-minutes. Negative values might be causing problems so the allowable range must now be positive and was expanded to 1 to 60 arc-minutes.

• Added a button to the Mount Setup Wizard to conveniently access the ASCOM Driver downloads page.

V2.60 - September 23, 2010 - Build 97

• Improved Calibration Wizard's re-centering capability by adding better feedback and an option to turn it off.

• Changed the name of the file saved by step 2 of the Polar alignment Wizard to "trails.fit".

V2.60 - August 16, 2010 - Build 96

• Improved extendibility of EQMOD PEC index for other controllers emulating the protocol.

V2.60 - August 8, 2010 - Build 95

• Fix: reduced poll frequency to ASCOM driver in Backlash exerciser.

• Added extra checking in Polar alignment Wizard.

• Fixed bug in Create PEC Curve's Export routine.

V2.60 - May 20, 2010 - Build 94

• Added support for CGEPro (Celestron model type 13).

• Invert Celestron direction so PEC Curve does not need to be manually inverted.

V2.60 - May 16, 2010 - Build 93

• Added support for TheSkyX Pro.

V2.60 - May 15, 2010 - Build 92

• Bug Fix - Revert back to CommandNative() for gemini.Net driver.

V2.60 - April 18, 2010 - Build 91

• Bug Fix - Fixed a .Net framework 2.0 compatibility with a third-party control that prevented PEMPro from starting on certain computers.

V2.60 - April 11, 2010 - Build 90

• PEMPro Mount Wizard defaults now to new Astro-Physics and Gemini ASCOM drivers.

• Change Gemini NativeCommand() calls to raw CommandString calls for new gemini.Net driver.

V2.60 - August 11, 2009 - Build 89 (Astro-Physics only Release)

• Astro-Physics release build - no changes from build 88.

V2.60 - August 2, 2009 - Build 88 (Release)

• Bug Fix - Fixed "Failed to create bitmap" issue that can sometimes occur in the Polar Alignment Wizard.

V2.60 - July 26, 2009 - Build 87 (Release)

• Bug Fix - Fixed "Unknown Error" that would sometimes occur when starting trial.
• Enhancement - Add Driver Info field to log files.
• Bug Fix - "Center Star" Group box now moves properly when resizing Video Interface window.
• Enhancement - Polar Alignment wizard attempts to reuse Darks when it can.

V2.60 - May 31, 2009 - Build 86 (Release)

• Bug Fix - Histogram stretch ("Adjust Image") works now with long exposure Video images taken in steps 2 of 3 of the Polar Alignment Wizard.
• Bug Fix - Fixed a potential exception in the Create PEC Curve dialog.

V2.60 - May 3, 2009 - Build 85 (Astro-Physics only Release)

• Astro-Physics release build - additional changes to the registration dialog.

V2.60 - April 27, 2009 - Build 84 (Astro-Physics only Release)

• Astro-Physics release build - minor changes to the registration dialog.

V2.60 - April 19, 2009 - Build 83 (Release)

• Bug Fix - This build and future builds now work with Astro-Physics license keys.
• Bug Fix - forced a minimum number of frequecy entries used for FFT analysis.
• Bug Fix - After entering a license key PEMPro no longer needs to be restarted.
• Bug Fix - ASCOM helper DLLs are no longer mistakenly considered old versions.
• Enhancement - Version History link is always visible in "Check for Updates" dialog.
• Change - Removed pop-up dialog warning that automatic check for updates has been disabled.

V2.60 - March 15, 2009 - Build 82 (Release)

• Bug Fix - Southern Hemisphere Azimuth direction was reported to be inverted in Pole Align Wizard.
• Bug Fix - prevent exception from sometimes happening when creating a Paramount ME upload file.

V2.60 - February 17, 2009 - Build 81 (Release)

• Bug Fix - Frequency Spectrum tab now displays th eacquired data's frequency spectrum after acquiring data.

V2.60 - January 20, 2009 - Build 80 (Release)

• New Feature - Video Interface now has a "Center Star" feature. First Calibrate then enable Center Star. Click any star to center it.

• New Feature - Set Video Frame Rate. Now you can use the camera's default or force the video rate (to any rate that the camera supports).

• Celestron CGEM mount type added.

V2.60 - January 18, 2009 - Build 78 (Release)

• Support for shorter height (600 pixel) screens. Press CTRL Key when PEMPro starts to resize the height automatically (this just needs to be done once). The graphray area will look small but it should be useable.

