Midnight Mars Browser, Midnight Mars Browser discussion Options

[mhoward]

This thread is for discussion, questions, issues with Midnight Mars Browser. Also to announce it in case anyone missed it: http://midnightmarsbrowser.blogspot.com. Oh, and any suggestions for future enhancements too, thanks.

[TheChemist]

Mike thanks for this very useful application.
It works like a charm on a WinMe machine using Java 2 (v1.5.0) from Sun.

[lyford]

This is MOST awesome - !!!!

Any idea how many gigs the ENTIRE set is so far, before I try to download the whole mission and kill my laptop?

[mhoward]

Any idea how many gigs the ENTIRE set is so far, before I try to download the whole mission and kill my laptop?

TheChemist, you might be the first to test it on Java 1.5, I'm glad it works! I just haven't had time to update (and Apple doesn't support it yet, that I know of).

lyford, according to Windows Explorer on my Windows laptop, where I have a complete set, the raw images currently weigh in at 5.08 GB on disk. I believe the generated images add roughly another 2 GB but I can give you a more exact number once I've regenerated them on my system.

[MizarKey]

I'm trying to use if from work...I'm on an XP machine running Java 1.4. I keep getting:

Scanning http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/forward_hazcam/
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect; retrying...
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect; retrying...
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect; retrying...
Tried 4 times; terminating.

We do have a 'border manager' proxie that requires a signon (I was signed on), but there may be some other security issue...doh!

I'll try from home later...

Eric P / MizarKey

[lyford]

mhoward
I don't have 10 free gigs on my laptop - so I will have to run it at home - tried last night using OS X with Java 1.42 (methinks) and it ran fine. Only grabbed Oppy's files from 2005, but I can't wait to turn that sucka on overnight and get the whole set!

[DEChengst]

I'm syncing the entire dataset at the moment

[mhoward]

I'm trying to use if from work...I'm on an XP machine running Java 1.4. I keep getting:

Scanning http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/forward_hazcam/
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect; retrying...
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect; retrying...
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect; retrying...
Tried 4 times; terminating.

We do have a 'border manager' proxie that requires a signon (I was signed on), but there may be some other security issue...doh!

I'll try from home later...

Eric P / MizarKey

That's interesting... I'm guessing it must be something to do with the proxy. I'm wondering if you can get to qt.exploratorium.edu in IE and if so if there's some special settings in IE for the proxie. Maybe there's something I'd have to do in the MMB connection attempt to specify the proxy, I'll have to see what I can find out about it.

[Fred]

Thanks so much mhoward for making this available!

Is there a way to download pics from just a certain day or set of days in the past? I'd like to use this on the earlier images, but I don't want to download the entire 5 gig set. If there's not a way to do this, this would be my suggestion for an improvement.

Otherwise, it's perfect

[mhoward]

Thanks so much mhoward for making this available!

Is there a way to download pics from just a certain day or set of days in the past? I'd like to use this on the earlier images, but I don't want to download the entire 5 gig set. If there's not a way to do this, this would be my suggestion for an improvement.

Otherwise, it's perfect

That shouldn't be too hard... I'll look into it. Thanks!

[MizarKey]

I'm trying to use if from work...I'm on an XP machine running Java 1.4.  I keep getting:

Scanning http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/forward_hazcam/
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect; retrying...
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect; retrying...
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect; retrying...
Tried 4 times; terminating.

We do have a 'border manager' proxie that requires a signon (I was signed on), but there may be some other security issue...doh!

I'll try from home later...

Eric P / MizarKey

That's interesting... I'm guessing it must be something to do with the proxy. I'm wondering if you can get to qt.exploratorium.edu in IE and if so if there's some special settings in IE for the proxie. Maybe there's something I'd have to do in the MMB connection attempt to specify the proxy, I'll have to see what I can find out about it.

You don't need to tweak it for me...probably just get me in trouble at work anyway...

I am interested in modifying the anaglyph setting, how did you determine the default?

Also, I'd be interested in being able to regenerate anaglyphs after modifying the settings - without redownloading the raw images and with writing over the previously generated images.

It's an excellent program and I thank you deeply!

Eric P / MizarKey

[mhoward]

>I am interested in modifying the anaglyph setting, how did you determine the default?

The defaults are just ones that I arrived at over a long period of looking at the images and tweaking them every now and then. I can't really see the 3D effect very well unless it's mostly behind the screen plane. With the settings I tried to put most of the image behind the screen plane for the majority of images, without going farther than I had to. Obviously it's not optimal for every image, and different settings might work better for other people. One feature I have in mind is a "Make Anaglyph..." option to make individual anaglyphs with different settings, especially for shots at very close range, like down at the rover itself.

