From mark-r@mercury.ee.man.ac.uk Sat Nov 18 09:14:10 1995
Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!caen!spool.mu.edu!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk!yama.mcc.ac.uk!mercury.ee.man.ac.uk!mark-r
From: mark-r@mercury.ee.man.ac.uk (Dr. Mark Robinson (FHR Associates))
Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits,sci.astro,sci.image.processing
Subject: New Windows FITS viewer available for download
Followup-To: sci.astro.fits
Date: 3 Nov 1995 11:30:55 GMT
Organization: Manchester Scientific Instruments Ltd.
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Xref: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu sci.astro.fits:1263 sci.astro:91993 sci.image.processing:17682

Hi.

I have put a beta version of a new FITS viewer for MS Windows on our
ftp site at ftp://mercury.ee.man.ac.uk/pub/fits/fitswin.zip

The README file is included below...

Mark.

[followups to sci.astro.fits]

------ 8< ---------- README.TXT

FITS for Windows V0.1
---------------------

FITS for Windows is a viewer for images in the Flexible Image
Transport System (FITS) format. It runs under Windows 3.x, 95 and
NT (as a 16 bit application). Native 32 bit Windows and Linux
versions are planned.

Currently only 8,16 and 32 bit integer and 32 bit floating point
primary data is supported (64 bit FP is not implemented mainly
because I couldn't find any example images on the net). Random
Groups and extensions are not currently supported.

The program includes a histogram viewer and a 'blink' or 'movie'
viewer. More information is given in the help file.

License.
--------

This version of FITS for Windows is public domain and contains
no 'nag' screens or time limits. However, some features (printing,
file export and clipboard functions) are disabled. A registered version
is available which includes these functions, and a Professional edition
containing Image Processing functions will be released soon.
Prices are given in the help file.

Even if you don't intend to purchase one of the registered versions,
we would appreciate it if you would register your use of the free
version, so that (if you wish) we can keep you informed of updates and
so that we can get some idea of its use. Mail msi@mercury.ee.man.ac.uk.

Known Bugs.
-----------

Only the ARC, TAN, SIN, GLS and MER projection systems are supported.
The contast and brightness controls don't work on 16 bit displays.
The program has not been tested at all on 24 bit displays.
Images without primary data (or with random groups) display the
'invalid FITS Image' message.
No 64 bit Floating point support (and possibly unpredictable results
if you load one).

This is a beta release of the software and we appreciate bug reports
(send to msi@mercury.ee.man.ac.uk). Bugs will, where possible, be dealt
with promptly. If the bugs are image-dependent, we will arrange for you
to FTP the images to our site. Please do not email images.

Suggestions.
------------

If you would like to see some function implemented in FITS for Windows
please let us know. We are specialists in Image Processing and Machine
Vision and can implement or have implemented many algorithms.

------ 8< ---------- README.TXT

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