ALT-N and ALT-E not working on Mac in 1.8

[JayS_CT]

should be command-A to compute and apply an STF and control-s to toggle the STF on OS X
 
rob

Rob,

Thanks..  Didn't see that key stroke combo anywhere. Is there a cheat sheet for OSX key combos vs. Function keys.  Any reason function keys don't work?  Thanks again!!

Jay S.

[pfile]

i can only guess that function keys on OSX are a little weird, since they are repurposed for backlight control, etc. to generate the actual function key keycodes you probably need to hold down the "fn" modifier key.

as far as the shortcuts go, they are identified in contextual and menubar menus. for instance Image > STF Autostretch shows clover-A as the shortcut, and right clicking on an image and selecting Screen Transfer Functions will show the STF contextual menu, where control-S is shown as the toggle shortcut.

rob

[JayS_CT]

i can only guess that function keys on OSX are a little weird, since they are repurposed for backlight control, etc. to generate the actual function key keycodes you probably need to hold down the "fn" modifier key.

as far as the shortcuts go, they are identified in contextual and menubar menus. for instance Image > STF Autostretch shows clover-A as the shortcut, and right clicking on an image and selecting Screen Transfer Functions will show the STF contextual menu, where control-S is shown as the toggle shortcut.

rob

Rob,

Thanks...  I tried it both way, using the "FN" key in conjunction with F12 as well as setting the function keys to operate as real function keys in system settings (then you use the "FN" to get to volume, screen brightness, etc.  I saw somewhere in this thread (I think) about it being a full keyboard so just for the sake of trying I'll plug in a USB keyboard and see what happens.  Thanks again..

Jay S.

[Can Poyrazoğlu]

I found I can get the keyboard shortcuts to work (ALT-N) and (ALT-E) if I hold the Fn key while pushing alt ie (Fn+ALT-N) FN+ALT-E).  Ran into this totally by accident but am relieved as it was a huge frustration not having access to these keys!

I confirm holding down Fn key works on my MacBook Pro too.

[Lex]

Hi guys,

I just wondered what's up with this "bug"; if I can call it that. I encounter this problem kind of often on my MBP 9,1.
It is kind of; you know....

Very best!

Lex.

[WesChilton]

I recently purchased an iMac Pro (10-core) running MacOS 10.13.4 and PixInsight 1.8.05.1352

I am running into this preview bug as well, and its extremely annoying as I use this quite a lot. I am using the full-sized numeric wireless keyboard (which is standard). No combination of keys mentioned here will allow me to create a preview. The New Preview button only brings up the dialog (which is useless honestly).

On my Windows 10 Pro laptop (Dell Inspiron) Alt+N actually doesn't work either but Fn+N does work (which makes no sense, but ok)

[JamieInCLT]

Any word on getting this fixed? 

Note- I found that there is a "mode" toolbar, so at least I can put it into preview mode!

[JamieInCLT]

I found I can get the keyboard shortcuts to work (ALT-N) and (ALT-E) if I hold the Fn key while pushing alt ie (Fn+ALT-N) FN+ALT-E).  Ran into this totally by accident but am relieved as it was a huge frustration not having access to these keys!

I confirm holding down Fn key works on my MacBook Pro too.

Oooh, I missed this.  Wacky, but works. 

[tcab]

I just installed PixInsight (latest version as of June 2018) on my Macbook Air (High Sierra) and the new preview shortcut ALT N does not work there either.

Despite many threads complaining and confirming this problem, the developers say that they cannot reproduce the problem on their machines. What about borrowing someone's non development machine Mac and seeing the problem?  What about visiting a local astronomy gathering and seeing all the people with the same problem?  Here are all the threads (not including this one) referencing this issue:

https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=11566.msg71575#msg71575
https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=5364.msg36859#msg36859
https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=12245.msg75007#msg75007
https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=11431.msg70969#msg70969
https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=6958.msg47000#msg47000
https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=2838.msg19898#msg19898
https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=3831.msg26312#msg26312
https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=5594.msg38529#msg38529

One of the posts says the developer will "...try to buy one of these small ... keyboards as soon as possible, to see if I can understand why they work so weirdly." That was five years ago in 2013. How did that investigation go?

As I have mentioned, I have the "recommended" wired keyboard with numeric keypad and those shortcuts mentioned don't work. Nor, as I say, does it work on my Macbook Air with its built in keyboard - surely that should be supported too?!  This is one of the most used key combinations and its so frustrating that it doesn't work on a Mac, thus slowing down everyone's workflow.  No software I have ever owned has broken shortcut keys - why would an expensive professional piece of software have a broken shortcut keys situation for over five years - especially when the workflow is so complex and where shortcut keys are most needed? 

Tip: I notice that the shortcuts in question are not listed on any traditional main menus.  Perhaps if you add the functions (e.g "New Preview Mode") to the main menus and assign the same shortcuts to those menu items, they would start triggering.  Am happy to beta test or run test programs on my machines if that helps, just PM me. 

[deanchalk]

I have just purchased Pixinsight to run on my 2016 Macbook Pro (high sierra).
ALT-N doesnt work. Im a newbie and am working through some tutorial videos. Without the keyboard working I cant move forward.
I have tried all the suggested work arounds, and nothing works. Why cant this option be on a right-click context menu as well?
I think the suggestion that a macbook pro doesnt have a 'proper keyboard' is a a bit cheeky.

So I had an idea, why not install BootCamp on the Mac (allows the mac to boot up as a windows machine) and install the windows version of Pixinsight there? Good idea, accept that Pixinsight is incompatible with Windows 10 on a laptop because of the DPI scaling issues (you cant see any menues because they are too small).

So is it the case that Pixinsight is no longer supported on any laptop correctly?

I am really surprised by this, I bought Pixinsight because it seemed to be the industry standard and had a lot of maturity, but if its not supported on big swathes of popular hardware, at the very least we should be told this before purchasing.

Massively dissappointed!!!   

[sharkmelley]

I'm not familiar with the Macbook and you said you tried all the workarounds.

However, just to be sure:

Does the Macbook have no icons for New Preview and Edit Preview?
Are you also saying the Mac has no right-click context menus e.g. Mode->New Preview and Mode->Edit Preview

As a last resort you could go through the menus:  Image->Mode-> New Preview and Image->Mode->Edit Preview

Mark

[deanchalk]

aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

ALT-N didnt work and 'new preview' just pops up a box to enter coordinates etc - not a solution

BUT

I didnt know you could put it in 'new preview mode' under mode. Now I can drag over to create a preview. You have answered my prayers

Thanks so much