V2.60 - January 13, 2009 - Build 77 (Release)

• SiTech - prompt user to continue anyway if PEC Index Sync fails.

V2.60 - January 11, 2009 - Build 76 (Release)

• Bug Fix - Monochrome cameras from TheImagingSource now show video
• Slightly improved performance of Create PEC dialog
• Improved method to wait for MaximDL to finish Writing files to disk
• Improved load time of large PERecorder and PEMPro log files
• Improved performance when recording video data.
• New Feature - Added "View" button to open an Explorer window directly to the Logs and Images directory.
• Added new EQMOD info (Gain, Phase, PEC Enabled, an current PEC File) to EQMOD page and in log files.

V2.60 - January 1, 2009 - Build 72 (Release)

• Pulsar mount implementation released.
• Bug Fix - Fixed Video interface long duration exposure (wasn't working).
• Enhancement - Improved contrast of long duration (multi-frame) video exposures.
• Bug Fix - Star Finder no longer clips images.
• Large file load times have been significantly improved.
• Improved Video Interface data speed when Acquiring PEC data (can collect data at up to 30 frames/sec).

V2.60 - December 28, 2008 - Build 71 (beta)

• Bug Fix - Fixed several bugs in the (beta) Pulsar interface
• Enhancement - Added more debug checks for Pulsar PEC upload/download
• Enhancement - Added more functionality to Pulsar mount interface
• Enhancement - Pulsar read/writes native format Pulsar Commander files.
• Enhancement - Improved performance when loading large files
• Enhancement - Improved appearance of the Frequency Response Tab. Labels do not bunch together any longer, Time values are at the bottom of the graph and the cursor coordinates now are highlighted and show more precision.
• Enhancement - default directory is now in MyDocuments/CCDWare/PEMProV2 when initializing various open/save dialogs.
• Bug Fix - Fundamantal Frequency files were not reading correctly in Build 70.

V2.60 - December 25, 2008 - Build 70 (beta)

• Bug Fix - Log files sometimes were left open preventing them from being reopened.
• Bug Fix - Site longitude/latitude sometimes did not show correctly.
• Enhancement/Bug Fix - Integerate Video interface into PEMPro (there is no longer a separate video interface application). The new video interface will run on Vista.
• Enhancement - Added extra calls for EQMOD to get Board version, DLL Version, and Driver Version. This info is placed in log files and on a new "Mount Info" tab on the EQMOD tab.
• Fix/Enhancement - PEMPro now installs/runs on XP Pro 64 and Vista 64-bit (Vista64).
• New Feature (Beta) - support added for Pulsar mounts.

V2.50 - October 18, 2008 - Build 65

• Fixed slewing in Star Finder when using The Sky 6/Paramount ME.

V2.50 - October 4, 2008 - Build 64

• Enhancements to Video Interface (previously available separately).
• Fix/Enhancement - Corrected Meade Focuser commands used in Meade Handbox tool. There are now 4 focus speeds instead of 3 (one of which, medium speed, probably didn't work) .

V2.50 - September 27, 2008 - Build 63 (beta)

• Bug Fix - fixed calibration bug in Video Interface.
• Enhancement - In Video Interface added option to manually select calibration star
• Enhancement - In Video Interface the Image Scale and Image Angle can noiw be manually entered.
• Enhancement - In Video Interface added dark frame subtraction.
• New Feature - Added SiTech mount type. SiTech Mount is automatically synchronized when the Synch button is pressed and when an Acquire Data is started.

V2.50 - September 3, 2008 - Build 62 (beta)

• Fixed problem with EQMOD installation being required.
• Added a menu item to do installation of proper EQMOD version for use with PEMPro.

V2.50 - August 31, 2008 - Build 61 (beta)

• Fixed 60-day license problem that prevented old trial users from getting another 60-day trial.

V2.50 - August 30, 2008 - Build 60 (beta)

• New Feature - New "Frequency Spectrum" tab shows the spectrum of PE data without having to use the Create PEC Curve dialog. The graph can optionally display mount fundamentals bases on files read in from the Fundamentals directory in PEMPro's install directory. You can even add your own files if you wish.

• New Feature - Added Full support and for EQMOD mounts. This includes direct upload for popular Atlas EQ-G, Sirius EQ-G, EQ6, EQ5, etc. through EQMOD.
• New Feature - Programmable automatic stop allows for very long captures of PEC data.
• New Feature - You can now save the main application window as a JPEG with a menu item (or by presssing F12)
• New Feature - You can now display all worm cycles on the graph to get an overall view of the periodic error and trend

• New Feature - Double clicking graph will autosize Y scale to fit the entire graph.
• New Feature - Holding left button down and moving mouse on graph will adjust Graph Y scale.