>Also, I'd be interested in being able to regenerate anaglyphs after modifying the
> settings - without redownloading the raw images and with writing over the previously
>generated images.

I think you can do this: select "Advanced Image Update", uncheck "Download raw images", uncheck "Generate false-color images" but leave "Generate anaglyphs" checked, and in the generate images popup choose "force generate all images". That will overwrite the existing generated anaglyphs.

P.S. Another trick is to just delete the ones you want to replace, and select "fill in missing images" in the generate images popup menu.

[MizarKey]

>Also, I'd be interested in being able to regenerate anaglyphs after modifying the
> settings - without redownloading the raw images and with writing over the previously
>generated images.

I think you can do this: select "Advanced Image Update", uncheck "Download raw images", uncheck "Generate false-color images" but leave "Generate anaglyphs" checked, and in the generate images popup choose "force generate all images". That will overwrite the existing generated anaglyphs.

Your suggestion above worked perfectly.

Also, I changed the anaglyph settings to:
Hazcam 0.035
Navcam 0.06
Pancam 0.02

This improved the 3d clarity tremendously. It's so cool to watch the images as they're created. The trench by Oppy was especially cool...I may have to make a 3d animation of it - all thanks to your program.

You really have done us all a great service Michael with this program!

Eric P / MizarKey

[Nix]

Thank you so much! Your efforts take away the only frustration I have with MER; the downloads..
Great software!!!

[Bubbinski]

I've been lurking on these boards for a few weeks....I just wanted to say "hi" and say that the Midnight Mars Browser ROCKS! I've fully updated the image sets from both rovers and have enjoyed seeing the slide shows. Is there any way to save a slide show into .mov or .mpg format yet?

Bubbinski (just an ordinary guy who is a "space cadet")

[MizarKey]

Another 'wish' feature...ability to specify a single day to download, not just a 'from' date...so I can pick just one day (would have made it much easier to get the March 11 Oppy images of the Deimos eclispse...)

Still, I love the program -

Eric P / MizarKey

[mhoward]

> Is there any way to save a slide show into .mov or .mpg format yet?

Not yet, but it's something I've been working on occassionally, see here:
http://homepage.mac.com/michaelhoward/rovermovies/

> Another 'wish' feature...ability to specify a single day to download, not just a 'from' date...so I can pick just one day (would have made it much easier to get the March 11 Oppy images of the Deimos eclispse...)

This'll be in v1.0.1

Mike

[MizarKey]

I've attached one of the anaglyphs...apparently two non matching frames got put together...hope it helps debug...

Eric P / MizarKey

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[mhoward]

I've attached one of the anaglyphs...apparently two non matching frames got put together...hope it helps debug...

Eric P / MizarKey

Unfortunately it's difficult to match pancam images based on only the information contained in the filenames. The method I came up with is only about 98% reliable; you'll see some strange matches sometimes if they do anything a little different with the image sequencing. I don't think there's much I can do to fix it right now. I figured ~98% correct was better than nothing.

Similar with the true-color possibility somebody asked about earlier: there's only so much you can do automatically without the full data. Anyway, I'm not that much of an imaging expert yet.

Thanks for bringing it up, though; I probably should mention that in the documentation, just so people know what to expect.

Mike

[Bubbinski]

Thanks Mike for the link - I checked out the Spirit 3d drive movie and it was very nice.

Bubbinski the space cadet

[Nix]

My wife is also very happy I went sleeping with her last night instead of my usual searching for interesting stuf and downloading between 23000 and 0200!
I came at the computer this morning; about 5000 images and hundreds of anaglyphs and false-color images! Very nice..
I find the generated images very interesting for selecting those that are good for making anaglyph pans. I use stereophotomaker in the same way; I still make the stereo images and color images in PS for the freedom it gives but this kind of software makes it easy and less time-consuming for selecting the images.
Thanks again.
Now, I am very greatful but I was wondering; would it be equally possible for adjusting your software for the Analyst website (12-bit imagery) ?
The analyst website has another interface so I can imagine it's not that simple or straightforward to do but, I don't know, I'm not a programmer.
Thank you.

[Deeman]

What a great and usefull application !! Thanks for that !! Save`s a lot a time.
Been looking for something like that for quit a long time !

[mhoward]

Glad it's helping out.

> would it be equally possible for adjusting your software for the Analyst website (12-bit imagery) ?

