The hex trash files at the root level and Leopard issues.

[David Bleser]

Steve,

REGARDING TRASH FILES..   

I have been testing your beta's for some time on my MacBook running
10.4.11.

After beta 46 I noticed that a file designated "0" (zero) would appear
at the root level. At the time I had no idea where it came from, even
suspecting my wife put it there accidentally. I could delete it with
password authorization. It kept reappearing after startup. Upgraded to
b47 and the same thing occurred. Then I upgraded the system to Leopard
10.5. Now I get the hex string mentioned in this thread. Usually 3 or 4
files have to be deleted. And they can not be deleted without restarting
as I get the "file in use" box. Equinox with Philips SPC900N runs OK in
10.4.11, but the webcam interface has a nasty habit of freezing. The
webcam preview window doesn't change and to restore operation you must
quit Equinox and reopen it. 

REGARDING THE USABLITY OF LEOPARD.

I use your driver in conjunction with Equinox 6. Under Tiger your driver
was superior to the Macam driver because it had better interface control
of the Philips SPC900N Webcam. After upgrade to Leopard, I upgraded
Equinox to version 6.71. Your interface does not appear with this
version. Apparently Microprojects realized early on that Leopard does
not allow control of Webcams so they constructed a control interface of
their own. I feel it is inferior to your interface because you don't
have control of the frame rate, gain or shutter. Just one lever
"exposure" controls the captured image. The implication is that this is
the reality of Leopard. What this means (and I've confirmed this by
testing Macam) is that the interface you get using Macam or IoXperts is
the same one that Equinox provides. If instead you try running another
capture program, such as Keith's AstroImager, using Macam or IoXperts,
you are out of luck, as all you can capture is a totally black screen.
So, in summary, we Leopard users have gotten ourselves between a rock
and a hard place. Is this a dead end, where the only way out is a
retreat to Windows?

Finally, here is the statement I quote from the Equinox 6.7.1 manual..

Some of the webcam controls in Leopard (OS X 10.5) are quite different
from those in Tiger (OS X
10.4). Because Leopard does not allow access to the camera settings,
slider controls have been added
to adjust aspects of the image like hue, gamma and saturation.

I will be testing Equinox's Webcam interface in the weeks ahead and will
report back if it's going to be usable for planetary imaging.

Steve, we are all hoping you will get us all to the Promised Land. 

Regards,

Dave