• New Feature - Added new Backlash Exerciser mode that instead of stopping tracking, moves the RA axis East. Necessary because some mounts don't allow North/South ASCOM PulseGuide calls to function when tracking is false.

• New Feature - Added Timer function to Acquire data and stop mount tracking after X hours. Allows you to leave the mount recording PEC data for an arbitrary amount of time.

• Enhancement - dramatically improved star detection algorithm.
• Enhancement - when a star is not found because of the min/max star brightness range, a popup message is displayed detailing the number of stars found and the high/low range limits.
• Enhancement - Video Interface now queries declination from PEMPro before doing a calibration. Calibration settings are now configurable. The Calibration Values dialog will pop up when Calibration is started:

• Minor Enhancement - improved cursor appearance in sevaral windows.
• Fix - Fixed bug in Data display when the Sync button was pressed.
• Fix - All IC Imaging Control USB/Firewire color/mono cameras now work with the video control.
• Numerous other little changes and enhancements.

V2.00 - June 25, 2008 - Build 48

• Fix - Fixed bug in FITS processing introduced in Build 47. ("Exception converting string to Double String ='16 /8 unsigned int...")

V2.00 - June 23, 2008 - Build 47

• Fix - Fixed several bugs in the Meade DSI camera images.

• Enhanced Feature: Added more settings to the Meade DSI camera settings.

• Fix - Fixed bug in histogram display in Star Finder window.

V2.00 - June 6, 2008 - Build 46

• New Feature: Added the ability to set Meade DSI camera settings (Gain, Offset, and Readout Delay).

  

  

• New Feature: Added Histogram Image stretching to Polar Align Wizard steps 2 and 3 so the image background and contrast can be adjusted to better see stars.

  

• New Feature: Added Meade DSI III support (beta).
• Changed "Full Screen" button to a checkbox in Polar Align Wizard Step 3.
• Fix: Histogram dialog would not show lower and upper image stretch marker positions correctly.

V2.00 - May 30, 2008 - Build 45

• Fix: "Failed to create bitmap" sometimes would show up when trying to display images in the Polar Alignment Wizard.

V2.00 - May 9, 2008 - Build 44

• Fix: Altitude arrow fix in build 42 inadvertantly affected the raise/lower text.

V2.00 - May 5, 2008 - Build 42

• Fixed button colors on Setup tab.
• Fixed Altitude Arrow direction in Step 8 of Polar Alignment Wizard.

V2.00 - April 20, 2008 - Build 41

• Fixed Raise/Lower bug in Pole Align Wizard that can happen in certain orientations.
• Added full screen view of NSEW (Step 3) of Polar Alignment Wizard.
• Changed the single Start button to separate Start/Stop buttons in several places.
• Added support for multiple Meade DSI Cameras.
• Added pause to cover scope to allow dark frames for Meade DSI Cameras.
• Fixed display of images from Meade DSI cameras.

V2.00 - March 29, 2008 - Build 40 (Private build)

• Added fixed exposure mode for Pole Align Wizard.
• Reduced minimum Max-Exposure time to 0 seconds for Pole Align Wizard.
• Added Custom Commands to start/stop telescope tracking.

V2.00 - February 29, 2008 - Build 39

• Included a missing DLL required for Meade DSI support.

V2.00 - February 26, 2008 - Build 38

• Fixed date format issue that can happen in certain world regions.
• Added Overlay color picker to Polar Alignment Wizard so that the overlay colors can be changed and made semi-transparent.
• BETA FEATURE - Meade DSI support.
• Fixed aspect ratio and size of image displayed in Adjust Azimuth and Altitude steps in Polar Alignment Wizard.
• Changed Astro-Physics PEM upload procedure to ensure EEPROM read/write collisions do not occur.
• Fixed link to ASCOM downloads page.
• Removed unused button from video interface.
• Added 10-second timeout to video calibration.

V2.00 - December 17, 2007 - Build 37

• Fixed star-loss problem when using polar alignment wizard.
• Fixed direction problem in polar alignment wizard.
• Added support for Meade DSI cameras.
• Added night mode so Red text shows up better on polar alignment graphs.
• Fixed Gemini Level 4 "curve inverted" bug.
• Fixed a few bugs in the video interface application.
• Added dialog box to control in-program video settings.
• Added Fitting level and the list of Fundamental Frequencies to PPC files.