I honestly have no idea, I haven't really looked at it enough. That only has imagery and data from earlier in the mission, right? It would be interesting to look at but it's probably not going to happen quickly for me, because of my various time constraints. (You know how it goes... work, family, etc.)

[Nix]

Yes I understand. A family needs time too, I know. It may be something interesting for the future but at least now we get some sleep
The data for sol 91-180 is now accessible and till 270 I think is for march.
I browsed through my 'extended' archive for the first time and thought this was a nice one..

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Nix]

This one shows the pancam/navcam bridge and mast and the low-gain antenna mirrored in a metal part on one of the robotic arm's instruments.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[cIclops]

mhoward thanks for your Midnight browser !

it ran sweety with no problems on my Win98SE/Java 2 (1.5.0) box


two suggestions ...

o decode the file id so the info can be presented

o release the source so we can all get to work on it :>

[Baltic]

mhoward, thanks for the program! Great time saver ... and my MER pictures are well sorted for the very first time!

Tom

[DEChengst]

I'm having some problems with the software. It downloaded all images fine but it stalls while it's generating the anaglyphs and color images. Opportunity got up to something like sol 41 before it stalled. I cancelled the update and restarted the software. On the next try it checked but didn't download any Opportunity images as it should. However, it didn't continue to generate the anaglyphs and color images as I hoped for. It continued with Spirit and downloaded all the images fine, but again it stalled while generating the anaglyphs and color images:

CODE

2\m\386\2M160631672EFFA2K1P2957M2M1.JPG skipped; same last modified time.
Generating Spirit images
Processing directory C:\Documents and Settings\root\MidnightMarsBrowser\rawImages\2\f\001
  Making anaglyph 2F126468064EDN_an.jpg
Processing directory C:\Documents and Settings\root\MidnightMarsBrowser\rawImages\2\n\001
  Making anaglyph 2N126467960EDN_an.jpg
  Making anaglyph 2N126468200EDN_an.jpg
.
.
.
Processing directory C:\Documents and Settings\root\MidnightMarsBrowser\rawImages\2\r\001
  Making anaglyph 2R126468012EDN_an.jpg
Processing directory C:\Documents and Settings\root\MidnightMarsBrowser\rawImages\2\p\001
 Making false color image 2P126471307EFF_fcL256.jpg

It just sits there doing nothing :'(

[mhoward]

I'm having some problems with the software. It downloaded all images fine but it stalls while it's generating the anaglyphs and color images. Opportunity got up to something like sol 41 before it stalled. I cancelled the update and restarted the software. On the next try it checked but didn't download any Opportunity images as it should. However, it didn't continue to generate the anaglyphs and color images as I hoped for. It continued with Spirit and downloaded all the images fine, but again it stalled while generating the anaglyphs and color images:

CODE

2\m\386\2M160631672EFFA2K1P2957M2M1.JPG skipped; same last modified time.
Generating Spirit images
Processing directory C:\Documents and Settings\root\MidnightMarsBrowser\rawImages\2\f\001
  Making anaglyph 2F126468064EDN_an.jpg
Processing directory C:\Documents and Settings\root\MidnightMarsBrowser\rawImages\2\n\001
  Making anaglyph 2N126467960EDN_an.jpg
  Making anaglyph 2N126468200EDN_an.jpg
.
.
.
Processing directory C:\Documents and Settings\root\MidnightMarsBrowser\rawImages\2\r\001
  Making anaglyph 2R126468012EDN_an.jpg
Processing directory C:\Documents and Settings\root\MidnightMarsBrowser\rawImages\2\p\001
 Making false color image 2P126471307EFF_fcL256.jpg

It just sits there doing nothing :'(

I've noticed that issue recently on OSX after doing big downloads. Are you using OSX? EDIT: Never mind, obviously OSX doesn't have a C: prompt. What version of Java are you using?

For now, quite the program and bring it up again, then to update the images select "Advanced Image Update", uncheck the download checkbox, and select "Fill in missing images" from the generate images popup. That should finish generating the images that didn't get generated.

[DEChengst]

What version of Java are you using?

Version 1.5.0 (build 1.5.0_01-b08) which is the latest version.

[alan]

Thanks for that program. I now have the entire Spirit set, it took TWO DAYS on my cable modem to download it. A way to pause it inthe middle of a download woud be useful. I think the stall may be an issue with the operating system. It took nearly four hours to construct all the image with the CPU maxed out. (I checked the task manager when I noticed how slow the cursor was moving) I thnk the operating system decided it was in a continuous loop and brought it to a halt. I used the advanced image update like you suggested and it finished it without any trouble.

