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Re: [school-discuss] digital microscopes that work under Linux
On Thursday 13 December 2007 9:53:47 am Daniel Howard wrote:
> Anybody know which digital microscopes can be made to work easily under
> Linux in a thin client scenario? Would like options for both 1) a
> single, higher end scope connected to class server and 2) lesser but
> more numerous scopes for each thin client.
>
> Thanks, Daniel
There is a very good open-source microscopy program called micromanager that
will work on linux.
http://www.micro-manager.org/
Its based on ImageJ http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/
Its has a level of sophistication that perhaps goes far beyond what it is
needed in a typical educational environment.
A list of hardware it supports is here:
http://www.micro-manager.org/support.php
A firewire based scope would likely be better supported than USB.
Micromanager uses the libdc1394 firewire library to support firewire cameras
Perhaps a good strategy would be to support a camera system that could be
mounted on existing traditional optical scope. Many schools already have
traditional microscopes/.
A scope using a camera supported by the libdc1394 firewire library should work
with linux
http://damien.douxchamps.net/ieee1394/libdc1394/
see the IEEE1394 Digital Camera List
http://damien.douxchamps.net/ieee1394/cameras/
cameras compatible with the IIDC/DCAM standard should work.
Also look at Coriander- Linux graphical user interface (GUI) for controlling a
Digital Camera through the IEEE1394
ttp://damien.douxchamps.net/ieee1394/coriander/index.php
Might be possible to mount a cheap firewire camera on the occular of a regular
scope and control it with Coriander or Mircomanager
We used Micromanager here at the UofS to support a camera that had no
Macintosh drivers supplied by the manufacturer. The lab installed
Micromanager and the camera worked :)
Also used it to support an old digital camera/scope that was no longer support
by its manufacturer (unless we spent $1000s to upgrade software)
Gord
--
Gordon J. Holtslander Dept. of Biology
gordon.holtslander@xxxxxxxx University of Saskatchewan
Tel (306) 966-4433 112 Science Place
FAX (306) 966-4461 Saskatoon, SK
homepage.usask.ca/~gjh289 Canada, S7N 5E2