Downloads
Meade Autostar 497 Firmware Update Utility
For those folks out there that want to use the original Meade utility for updating the firmware on their Autostar 497 handbox I am making the utility available along with two copies of the firmware (43Ea and 43Eg). Unpack the Zip file, run Au2.exe (Win 9x and Win Xp) and place the ROM file that you want to use in the Ephemerides folder that the setup program creates. I have had this setup program and the ROM files setting an an old laptop since 2007 and I recently acquired a handbox with a very old firmware version on it that I might want to update the handbox with, but I thought that I should make these available for other folks out there.
Meade Autostar 497 Update Utility and Two ROMs - 2,594 KbVideo Frame Extractor
This little program is designed to pick out the unique frames from a video recorded with cameras like the Stellacam and other integrating cameras. The video frames first need to be extracted into a folder using another program like K3CCDTools or VirtualDub. Once that has been done then you will start up my program and point its "Input Folder" to the folder where the raw frames were extracted. Next you will point its "Output Folder" to an empty folder where you want the unique frames copied to. Then the drop-down boxes for the "Shutter Speed", "Frame Accumulation", and "Capture Rate" will need to be set. It is important that you record these setting when you are at the telescope. For the Stellacam the shutter speed is set at 1/30 sec, but for other cameras like the Samsung SDC-435 the shutter speed can be changed. The capture rate can be set by your recording software so you need to pay attention to what that is set to. For NTSC video straight from a camera like the Samsung SDC-435 the frame rate is 30 frames per second.
Video Frame Extractor screen shot.
Setup Instructions
Save the zip file to a temporary folder on your hard drive and then extract the contents to that same folder and run Setup.exe. Accept all of the default options.
Program Notes
This program is freeware and carries no guarantees. This program was written in 32 bit Microsoft Visual Basic version 6, SP6.
Duplicate File Finder
This program is a project that I started a number of years back and was put aside until recently. It has a number a file search options including a CRC (cyclic redundancy check) option that will locate duplicate files even if the file names and dates are different. The program was inspired by a duplicate finder that ZDNet published in the late 1990s that was so buggy that I decided that I could write a better one. The window that displays the list of duplicate candidates allows the user to launch/view the files. The user can even archive the duplicate candidates into a Zip file that gets stored under the application folder before deleting the files just in case they need to be recovered.
Duplicate File Finder main window screen shot.
Duplicate File Finder duplicate candidates window screen shot.
Setup Instructions
Save the zip file to a temporary folder on your hard drive and then extract the contents to that same folder and run Setup.exe. Accept all of the default options.
Program Notes
This program is freeware and carries no guarantees. This program was written in 32 bit Microsoft Visual Basic version 6, SP6.