[mhoward]

> I thnk the operating system decided it was in a continuous loop and brought it to a halt.

Hmmm. I wonder. I suspect there's some actual problem with program somewhere but it's pretty weird and elusive... I'll take another look for it when I have a chance. I've never noticed it doing daily updates, just the big ones, so I suspect it may be related to memory usage.

Mike

[MizarKey]

> Is there any way to save a slide show into .mov or .mpg format yet?

Not yet, but it's something I've been working on occassionally, see here:
http://homepage.mac.com/michaelhoward/rovermovies/

> Another 'wish' feature...ability to specify a single day to download, not just a 'from' date...so I can pick just one day (would have made it much easier to get the March 11 Oppy images of the Deimos eclispse...)

This'll be in v1.0.1

Mike

two more wishes for v1.0.1...

1. ability to use dates when reforcing the 'generate fc/an images'. I wanted to try tweaking the Pancam anaglyph settings and only check the last couple of days worth, but it looked through all the folders I had to that point.

2. ability to set a greater than / less than file size, so I can skip the <10k images and go do them all at the same time at a later date (I want to be able to monitor the sun images eventually when I get all of them back to SOL 1.

Also, in the advance settings, I want to add the L0R0 to the anaglyph types (I did add it but it didn't generate any using those images). Do I need to set the 'max anaglyph types' to 2?

I bet you weren't expected such an explosion of requests!

Thanks in advance,

Eric P / MizarKey

[cIclops]

i'm pleased to report that Midnight browser is still working fine after two sols on my machine. now of course i have even more suggestions:

o zoom in for higher resolution images (and or export to external viewer)

o allow the image filename to be copied (for reference)

o did i mention open sourcing the code so improvements and fixes can be
made quicker?


thanks once again for such a useful tool!

[Nix]

The program is suddenly stalling on my machine.
Should I get another version of Java?
I does still work, just sometimes it doesn't and I'm getting this;

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[mhoward]

The program is suddenly stalling on my machine.
Should I get another version of Java?
I does still work, just sometimes it doesn't and I'm getting this;

Let me take a look at that, see what could be going on. I'll get back to you maybe later today.

[mhoward]

i'm pleased to report that Midnight browser is still working fine after two sols on my machine. now of course i have even more suggestions:

o zoom in for higher resolution images (and or export to external viewer)

o allow the image filename to be copied (for reference)

o did i mention open sourcing the code so improvements and fixes can be
made quicker?


thanks once again for such a useful tool!

> did i mention open sourcing the code so improvements and fixes can be
made quicker?

I'm thinking about that... I guess my biggest worry is it might make even more work for me. I wonder, if I were to open-source it, how many people out there would actually do anything with it?

As for the other things, those are some good suggestions, I'll fit as many into 1.0.1 as I can (probably not all of them, obviously).

[Bubbinski]

I'll second the zoom in feature - also it would be good if I could export images to Paint Shop Pro or some other software at the click of a button. (That would be good if I wanted to make a panorama, for example).

Also I've been able to download the Spirit Sol 398 images but am having a devil of a time trying to make anaglyphs/color images out of them. For the last 2 days, the update is stuck on "Making false color image 2P158058596EFF_fcL247.jpg" - maybe I'll change a filter setting to avoid making 2-4-7 images for now and see if I can get the thing unstuck.

[Bubbinski]

I took out the L2L4L7 filter spec and then the Midnight Mars Browser choked on an L257 image. Just sat there and did nothing. So I took a different tack.

I ran MSCONFIG (XP) and unchecked my startup items and all non-microsoft services so that nothing but the basic Windows would run in the background. Then I rebooted and chose to generate only the anaglyphs for the latest Spirit update. They generated fine. I put the L247 spec back in the preferences and then chose to generate only the color images for the latest Spirit update (fill in missing images). Lo and behold, it worked! Now I've got a stunning L456 image looking over Husband Hill and lots of other color pics.

I hope this'll help someone out.

Bubbinski (worked in tech support over the phone for 7 years plus. I think I've earned a few breaks in life

[alan]

I'll second the zoom in feature - also it would be good if I could export images to Paint Shop Pro or some other software at the click of a button. (That would be good if I wanted to make a panorama, for example).

On a PC go to my computer and follow the path to the image. You should be able to open the files with other programs or copy/paste folders if you like.

[mhoward]

The program is suddenly stalling on my machine.
Should I get another version of Java?
I does still work, just sometimes it doesn't and I'm getting this;

NIX,

From the error, I think you must have modified the setting under Edit->Preferences->Advanced for generatePancamLeftFalseColorTypes. All the false-color types need to be six characters, like L2L5L7, and there shouldn't be a comma at the end. Let me know if this helps. I'll put in some error checking to better catch this.

