Enhancements

• Added support for Bookworm, the Pi Operating System released in October, 2023.

  Support for the Buster Operating System will be removed after the next major Allsky release.

• Added support for the Pi 5.
• Increased suggested amount of swap by 1 GB to help minimize timelapse creation problems.
• New camera support:
  • Arducam IMX462 camera (inexpensive 1920x1080 camera).
  • All ZWO cameras as of October 19, 2023 (ZWO SDK 1.32)
• The concept of "Advanced Options" no longer exists. ALL settings are always shown.

Bug Fixes

• Uploads of mini-timelapse could fail if an image upload frequency was used.
• Multiple concurrent timelapse creations now work.
• The width and height of the RPi Version 1 and IMX290 cameras was reversed.
• Uploading using the "GCS" protocol now use the correct "image.jpg" name rather than "image-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.jpg" name.
• Uploading using the "GCS" prototol gives an error if it can't find the gsutil command.
• The Camera Model setting is no longer displayed in the WebUI since it can't be changed manually. To change cameras (either of different types or different models of the same type), select Refresh in the Camera Model field.
• The ~/allsky/scripts directory is now included in the PATH so you can simply type the name of any of the scripts in that directory to execute them.
  A reboot may be required for this to take affect.
• The documentation now specifies to set IMAGE_DIR to ${ALLSKY_WEBSITE} when only a local Website exists.
• The WebUI's Images page now only shows icons when there is at least one file of the specified type. For example, if there is a keogram for the current date the icon appears, otherwise "none" appears.
• The mean brightness is now calculated correctly for ZWO cameras running in RAW16 mode.

Enhancements

• Added support for RPi Version 1 (ov5647) camera.
• Added FAQ question on how to copy files to and from the Pi.

Bug Fixes

• AUTO_STRETCH now works.
• Latitude and Longitude processing was improved and a couple bugs fixed.
• The Allsky Map is no longer updated when "Show on map" is disabled.
• Consistent delays on ZWO cameras were not working at night.
• Installing a remote Allsky Website gave an error about a missing file.
• Some default values were incorrect for RPi cameras in the WebUI.
• Overlay Editor:
• Moon altitude not correct.
• When the text of a field changes it no longer moves on the screen.
• The snap rectangle was not correctly aligned with the grid.
• If the grid was disabled the overlay editor would not work.
• Text alignment is slightly off when comparing the overlay editor to the final image.
• Missing ERROR message for text fields totally outside of image dimensions.
• Default stroke color didn't work.
• Changing field contents or font size reset X to 0.
• Sensor temperature-related variables are no longer shown for RPi cameras. A future release of Allsky will support sensor temperature on cameras that support it.
• Ensure font zip files creates on OSX are handled correctly
• Ensure only txt and json files are processed in the extra directory
• Remove the 15px margin at the bottom of the overlay editor
• Added a visual warning in the overlay editor if a text field will appear outside of the image
• Fix incorrect position of the planets

Enhancements

• The Mean Threshold setting now has separate daytime and nighttime settings.
• The installation keeps track of where it is so if you have to exit it, for example, to update the locale, it resumes where it left off.
• The installation skips steps that aren't needed. This greatly decreases the time when upgrading from v2023.05.01 or v2023.05.01_01. It can also skip the reboot if possible.
• (RPi on Bullseye only) You can display the sensor temperature by doing the following:
  • Add --metadata   /home/pi/allsky/config/overlay/extra/libcamera.json to the Extra Arguments setting in the WebUI.
  • In the Overlay Editor's Variable Manager, look for AS_SensorTemperature in the All Variables tab. Click on + and define the variable:
    • Format: {:n}   (a whole number)
    • Type: Number
    • Enter whatever you'd like in the other fields.
    • Click on Save changes.
  • In the Allsky Variables tab look for ${SensorTemperature} in the Variable Name column and click on the + button. Move and format the field as desired.
  • Click on the flashing icon.

Bug Fixes

• Setting the Mean Target for daytime and nighttime didn't work - the default values were used instead.
• Keograms, startrails, and timelapse weren't being create at the end of night.

Enhancements

• If multiple consecutive "bad" images are found, a warning image is now displayed saying how many "bad" images were found. A system warning in the WebUI is also displayed with instructions on what to check.
  When Allsky starts it displays an "Allsky is Starting" image until the first good image is saved. Depending on your settings and the sky brightness, it may take many images before it gets a good one to save. The new warning image makes it obvious Allsky hasn't hung.
• In the WebUI's Editor page, the buttons (e.g., "Save changes") are now at the top of the page and stay there as you scroll down. A new "Top" button appears at the bottom of the page after you scroll to make it quick to get back to the top.
• Selecting Refresh from the Camera Type drop-down can be used to change cameras of the same Camera Type. For example, replacing a ZWO ASI120 with an ASI290.
• Greatly sped up the installation process when packages are not already installed by using prebuilt binaries where possible.
• Changing to a camera that Allsky hasn't seen before will use the prior camera's settings that typically are the same for all cameras, for example, Latitude, Angle, and Owner. You'll still need to verify other settings like exposure times are appropriate for the new camera.
  Changing to a camera that Allsky HAS seen before will use all that camera's prior settings.
• The installation only prompts for a new hostname if the current one is still the default "raspberrypi". The suggested new name is still "allsky". If the current hostname is anything other than the default the user already changed the Pi's name, so don't prompt to change again.
• Check at startup if the settings file is properly linked to a camera-specific file. When it isn't, changes to the settings won't be propogated during updates to Allsky or when switching cameras.
• ZWO only:
  • ZWO Experimental Exposure is a new setting that will use the Allsky auto-exposure algorithm at night (assuming nighttime auto-exposure is enabled). Initial testing indicates this improves the exposure of nightime images.

