January 17, 2014 ================ The files in this directory are for installing the latest version 2.1.0 of AstroImageJ on Linux, Windows, and Mac operating systems. The files are complete and do not require a previous installation of ImageJ. If you already have installed version 2.0, simply use the update option from within AstroImageJ. Under Linux, the user would need write permission to the directory where the software is installed to do this. For more information and help, please see the AstroImageJ user forum on nabble: http://astroimagej.1065399.n5.nabble.com/ Since Version 2.0 had many new features, if you have an older 1.x version, rename the directory in which it is installed and then install one of these complete packages for the new version. After that, updates can be done from the user interface if you are the owner of the directory in which AstroImageJ is installed. Once you have installed this version, use the Update feature under the Help menu to install the latest changes. Linux ===== Download AstroImageJ_2.1.0_20130129_linux.tar.gz (provides AstroImageJ) AstroImageJ_script.tar.gz (provides a startup script for AstroImageJ) As root user cd /usr/local If you already have AstroImageJ installed in /usr/local change it to a backup name such as mv AstroImageJ AstroImageJ_old Untar the archives tar xvzf AstroImageJ_2.1.0_20130129_linux.tar.gz Untar the script "astroimagej" cd /usr/local/bin tar xvzf AstroImageJ_Script.tar.gz Following the usual Linux convention, only lower case letters are used for the command line scripts. You may prefer to name it "aij" if you use the command line often, or as root in /usr/local/bin provide a soft link: ln -s astroimagej aij For Linux or other Unix installations note the recommended X11 resource change below. Additional note about 64-bit Linux and 32-bit Linux ==================================================== AstroImageJ will run with either the Sun or OpenJDK version 6 or higher of Java. For OpenSuse we find that the 13.1 default OS installation with OpenJDK 7 works fine. Installing to older Linux systems with a 2.6 series kernel may fail for large memory machines, especially if they have had a long uptime. In that case, if installing an up-to-date distribution is not an option, we recommend running AstroImageJ with the 32-bit JRE that is included in the ImageJ 32-bit package distributed by NIH. Copy the 32-bit jre subdirectory from ImageJ to AstroImageJ and modify the astroimagej script in /usr/local/bin/ to #!/bin/sh cd /usr/local/AstroImageJ/ ./jre/bin/java -Xmx3072m -jar ij.jar exit The memory limitation with 32-bit java is less than 4 GB, and about 3 GB as shown is the maximum practical limit. With 64-bit java, the limit is approximately 12 GB. Windows ======= Download and unzip AstroImageJ_2.1.0_20130129_windows.zip Additional note about installation on Windows with 64-bit Java ============================================================== Many problems have been reported by Windows users attempting to run AstroImageJ with 32-bit Java. These problems are likely due to the very limited memory space available for running AIJ under 32-bit Java. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to run AIJ under a Windows 64-bit OS and 64-bit Java. To run AIJ with 64-bit Java requires some extra steps during installation since AstroImageJ.exe defaults to 32-bit Java, even if 64-bit Java has been installed. STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS TO INSTALL AIJ WITH 64-bit JAVA: You likely already have 32-bit Java installed on your Windows computer, but you will probably need to install 64-bit Java. The two can coexist on the same machine. Download and install from here as needed: http://www.java.com/en/download/faq/java_win64bit.xml NOTE: record the path name to the 64-bit Java installation directory. You will need it below. Install AIJ by downloading AstroImageJ_2.1.0_20130129_windows.zip from the AIJ website here: http://www.astro.louisville.edu/software/astroimagej/ To install AIJ, unzip the downloaded file into the directory of your choice (example: C:\Program Files\AstroImageJ). NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE WRITE ACCESS TO THE INSTALLATION DIRECTORY FOR AIJ TO RUN PROPERLY. CHOOSE AN INSTALLATION DIRECTORY FOR WHICH YOUR USER ACCOUNT HAS WRITE ACCESS. If you are not running as administrator, install AIJ in a directory that you have write access to, such as "Documents" or "Desktop". Using the above example, the installation directory will be C:\Program Files\AstroImageJ\ImageJ. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to your installation directory. Run AIJ by double-clicking AstroImageJ.exe. Do not open AIJ by double-clicking ij.jar. If a warning is displayed stating "The publisher could not be verified...", deselect "Always ask before opening this file" and click "Run". A message will open stating "The program will now be auto-configured". Click "OK". Another window will open stating that a configuration file named "AstroImageJ.cfg" has been created in your installation directory. Click "OK". AIJ will now open (probably in 32-bit mode). Close AIJ. Navigate to your installation directory and open the newly created AstroImageJ.cfg file with a text editor such as Microsoft Notepad or Wordpad. The text file should contain 3 lines similar to the ones shown below: ------------------------------------------------------ . C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin\javaw.exe -Xmx640m -cp ij.jar ij.ImageJ ------------------------------------------------------ The single "dot" is the first line. The second line points to your 32-bit Java machine. Using the path name to the 64-bit Java installation directory recorded above, modify the second line to point to the 64-bit Java machine. For the default installation location, you probably just need to remove " (x86)" on the second line. For this example, the new config file will contain the following 3 lines: ------------------------------------------------------ . C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin\javaw.exe -Xmx640m -cp ij.jar ij.ImageJ ------------------------------------------------------ Save the new text back to the file AstroImageJ.cfg. Reopen AIJ by double-clicking AstroImageJ.exe again. On the AstroImageJ toolbar, left-click in the area below the icons and verify that AIJ is now running 64-bit Java. AIJ will still be using only 640 MB of memory. You should increase the amount of memory allocated to AIJ using AIJ_Toolbar->Edit->Options->Memory & Threads. Enter the amount of memory in MB that you want allocated to AIJ. It is recommended to NOT exceed 2/3 of the physical memory installed in your system. For example, if your machine has 8 GB of memory, enter a memory size up to ~5500 MB. Click "OK" and close AIJ. Reopen AIJ and you will now be running in 64-bit mode with the new memory setting. Click on the toolbar below the icons to verify that both settings are now being used. If your new memory setting is not being retained, or if you get an error message when you try to set the memory size, make sure you have installed AIJ in a location for which you have write access. Finally, upgrade to the latest version of AIJ by using the built-in update feature. Go to AIJ_Toolbar->Help->Update AstroImageJ. The "Upgrade To:" box will default to the latest version of AIJ. Click "OK" and three files will be downloaded and installed in the proper location in the installation directory structure (again, you need write access to the installation directory). After the files have been installed, AIJ will automatically close. Restart AIJ one more time and you will finally be running the updated version of AIJ under 64-bit Java and with the memory size you specified. DONE! NOTE: from now on, you will only need to double-click AstroImageJ.exe or a file with an extension associated with AstroImageJ.exe (see below) to open AIJ with all the new settings. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TROUBLESHOOTING (most of the tips here are adapted from the ImageJ website): * AIJ does not start. -> Delete the AstroImageJ.cfg file in the AIJ installation directory. Repeat the above procedure to switch to 64-bit Java. * Cannot increase memory in Edit>Options>Memory & Threads. -> Install AIJ in a directory that you have write access to, such as "Documents" or "Desktop". * AIJ displays blank windows or windows filled with garbage. -> Update video card driver or try running the nVidia_Fix.java plugin from: http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/plugins/nvidia-fix/index.html * Multiple copies of AIJ are started when I open images by double clicking on them. -> Enable "Run single instance listener" in Edit>Options>Misc. * File extensions cannot be associated with AstroImageJ.exe. -> Download the "Default Programs Editor" utility from: http://defaultprogramseditor.com and use it to make the associations. Step-by-step instructions for using "Default Programs Editor.exe" to create file extension associations: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) double click on "Default Programs Editor.exe" to open it (2) click "File Type Settings" (3) click "Context Menu" (4) in the search box type the file type (.fits for example) you want to associate with AstroImageJ (by now you would have likely tried to associate the file type using built in windows tools, so it should be available in the list. If not, you may need to try using the windows tool first and assign the file type to any available program.) (5) click "Next" (6) click "Edit Selected Command..." (7) click "Browse" and navigate to AstroImageJ.exe in your installation directory (8) select AstroImageJ.exe and click "Open" (9) click "Next" (10) click "Save Context Menu" (11) click "OK" (12) click "Close" Mac === Download and unzip AstroImageJ_2.1.0_20130129_mac.zip Additional note about installation on Mac ========================================= The following message was posted on January 23, 2013, by Wayne Rasband, the developer of ImageJ, regarding installation of ImageJ on Macs. It may apply to AIJ as well: Apple has done several things to make ImageJ installation more difficult. Since OS X 10.7 (Lion), Java is no longer pre-installed so you are prompted to install it the first time you install a Java application. This means you will probably need fast and reliable Internet access to install ImageJ the first time. With OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion), you may get the message "ImageJ64 is damaged and can't be opened". To work around this problem, go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> General and set "Allow applications downloaded from:" to "Anywhere". You can restore the original setting once ImageJ is running. ImageJ does not work with Oracle Java 7 because the Apple launcher it uses (JavaApplicationStub) does not support Java 7. To use Java 7, you have to move it to the top of the list in /Applications/Utilities/Java Preferences and run ImageJ from the command line using something like "java -jar -Xmx640m ij.jar" All Platforms ============= Please see AstroImageJ_User_Guide_1.0.0.pdf and the draft AstroImageJ_user_guide_2.0.pdf for instructions in its use. X11 === The KDE and Gnome window managers for recent distributions of Linux allow the user to control the double click timeout. However, they do not convey this to X11, so Java applications and many other programs that rely on X may default to a 200 millisecond timeout that is apparently too short. The solution is to add the following line to either /etc/X11/Xresources (the system wide default in OpenSuse) or on a user basis to .Xresources in each user's home directory: ! =========================================================================== ! Local Modifications ! =========================================================================== *multiClickTime: 500 The change will take effect after X is started the next time.