Mike

[Pando]

I have noticed that the Exploratorium site is slower than usual in the past few days, especially today. With people now easily able to download the whole couple of gigs of images with a single mouseclick, let's all hope that they don't shut the place down since they seem to be having some bandwidth issues lately.

While the Mars Browser is uber-cool, let's all use common sense here and don't attempt to download the whole thing. Please!... The last thing we need here is the loss of access to Exploratorium.

Thank you.

[slinted]

I have noticed that the Exploratorium site is slower than usual in the past few days, especially today. With people now easily able to download the whole couple of gigs of images with a single mouseclick, let's all hope that they don't shut the place down since they seem to be having some bandwidth issues lately.

While the Mars Browser is uber-cool, let's all use common sense here and don't attempt to download the whole thing. Please!... The last thing we need here is the loss of access to Exploratorium.

Thank you.

The Exploratorium has been a tremendous resource to the enthusiast community since the begining of the missions, from the image hosting to the web-casts they've done on the Rovers. This might be a good time to mention that they are just a not-for-profit science museum that could no doubt use the support of everyone using this program, especially to pay for bandwidth.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/support/index.html

[mhoward]

I have noticed that the Exploratorium site is slower than usual in the past few days, especially today. With people now easily able to download the whole couple of gigs of images with a single mouseclick, let's all hope that they don't shut the place down since they seem to be having some bandwidth issues lately.

While the Mars Browser is uber-cool, let's all use common sense here and don't attempt to download the whole thing. Please!... The last thing we need here is the loss of access to Exploratorium.

Thank you.

The Exploratorium has been a tremendous resource to the enthusiast community since the begining of the missions, from the image hosting to the web-casts they've done on the Rovers. This might be a good time to mention that they are just a not-for-profit science museum that could no doubt use the support of everyone using this program, especially to pay for bandwidth.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/support/index.html

Yikes, I didn't think that I might be causing problems. I'll try to email them to see if they have any issues with this. If anbody from Exploratorium follows these boards, maybe you could let me know.

[Pando]

I'll try to email them to see if they have any issues with this.

Thanks mhoward, I think that would be great

Just to clarify, I apologize if I appeared somewhat blunt earlier; I think the browser is just awesome and is a great resource to all of us rover fans. I do not have any information that the browser is actually creating problems for them, so if I am wrong all the better

However experience tells me that bandwidth is a resource we must use wisely, and unless the server is heavily mirrored and load balanced, no single link can withstand the traffic this could potentially generate, especially when the browser gets into a more widespread audience with fast broadband connections and big hard drives. It would be easy for them (and very sad for us) to pull the plug to protect their infrastructure or bottom line.

[alan]

If they were willing to sell the database on CD I would be interested.

[Nix]

Thank you for looking that up mhoward. I just found out myself; I added ,L2L7 to the selection. There are still stall-issues but I'm guessing they might be related to my computer or the increase in traffic Exploratorium might be experiencing. Thanks to Bubbinski too; unchecking background tasks via MSCONFIG does make the program run more stable.

[Borek]

It would be cool if some "bandwidth sharing" technology like BitTorrent could be used for the dissemination of the images.

Borek

[mhoward]

I'll try to email them to see if they have any issues with this.

Thanks mhoward, I think that would be great

Just to clarify, I apologize if I appeared somewhat blunt earlier; I think the browser is just awesome and is a great resource to all of us rover fans. I do not have any information that the browser is actually creating problems for them, so if I am wrong all the better

However experience tells me that bandwidth is a resource we must use wisely, and unless the server is heavily mirrored and load balanced, no single link can withstand the traffic this could potentially generate, especially when the browser gets into a more widespread audience with fast broadband connections and big hard drives. It would be easy for them (and very sad for us) to pull the plug to protect their infrastructure or bottom line.

I talked to the webmaster there via email, and there's not a problem at the moment, but we should monitor it. They will be switching to a much faster internet connection soon which may resolve any potential issues. Also he has created a new alias, nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars, instead of qt.exploratorium.edu/mars; right now they both work but nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars will allow them to shift the images to a different machine if necessary. The address will be updated in v1.0.1, which should be out just any day now.

Another thing I might do is add the ability to do big downloads from JPL, although Exploratorium is as we know superior for timely updates. I assume JPL wouldn't have any problems with bandwidth but I suppose I should contact some there, too.

