ADVANCED SETTINGS

From the tab Settings click the button Advanced Settings... This displays a popup window that allows you to setup advanced parameters.

 
The section Printer Port allows you to select the port the camera is connected to. If you choose the option LPT1, PISCO will make the assumption that the printer port base address is 378 as an hexadecimal value (888 decimal). This is the LPT1 port base address on most PCs. However, if this does not correspond to the base address of the LPT1 port on your PC, and if you want to connect the camera on a different port, you may choose the option LPT2. In this situation, you must manually edit the file PISCO.INI which resides in the directory C:\Windows of your PC. To achieve that, exit first the PISCO program (mandatory!). Then, using a Wordpad like editing program, open the PISCO.INI file in the directory C:\Windows. Locate the item Printer_Port. You should find the line:

Printer_Port=888

Replace the default address with the address you want to use (decimal value). Then save the PISCO.INI file and run again the PISCO program. Note: in order to know the base address of your printer port, click here.

The section Image File Type allows you to save the images in the PIC format (a proprietary format) or FITS format (a standard format in the astronomy arena). If you select the FITS format, you have the choice to define the file extension: .FIT or .FTS. The first option is the most common and is recommanded.

According to the camera orientation and optical system, image orientation may not be what you expect. For instance, you may wish to have the North at the top. The options in the section Reverse Image allow you to correct this problem. Note that the image transformation process is performed at acquisition time. Therefore, the transformation process is applied to the image and not only to the display.

The section Maximum Exposure Time in Half-Frame Mode allows you to set the maximum value of the exposure time that PISCO calculates automatically. This option is available in the Planetary mode. This is a time-out value in order not to wait too long in case the algorithm to find the best exposure time does not converge.

If you check the option Save Security, PISCO will prompt you to confirm the overwriting of an image if the file already exists on the disk.

PISCO can beep during a few seconds before the exposure end. To activate this feature, check the option Signal and enter the number of seconds.

You can select the type of CCD in the section CCD. You have the choice of either a KAF-400 (or KAF-0401E) or a KAF-1600 (KAF-1602 or KAF-1602E).

If you check the option Switch off in the section Switch off Amplifier during an Exposure, you eliminate all the risks related to output amplifier electroluminescence of the CCD. Note that this function is activated only if the exposure time is greater than 3 seconds.

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