PixInsight 1.8.0 RC7 "Ripley" Released

[Juan Conejero]

Hi everybody,

I am glad to announce that a new version of PixInsight has been just released and is now available to all users: 1.8.0.1015 RC7 Ripley for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.

PixInsight 1.8.0 RC7 is a bugfix release, which we encourage you to install as soon as possible. It fixes several important bugs and issues in previous versions --- see the Bug Fixes section below.

Special thanks to all forum members who have helped me to find and understand the problems we have had in previous release candidate versions. Solving some recent stability issues has been very hard and has put me to the test, both as a developer and as a person. I hope this version is stable for all users on all platforms.

Important for Mac OS X users: This version is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). You'll find specific installation packages tagged as "macosx10.6" on the software distribution site.

For your convenience, installation packages are also available on the Endor file server, on the "1.8.0-RC7" folder under the Forum Shared Files repository.


How to Install the Release

This version is not available through our automatic updates system. You have to download the appropriate installation package for your platform from our Software Distribution System:

https://pixinsight.com/dist/

Simply uninstall your current version and install the new one:

* On Windows Vista and Windows 7, select Start > All Programs > PixInsight Platform > Uninstall. Run the installation package for version 1.8.0.1015 to install it on your computer.

* On Windows 8, uninstall the PixInsight application by right-clicking it from your Start screen, or from the All Apps panel. Run the installation package for version 1.8.0.1015 to install it on your computer.

* On Linux, remove the directory where you have installed a previous version of PixInsight and uncompress the new tar.gz archive on a new directory.

* On Mac OS X, remove the previous PixInsight application bundle and uncompress the new one on your /Applications folder.


Bug Fixes

This is a partial list with the most important bugs fixed in PixInsight 1.8.0 RC7:

* Fixed a bug where closing a modified image view could lead to a crash. This bug has been particularly problematic on Mac OS X.

* Fixed a bug where resizing an image window manually (e.g. with the mouse) could lead to access violation errors under certain conditions.

* Fixed a bug where calling the ImageWindow.forceClose() method from a JavaScript script could lead to an access violation error under certain conditions, only on 64-bit Windows versions of PixInsight.

* Fixed a bug where saving a text file from the Script Editor window would raise a 'file has been modified by an external process' warning message on Mac OS X.

* Fixed a bug that was causing JavaScript context initialization failures upon application startup on 32-bit Windows versions of PixInsight.

* Fixed a bug where invalid interpolation algorithms and/or interpolation filters could be selected by the DynamicCrop tool under certain conditions, leading to distorted cropped images.

* Fixed a bug that was causing printer initialization errors upon application termination on Mac OS X.

* Fixed a performance regression that was causing too slow icon dragging operations on Mac OS X.

* Fixed several screen rendition bugs on Mac OS X.

* New version compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).


Thank you for your patience and support. Enjoy!

[pfile]

i'm happy to see this - i'll test it out later today.

> Solving some recent stability issues has been very hard and has put me to the test, both as a developer and as a person.

as long as you didn't smash any keyboards it's all good! believe me, i've been there.

[jtalbot]

Juan,

Thanks for the hard work.  So far no issues to report using MAC OSX Mountain Lion.

Jon Talbot

[Juan Conejero]

Hi Jon,

Thank you so much for your support.

[dennishohman]

Juan.

Hiow do I find out my username and password tp download the new version?. I purchased V1.7 last year but can't find an email with that information.

Please Help.

Dennis Hohman
Orchard Park, NY USA

[Geoff]

Hi Dennis
See
http://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=3253.msg22346#msg22346
Geoff

[Conor]

Is FreeBSD no longer supported?

I haven't seen any 1.8 RC as of yet.

[Juan Conejero]

Is FreeBSD no longer supported?

Of course it is supported. Now that we have a stable 1.8.0 version, I'll release an RC7 for FreeBSD next week.

[astropixel]

First 1.8 download. Wonderful. Fast and stable. Qt interface is a nice addition.

[Luigi]

So far so good on RC7.

I just 'discovered' the File Explorer  and it is the bee's knees! 
How did I not get around to using this tool before?

Of course, using it to peruse last night's imaging run let me conclude positively when the clouds rolled in ..

[sigurd]

So, file explorer... I also just discovered this. Could I make a feature request? My files are all stored on my NAS, and hence i need to navigate to the /Volumes folder on my mac. Is there a reason /Volumes is excluded?

Thanks,
-esy

[sigurd]

Aaah. Scratch that, it is excluded as a hidden file (though i'm not sure /Volumes should be considered "hidden").

-esy

[Juan Conejero]

Hi Erik,

Unfortunately, the /Volumes folder has the invisible attribute set by default on Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.8. I agree that this makes no sense at all, but PixInsight's File Explorer honors the current status of all files and folders in the filesystem. I don't know if removing the invisible attribute for /Volumes is a good/advisable idea, but if you have root access to your machine, you should be able to change it with the 'chflags' command.

A more practical alternative may be creating a symbolic link to your storage device on your home folder.

[Conor]

Is FreeBSD no longer supported?

Of course it is supported. Now that we have a stable 1.8.0 version, I'll release an RC7 for FreeBSD next week.

Thanks, Juan, I was just inquiring as the last FBSD snapshot I seem to have in my dist area is:

PI-freebsd-x86_64-01.07.04.0759-20111228-c.tar.gz    71.927    2011 Dec 28 14:35:09    PixInsight Core for FreeBSD (x86_64 - 64-bit)
Core version 01.07.04.0759 (commercial)

I haven't seen any 1.8 RCs at all. Looking forward to seeing it. Thanks for all the hard work.

[sigurd]

Hey Juan,

Yeah a symlink sounds like a better idea, though why Apple thinks their default automount point should be invisible is totally beyond me. :-)

-esy