Mike

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Hmm.....maybe they are switching servers right now, can't access the exploratorium site

edit: It's working OK now

[alan]

#1
http://www.google.com/search?q=midnight+ma...:en-US:official

[mhoward]

#1
http://www.google.com/search?q=midnight+ma...:en-US:official

Ha! Well that would make sense... I haven't announced it anywhere else. (Except on the official site, but who would know about that.)

[mhoward]

Hey, if there are any artists out there who feel like contributing to the project, I probably wouldn't say no to a 128x128 icon that could be used on Mac OSX, if it were cool-looking... I don't know if I'll have time to whip one up myself and my artistic skills, well, suck. Heck, if there are any takers, we could even post the entries here, and vote on the best. Just throwing out an idea.

[yuriwho]

Hey, if there are any artists out there who feel like contributing to the project, I probably wouldn't say no to a 128x128 icon that could be used on Mac OSX, if it were cool-looking... I don't know if I'll have time to whip one up myself and my artistic skills, well, suck. Heck, if there are any takers, we could even post the entries here, and vote on the best. Just throwing out an idea.

I'm not much of an artist but I created some potential icons for MMB:



I also posted these and some .icns files on my blog. Let me know if you like them or suggest minor changes in the comments on the blog.

Also, the feature request I would like to make for MMB is to be able choose between anaglyphs and cross eyed stereo 3D images.

Y

[erwan]

Michael: what about something like "a tool to link Earth and Mars closer"?

[mhoward]

Those are great!

If anybody else wants to try, I guess you've got until I release v1.0.1, which might be early next week. This'll primarily be a bug-fix release with just a few other enhancements. And an icon on MacOS X.

Good news is I might have those weird freezing-up problems licked, I hope, or at least I have it so it'll spit out an out of memory error (which is what I think it was) instead of just playing dumb. I'll need to do some more testing to be sure.

Mike

[Bubbinski]

You're welcome Nix. One thing to point out is that Windows wasn't designed to constantly run in an MSCONFIG clean boot. I've never heard of specific issues when that's been done - all I'm saying is that once you're done with the Midnight Mars Browser it's a good idea to go back to normal startup. If there's one or two items in the startup group that consistently give problems unless you uncheck them, then try removing them through add/remove programs. If that's not possible the item may be spyware that needs to be removed by something like Spybot or Spyhunter.

Anyway, two other things on my wish list: a "play" button option for the slideshow so that I don't have to keep hitting the right arrow for something like viewing all hazcam images over the course of the mission. Also a feature for the slideshow where you can specify which set of pancam filters to use for viewing a slideshow of color images. (I know that you can specify the filters for generating the color images themselves when you download them).

Bubbinski/Space Cadet

[Nix]

Yes Bubbinski I'll keep an eye on it. Everything is doing great however.
I added an icon too to give you some ideas...

Attached image(s)

 

[mhoward]

> a "play" button option for the slideshow

Yep, already have that in mind. Also a configurable delay, etc.

> Also a feature for the slideshow where you can specify which set of pancam filters to use for viewing a slideshow of color images.

That image criteria dialog is going to start getting pretty full. I'll see what I can figure out, though.

[mhoward]

I decided to try my hand at an icon after all. Mine is more abstract.

Attached image(s)

 

[alan]

Yes Bubbinski I'll keep an eye on it. Everything is doing great however.
I added an icon too to give you some ideas...

You had to use the picture of the sundial

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Are the servers at the exploratorium site really able to cope with the amount of data that people are downloading from them? Once again i'm unable to access the site, I just get a message saying "Document contains no Data" It did this a few days ago too.

[mhoward]

Are the servers at the exploratorium site really able to cope with the amount of data that people are downloading from them? Once again i'm unable to access the site, I just get a message saying "Document contains no Data" It did this a few days ago too.

Somehow I can't believe that there are that many people using the program, since I haven't exactly been promoting it anywhere but here. Maybe they are still upgrading their internet connection. Let's see what happens.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Still nothing

[djellison]

Put it this way.

Theres about 5 gig on there.

10 people download it all - thats 50 gig

50 gig would kill THIS website instantly.

Doug

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

It's just this minute come back online.

[OWW]

It's just this minute come back online.

No, it's still down.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

The page for opportunity worked a few minutes ago.......spirit doesn't

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

These links work:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu:16080/mars/opportunity/

http://qt.exploratorium.edu:16080/mars/spirit/



hmmm....well they did for a while lol

[vikingmars]

Dear Mike,
Your software has so much success that it put the "Qt" server down... for more than one day now !
Anyway, all my congratulations for this nice work of yours !