V2.00 - July 13, 2007 - Build 31 (Public Release V2.00)

• When Acquiring PEC Data with the Video Interface the 'Exposure Time' setting now sets the proper exposure duration.
• Miscellaneous fixes to the full screen mode in steps 6 and 9 of the Polar Alignment Wizard.
• Video interface now works in all steps of the polar alignment wizard.
• Backlash Magnifier now is visible if checked and entering the Backlash tab for the first time.
• Video Interface should now work in any International version of Windows.
• Pole Alignment Wizard and Star Finder now report RA/Dec and Alt/Az to the nearest arc-second (was previously to just arc-minute accuracy).
• In Polar Alignment Wizard fixed movement labels at the bottom of the graphs when measuring Azimuth and Altitude (steps 5 and 8, respectively). The direction was sometimes wrong.
• Added warning in compass direction step (step 3) if the user selected points do not make sense.
• Other refinements to the polar alignment state machine.

V2.00 - June 14, 2007 - Build 30 (Beta)

• Added fine adjustment to backlash exerciser timing.
• Added Magnifier window to Backlash Exerciser to provide a convenient magnified view of the edges of the zigzag pattern.
• Bug Fix: In Calibration wizard, save RA/Dec when clicking Next.
• New features in Calibration Wizard: Slew to Position and Nudge Scope.
• Added on-graph labels for time and arc-seconds in Polar Alignment Azimuth and Altitude measurement graphs.
• Made refinements to the appearance of the Polar Alignment Azimuth and Altitude measurement graphs.
• Added a control to adjust the timer interval for Polar Alignment Azimuth and Altitude measurement graphs.
• Finished last two steps of polar alignment wizard.
• Added Tracking box size to polar alignment wizard.

V2.00 - May 23, 2007 - Build 29 (Beta)

• AstroArt - Close created image windows.
• Decreased star minimum S/N from 10 to 3 so stars are more easily detected.
• CRITICAL FIX: Fixed potential wrong axis chosen as declination axis in Pole align Wizard.
• Added automatic logging to Polar Alignment Wizard for better problem analysis.
• Increased accuracy of Image scale calibration in Polar Alignment Wizard and Star Finder.
• Automatically stop Alt/Az alignment measurements after 5 minutes.
• "Find Binning" setting is now used for Find North/South/East/West images.
• Derotate angle is now being used.

V2.00 - May 12, 2007 - Build 28 (Beta)

• The checkbox for "Advanced Configuration (Pulse Dynamics)" was hidden underneath a group box. Moved it to the front.
• Changed the clipping range so that the background is brighter in the Pole Align Calibration image when it comes up.
• Changed the way the Pole Align Calibration works. The entire exposure now occurs with tracking disabled. This should result in a more accurate image scale measurement.
• Corrected the calculation of image scale (now includes compensation for declination) in the Pole Align Calibration.
• Improved the robustness of the backlash exerciser. Also fixed relay timing.

V2.00 - May 6, 2007 - Build 27 (Beta)

• Updated minimum ASCOM driver versions required to match those on the ASCOM downloads page (except Celestron driver which still seems to be an old version).
• Put Gemini in Terestrial mode when stopping the mount for calibration in the Polar Alignment Wizard and in Backlash Exerciser.
• Fixed problen with international date and numeric formats.
• Added checkbox for Dark Subtract to disable it for cameras that do not have shutters.
• Added additional controls for maximum duration and starting Binning in Polar Alignment Wizard.
• Added additional control for single-shot color cameras used under MaximDL.
• Register StarTrailviewer.exe so that Calibration Wizard does not fail.
• The last calculated compass directions in the Polar Alignment Wizard are now saved and restored between application runs.

V2.00 - April 30, 2007 - Build 26 (Beta)

• Included missing DLLs files for video application
• Included first rev of Help file (still needs more work).
• Fix problem creating CCDSoft Dark Frame in step 3 of the Polar alignment Wizard.
• Set default culture to USA so users in foreign countries do not have to change regional settings.
• Improved contrast of images in Polar Alignment Wizard, backlash Exerciser, and Star Finder.
• Improved star detection and tracking reliability in Polar Alignment Wizard.

V2.00 - April 27, 2007 - Build 25 (Beta)

• Fixed bug in registration mechanism.

V2.00 - April 27, 2007 - Build 24 (Beta)

• Initial beta release.