Macs/ASTRO IIDC/PGR cameras available

[solarchat]

Since we met our fundraiser goal this year I have a group of iMacs and Macbooks from the 2011-2012 timeframe loaded with ASTRO IIDC and souped up with maximum RAM and solid state hard drives that I would like to give to people interested in getting in to imaging the Sun.
These computers/cameras work perfectly and the ASTRO IIDC software is licensed through our nonprofit. It is a great way to capture and stack images or do live broadcast videos of the Sun or Moon.
This is an offer intended on helping those who do not have the appropriate gear to become sponsored by our nonprofit to do Solar Imaging and share the results.
The Macs cannot be upgraded from their current state and are not meant to be replacement computers for anyone’s daily work. They work perfectly with our software and our cameras but are not brand new and do not run the latest software.
I can probably swing the shipping also if you are domestic. If you are international, you would be responsible for any crazy shipping costs or custom fees.

If you are interested in this offer, please leave me a note or send me an email as to how you will use these at [email protected]

I want to help as many people as possible get into this great hobby. This is a one time offer and there are no warranties or any of that offered with it. The only rule is that you cannot sell any of this equipment.

[DeepSolar64]

Steven,
This is an awesome offer for someone starting out in solar astronomy and is a wonderful thing you are doing. I myself thought I had a 2013 iMac last year. I traded some audio equipment I had to a boyfriend of my stepdaughter for a 2013 iMac but sadly it needed work. He said he knew someone who could fix it and I trusted him to do so. To make a long story short he never returned the fixed computer to me or money he owed me after he and her broke up. But it would have been a capable computer if it would have been running right and solar would have been what I would have used it for.

A PGR color camera would have been awesome last full moon during the eclipse! I had to add the color back in using the monochrome ZWO ASI178MM!

I myself would probably not qualify since I am primarily a visual observer but I wish luck on anyone receiving these. It's a wonderful opportunity.

Thanks Steven!

James

P.S. I am not familiar with ASTRO IIDC. I'll have to look it up.

[solarchat]

James,
ASTRO IIDC is a Mac capture and stacking program that works with Firewire cameras on a 32 bit Mac.
It is what all the big solar imagers used between 2004-2018. Alan Friedman and I put it out there as the go to software for solar imaging. When they went out of business, Alan, me and several other solar imagers paid a special fee to have the right to use it forever on any macs we purchased.
I’m happy to send you out a set up if you decide you want to use this for solar imaging. These macs all work perfectly and have been upgraded to the maximum RAM and hard drive speed.

[DeepSolar64]

Steven,
Is Friedman still active? I knew of his work before joining SolarChat and he does have some of the best solar images out there. He doesn't seem to be active lately though and I have never seen him on SolarChat though I know he once was on here. I also see a lot of similarities in your work and his.

I have planned to get more into solar imaging to supplement my visual work and do occasionally image with moderate success, especially on prominences but have a long way to go to be anywhere near many of the imagers here on SolarChat. While I am not a beginner in white light visual I am a relative beginner in Ha and certainly a newbie to imaging. I do plan to image more but time has been lacking lately but hopefully that will change if my job catches up and lets up on me with overtime.

I'll take you up on your offer but I will gladly return the equipment to you if I don't get to use it as planned. I will have to learn a bit on using a Mac and certainly on using the ASTRO IIDC software. Do you have a tutorial for ASTRO IIDC? And also does the Macs have a working copy of PhotoShop installed? If not I would probably use GIMP which also is quite capable, especially for a free program.

Thank You,

James

[solarchat]

I do not have any tutorials bug it is very easy tonuse ASTRO IIDC. Capture-stack-done.
I can put photoshop 2019 on the mac but you would beed a license/subscription. It’s $9.99/mnth
I can put GIMP on there also if it has a mac version.
Would you rather have an iMac 21/24/27 inch screen that requires an AC plug connection or a 13 inch Macbook Pro who’s battery will last about 2 hours?

[DeepSolar64]

Now that's a nice stacking program!!

Do PS. I would do the subscription. What version of P.S. is it? All the modern ones won't work on my 2013 Win 7 PC. Mac may be different though. GIMP has a Linux version, I don't know about one for Mac.

The computer would have to be used with the camera and scope at the observing site like I use a Windows PC with my ZWO ASI178MM, right? If so the MacBook would be preferred. If it's only used to edit the images and process them I would then prefer the 21" iMac. The MacBook Pro has an AC cable for power as well, Right?

James

[marktownley]

I think you would benefit greatly from one of these James!

[DeepSolar64]

I think you would benefit greatly from one of these James!

It would probably help me but my mount limitations, especially with the SMII90 and C102 limits me on how long of an AVI video I can do. Past a certain length I have issues with the software aligning the images. Eventually I will get a mount but right now it’s not possible financially for me.