[mhoward]

I know I mentioned this a few posts back, but I emailed the webmaster, he's aware of the program and even supportive. I presume he'll let me know if there is a problem. As far as I can see, the site is back up.

Edit: if the site is not back up for you, my guess is it's because they changed something with their internet address and the change is taking a while to propagate. It happens. We already new they were upgrading their internet connection.

[vikingmars]

Dear Mike,

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/

just tested a few seconds ago at 07:45 pm ECT is still out of reach !

Could you, please, provide us with their another web address and/or their new one provided to you by their Webmaster ?
Many thanks in advance !

[lyford]

Dear Mike,

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/

just tested a few seconds ago at 07:45 pm ECT is still out of reach !

Could you, please, provide us with their another web address and/or their new one provided to you by their Webmaster ?
Many thanks in advance !

It works for me on the west coast with PacBell as my ISP...

This may depend on who is your internet service provider - their DNS machines might not have the new info online yet....try clearing all caches, etc as well.

try:

nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars

[djellison]

Neither work here in the UK via Zen or Plusnet

Doug

[DEChengst]

http://207.7.139.5/mars/opportunity/
http://207.7.139.5/mars/spirit/

[djellison]

Thanks for saving my DNS from working for a living

Doug

[lyford]

http://207.7.139.5/mars/opportunity/
http://207.7.139.5/mars/spirit/

I apologize for not passing these on myself - it would have been the next logical thing for me to do -

Didn't want to seem like I was gloating about getting through...

[vikingmars]

The server "Index of Mars" was back this morning (at 07:00 am ECT) at all Web addresses listed above (including the old one) !

[cIclops]

Bug report

After downloading images and with the browser sitting idle in slideshow mode, it uses almost all the CPU - seems like some loop. Restarting the browser in slideshow mode does not have this problem.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but a quick search of the topic didn't show it.

Version 1.0
Java 2 1.5.0.10
Win98SE

[mhoward]

Bug report

After downloading images and with the browser sitting idle in slideshow mode, it uses almost all the CPU - seems like some loop. Restarting the browser in slideshow mode does not have this problem.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but a quick search of the topic didn't show it.

Version 1.0
Java 2 1.5.0.10
Win98SE

Yes, sounds similar to other problems that have been reported. I think this this has been fixed in the upcoming version.

[volcanopele]

Wow, this program is great for casual Mars Rover observers. I mostly work on Titan and the Saturnian system and have no time to make anaglyphs and color images from the Rover images. This is a great way to automate this so that people who don't have to the time can enjoy the experience.


Thanks!!

[mhoward]

Thanks volcanopele, it was certainly the casual observers (such as myself) that I had in mind. Maybe someday there'll be a mission that returns as much imagery from Titan as we're currently getting from Mars; that would be something else. What a strange place!

[mhoward]

Version 1.0.1 is now up. http://midnightmarsbrowser.blogspot.com

[mhoward]

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: yuriwho wins the icon contest, since his uses transparency. His icon is used in the OSX version now. Thanks, yuriwho!

[CosmicRocker]

I just downloaded and used 1.0.1, and it has many of the features I was hoping for. Thanks, and congratulations. I didn't really have any problems with 1.0, but I didn't try to download the entire image set, just a few hundred megs. One of these days I'll take the laptop to work and grab the whole set.

I can't wait for 1.1. I am happy to read that you are already working on some of the other things at the top of my wish list.

I am still downloading the images directly to a thumb drive via the fast connection at work, and then copying the directories to my machine at home. That is so nice.

I know I should invest the time saved on my wife and family, but now I find myself engrossed with Cassini and other missions. Is that a mistake?

[Bubbinski]

I've just downloaded the new version and I'm enjoying the new slideshow features. Thanks a lot!

Bubbinski (thinking what if there were a Midnight Saturn/Titan browser as well...Whoo hoo!)

[cIclops]

1.0.1 is working well here with Java 2 1.5.0.10 and Win98SE. no sign of the looping and the new clipboard and run features are really helpful. thanks!

[erwan]

Dowloaded MidnightMarsBrowser1.0.1, works fine, can choose the last day of the update!
Thanks a lot Michael.

[MizarKey]

I'm trying to use if from work...I'm on an XP machine running Java 1.4.  I keep getting:

Scanning http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/forward_hazcam/
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect; retrying...
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect; retrying...
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect; retrying...
Tried 4 times; terminating.

We do have a 'border manager' proxie that requires a signon (I was signed on), but there may be some other security issue...doh!

I'll try from home later...

