Monday, April 27, 2020

KStars v3.4.2 is Released

Glad to announce the latest release of KStars v3.4.2 on April, 27th, 2020 for Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

This release brings even more stability enhancements to KStars in addition to better memory management, especially on embedded devices.

FITS Viewer Memory


Hy Murveit submitted patches to reduce memory usage of FITS Viewer tool, sometimes by up to 50%.

The maximum zoom factor was hard-coded to 400% in the FITS View. However, it now dynamic (On Linux & MacOS, Windows in the next release). On systems with limited memory, the maximum zoom is at 100%, while if you have 16GB+ RAM available, you can zoom in up to 600%.

Testing Framework


This is an under-the-hood improvement in KStars championed by Eric Dejouhanet to standardize unit and GUI tests for KStars in order to ensure reliability and detect any regressions that might affect the code. While this will not affect end users directly, it greatly enhances KStars reliability in the long term.

INDIHub Support


Preliminary support for INDIHub project by Dennis Zaytsev. INDIhub is a global networks of telescopes powered by INDI. You can share your equipment with others, or can opt in for remote robotic operation to help in scientific studies. This is in the very early phases of development and the KStars team shall add more support to INDIHub integration in the upcoming releases.

Improvements & Bug Fixes

  • Correct bug in median computation
  • Re-enabled the Jupiter's Moons tool
  • Add a warning if the dust cap is missing instead of total abort.
  • Fixed KStars deadlock on disconnecting from INDI server.
  • Mount box layout corrected so that everything fits well into the window
  • SEP Focus improvements

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Awesome! Great work

D Bundy said...

Very great full for all the hard work you put in, it is hard to express how grateful the community is that you spend your time doing this.

Again our thanks

Lacko said...

Any reason, why KStars/Windows cannot communicate with astrometry on a Linux box?