SBIG Cameras on Linux

I’ve been fighting with Windows XP for a long time trying to get everything working satisfactorily. As usual, easy things are easy, but hard things are impossible. Sigh. I am no fan of Windows, but Linux has simply not had the tools to get up and running quickly. But after wasting yet another night with having to find and download missing DLLs (this time, msstdfmt.dll which according to some web sites comes with XP but I can’t find it on my CD-ROM and according to others it’s part of the Visual Basic Runtime but the Microsoft download for VB 6.0 SP5 didn’t include it and their web site indicates it won’t be included with Vista—did they remove it early?) I’ve launched back into trying to get things working.

First, XEphem is a very good tool for starting. So is KStars, though XEphem is oriented more toward science. And the INDI platform is analogous (if more less pervasive and having fewer drivers) to ASCOM. So all I really need is to get the camera to boot and demonstrate that I can aquire images. Okay, there’s really more. What I’m aiming at is something like ACP.

The title of this section is “SBIG Cameras on Linux” which is a bit grandiose since I have exactly one SBIG camera, an ST-7XE NABG along with their color filter wheel CFW-8A.