Eric P / MizarKey

That's interesting... I'm guessing it must be something to do with the proxy. I'm wondering if you can get to qt.exploratorium.edu in IE and if so if there's some special settings in IE for the proxie. Maybe there's something I'd have to do in the MMB connection attempt to specify the proxy, I'll have to see what I can find out about it.

You don't need to tweak it for me...probably just get me in trouble at work anyway...

I am interested in modifying the anaglyph setting, how did you determine the default?

Also, I'd be interested in being able to regenerate anaglyphs after modifying the settings - without redownloading the raw images and with writing over the previously generated images.

It's an excellent program and I thank you deeply!

Eric P / MizarKey

I changed my mind...if you can look into adding a proxy access I would much appreciate it.

My office uses Novell Border Manager and we use our Network sign on id with a different password to access the internet. I sign on before attempting to access the midnight browser app, but it can't get past the proxy for some reason.
When I update the AdAware program I have to set the proxy information each time within AdAware.

Great program though, I have been successful using it at home.

[Nix]

Thank you so much. Just installed it, it's downloading missing Oppy images right now...
Slideshow features are great work too!

[MizarKey]

After much experimenting (thanks to the improvements in v1.0.1) I've found these settings work well for the anaglyphs:



However, looking at it now, I should change the order of the generate color to have the L4L5L6 combination as the first choice...

If you find better settings for the anaglyphs, let me know...pancam at 0% gives best depth of field (though nothing really helps the anaglyphs of the sundial...)

[mhoward]

>>However, looking at it now, I should change the order of the generate color to have the L4L5L6 combination as the first choice...

I agree; in 1.0.1 I changed the generatePancamLeftFalseColorTypes default to this:

L4L5L6,L4L5L7,L3L5L6,L3L5L7,L2L5L6,L2L5L7,L2L4L6,L2L4L7

But it doesn't automatically take affect for people who are upgrading, your old settings stay around. So you might want to make this change manually.

[MahFL]

Midnight Mars Browser is stalling with a "Java Heap Space" error. Win2k, sp4. Java 1.5.0. Does this after downloading quite a few images.

[mhoward]

MizarKey, I'm trying those anaglyph settings now, they seem to work pretty well on the whole. I may even switch to those for the defaults.

MahFL, I've been hearing scattered reports of out of memory problems on long downloads, I'll have to look into it some more. At least we're getting an error message now (before it would have just hung).

[MizarKey]

MizarKey, I'm trying those anaglyph settings now, they seem to work pretty well on the whole. I may even switch to those for the defaults.

MahFL, I've been hearing scattered reports of out of memory problems on long downloads, I'll have to look into it some more. At least we're getting an error message now (before it would have just hung).

Is it possible to allow a negative number for the Pancam Anaglyph setting? I tried to use -0.03 but it said the number had to be between 1 and 0. I think it could benefit from being less than 0.0, though 0.0 does ok for 'long' views, anything close to the rover is still not great...maybe for the next version, if it is possible at all.

Thanks,

[mhoward]

Version 1.0.2 adds the abillity to update images from the JPL site, and hopefully fixes the remaining out-of-memory errors.

http://midnightmarsbrowser.blogspot.com

I'd appreciate it if some of you folks who were having out of memory problems would let me know if this works for you now.

[alan]

Thanks a lot! Excellent timing, I was starting to check exploratrium every hour like some addict
I thought I was going to have to download files one at a time from JPL.

[alan]

bug report: It checked for forward hazcam images on sol 410, didn't find any, moved onto the next sol, missing the pancam shots for that day.

I downloaded them one at a time and was wondering why it didn't turn them into anaglyphs until I noticed they were L2 R2: add ,L2R2 to anaglyph types.

This post has been edited by alan: Mar 1 2005, 05:37 AM

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

I hope people will be sensible when downloading data from the JPL RAW website.... it may be just a coincedence but i've had lots of problems accessing exploratorium since users started downloading massive amounts of data - and now the site is no longer updating at all.

[mhoward]

bug report: It checked for forward hazcam images on sol 410, didn't find any, moved onto the next sol, missing the pancam shots for that day.

I downloaded them one at a time and was wondering why it didn't turn them into anaglyphs until I noticed they were L2 R2: add ,L2R2 to anaglyph types.

Regarding the bug report, are you sure it didn't download them? The "Update Latest Images from JPL" option downloads things in kind of a goofy order (by camera, and backwards by sol), because it's actually scanning the main page for the rover and looking for sols marked *NEW*.

Regarding the L2R2, I noticed that, it's on my list of "Things to Get To". Fortunately you can fix it yourself, just be sure to put it after L7R1.

Mike