Stellarium on a Mac

stephenb (Stephen) · #1 29-03-2010, 10:23 AM

Does anyone run Stellarium on a Mac? That is, using the Mac version, not Windows version through Bootcamp.

Does it suffer any problems/issues?

Barrykgerdes · #2 29-03-2010, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glenluceskies

Does anyone run Stellarium on a Mac? That is, using the Mac version, not Windows version through Bootcamp.

Does it suffer any problems/issues?

Three of the developers build almost exclusively on various Mac platforms and usually achieve excellent results. There have been some problems at times but they are worked on in the Mac portion of the source code till they are overcome.

There is a 0.10.4 Stellarium.dmg file under Mac at Stellarium.org that is supposed to be a universal. It has been reported to be excellent and it would be great if you can install it and report back on your experience.

Barry

stephenb (Stephen) · #3 29-03-2010, 11:03 AM

Thanks for your prompt reply, Barry.

I have not as yet purchased a Mac but I envisage I'll move from the darkside (pc) later this year. And Stellarium will be one of the first applications to install. Will let you know.

supernova1965 (Warren) · #4 29-03-2010, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

Three of the developers build almost exclusively on various Mac platforms and usually achieve excellent results. There have been some problems at times but they are worked on in the Mac portion of the source code till they are overcome.

There is a 0.10.4 Stellarium.dmg file under Mac at Stellarium.org that is supposed to be a universal. It has been reported to be excellent and it would be great if you can install it and report back on your experience.

Barry

Hi Barry I will download and try it on a G4 dual processor 450mhz with 1gig of ram do you think the specs are ok the graphics are fairly basic being a ati rage with 16meg of ram I might be a little under powered.

stephenb (Stephen) · #5 29-03-2010, 11:14 AM

Warren, I look forward to seeing how it performs.

We plan to get a iMac (21") and a Macbook. Stellarium and the ToUcam/webcam capture program are the only two astro-related programs I would use on a Mac.

desler · #6 29-03-2010, 11:30 AM

I've been using stellarium on my Mac for 18 Months, never missed a beat.
I have however, never used any capture software for toucam etc, but canon suite works perfectly for running a dslr!

Darren

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #7 29-03-2010, 11:38 AM

Well, well... I'm very pleasantly surprised. Sorry Barry, but I've never liked Stellarium as it ran on my PC's (including the QuadCore Q9550) as I found the application jerky and could never come up with a reliably smooth frame rate. It just never felt comfortable and stable.

I've just downloaded the Mac version and have it running on my DualG5 PowerMac on OSX 10.5.8 and its beautiful!!! MUCH better than on my PC's. Smooth, very fast and perfectly stable. Brilliant!

Barrykgerdes · #8 29-03-2010, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by supernova1965

Hi Barry I will download and try it on a G4 dual processor 450mhz with 1gig of ram do you think the specs are ok the graphics are fairly basic being a ati rage with 16meg of ram I might be a little under powered.

Hi Warren

I think it should be OK but you will need to try it.
Chris and Darren say it works great on their Mac platforms so it should be OK. If there are any problems I will pass them on.

As A matter of interest we now have a beta version of 0.10.5 and I expect one of the Mac developers will soon have one available for testing. There are quite a few improvements over 0.10.4.

Barry

supernova1965 (Warren) · #9 29-03-2010, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by supernova1965

Hi Barry I will download and try it on a G4 dual processor 450mhz with 1gig of ram do you think the specs are ok the graphics are fairly basic being a ati rage with 16meg of ram I might be a little under powered.

It is running really well on the above machine running about between 15 and 20 FPS which I think is pretty good considering the Graphics card its not jerky at all just a smidgen slow to move hardly worth mentioning but real smooth I am very impressed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

Hi Warren

I think it should be OK but you will need to try it.
Chris and Darren say it works great on their Mac platforms so it should be OK. If there are any problems I will pass them on.

As A matter of interest we now have a beta version of 0.10.5 and I expect one of the Mac developers will soon have one available for testing. There are quite a few improvements over 0.10.4.

Barry

Thanks Barry
Well Done

mercedes_sl1970 · #10 29-03-2010, 06:32 PM

It runs very well on the current MacBook. Great program.

Andrew

tonybarry (Tony) · #11 29-03-2010, 10:35 PM

I've been using Stell on a Mac since 0.9.1 ... and 0.10.4 is a really good bit of gear. The graphics are very good (no jerky bits that I've seen) and the plugins are Really Good. I like the Angle Measure. I have long been wishing for this kind of tool.

The Satellites plugin lets you track the ISS etc in real time, and this feature is a real plus. I still use Heavens-Above for satellite info, but this could be a real winner for tracking the ISS in real time (I haven't tested it as yet).

The application does chew cycles - my MBP runs at about 50% on one core - which gets the fans running. But that's what cycles are there for!

All in all, a great bit of gear.

As an aside, the external application I wrote for Stell 0.9.1 to allow direct control of a Meade telescope on a Mac seems to be no longer necessary. Viva la revolution!

Regards,
Tony Barry

mikelangelo11 (Mikel) · #12 31-03-2010, 06:00 PM

Hi,
Stellarium 0.10.4 is available both for Windows, Mac and Linux from the stellarium site. For some strange reason they have listed it under older releases Browse Stellarium Files on SourceForge.net. I wouldn't trust any version not from the stellarium site itself.

Hope this helps..

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #13 31-03-2010, 08:38 PM

Wow - 189fps on my new iMac QuadCore at 2560x1440. It fair flies...