    If you enable this setting, please let us know if it helps or not by entering a Discussion item in GitHub. We need the feedback.

  • Target Mean can now be specified for daytime and nighttime. This is the same as for RPi cameras - values range from 0.0 (pure black) to 1.0 (pure white). 1.0 is equivalent to 255 in the ${MEAN} variable in the Overlay Editor.
  • Mean Threshold can now be specified. This is the same as for RPi cameras and determines how close the mean brightness needs to be to the Target Mean.
• If there are multiple Wi-Fi interfaces, information on each one will be displayed.
• The WebUI now validates numbers. For example, entering X300 for an exposure will produce an error. Hovering your mouse over a number's value will tell you if it must be a whole number or it accepts fractions.

Bug Fixes

• REMOVE_BAD_IMAGES would often flag dark, but "good" images as "bad" and not save them using the default REMOVE_BAD_IMAGES_THRESHOLD_LOW value of 1 (which is still a good default).

  If after installing this point release you are still getting a lot of "bad" images, do NOT disable REMOVE_BAD_IMAGES - instead, modify the REMOVE_BAD_IMAGES_THRESHOLD_* values as needed.

• The s3 upload protocol now sets the destination file name to image.jpg instead of image-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.jpg.
• The scp upload protocol now uses the REMOTE_USER setting.
• Set the upper limits on the x and y spinner controls in the overlay property editors to the size of the image, previously these were hard coded to 2048.
• When adding a new variable to the overlay variable list it can now be selected without refreshing the page.
• When an image is moved out of bounds using the x and y spinner controls a red rectangle will be drawn around the image, the same as if it were dragged out of bounds.
• Fixed a bug when compiling on i386 platforms, due to a recent Pi OS change.

Core Allsky

• New camera support:
  • All ZWO cameras as of May 1, 2023.
  • RPi HQ and Module 3 cameras.
  • ArduCam 16 and 64 MP cameras.
  • The RPi "Global Shutter Camera" is NOT supported - high speed shutters aren't useful for allsky images.
• "Mini" timelapse videos can be created that contain a user-configurable number of the most recent images. This allows you to continually see the recent sky conditions.
• Installation improvements:
  • If there is not enough swap space configured you are prompted to add more. Doing this decreases the chance of timelapse creation problems.
  • If allsky/tmp is not a memory-resident filesystem you are prompted to make it one. This SIGNIFICANTLY decreases the number of writes to the SD card, prolonging its life.
  • If a ~/allsky-OLD directory is found it's assumed to be a prior release of Allsky and you are prompted to have its images, darks, and other items moved to the new release. See the Installing / Upgrading -> Allsky page for instructions for installing this release.
• scripts/check_allsky.sh was added to perform basic sanity checking of your Allsky installation. Run it after you're done configuring Allsky to see if you have any issues.
• latitude and longitude can now be specified as either a decimal number (e.g., -105.21) or with N, S, E, W (e.g., 105.21W).
• Removed several settings from config.sh:
  • CAMERA: To update the camera type, use the new Camera Type setting in the WebUI. This is an advanced setting so you need to click the "Show Advanced Options" button to view it.
  • POST_END_OF_NIGHT_DATA is no longer needed since Allsky automatically determines if you have a local Allsky Website, a remote one, or both.
• New ftp-settings.sh variables:
  • REMOTE_PORT specifies a non-default FTP port.
  • SSH_KEY_FILE is the path to an SSH private key. When scp is used for uploads, this identify file will be used to establish the secure connection.
  • The Secure CP (scp) and Google Cloud Service (gcs) protocols are now supported for file uploads.
• The Wiki now points to files in the GitHub documentation directory. A copy of that directory is also on the Pi and accessible via the Documentation link in the WebUI.
• The Allsky Documentation has been significantly enhanced and expanded. Its goal is to be a single source for everything you need to know about Allsky. If you don't know how to do something, look it up. If it's not in the documentation, let us know.
• AUTO_STRETCH now works, and is documented with sample images.
• Images can now be uploaded using the full image-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.jpg name instead of the shorter image.jpg name. See the IMG_UPLOAD_ORIGINAL_NAME Allsky setting in the documentation.
• Many minor enhancements and bug fixes were made.

WebUI

• The WebUI is now installed as part of the Allsky installation and must be used to make all settings changes.

  The allsky-portal repository will be removed as it is no longer needed.

• New links on the left side of the WebUI:
  • Overlay Editor allows you to drag and drop the text and images you want overlayed on the images. This is a significant improvement over the old mechanism and lets you vary the font size, color, rotation, etc. for everything you add. You can use variables in the text which get replaced at run-time, e.g., the time the image was taken.
  • Module Manager allows you to specify what actions should take place after an image has been saved. For example you can add an overlay or count the number of stars or periodically control a dew heater. Users can develop (and hopefully share) their own modules. Full notes on how to develop modules is included in the documentation.
  • The Allsky Documentation link accesses the documentation on your Pi.
• Minimum, maximum, and default values are now correct for all camera models.
• Required fields with missing data are shown in red with a message saying the data is missing. For example, Latitude is a required field.
• New settings on the Allsky Settings page:
  • Camera Type is either ZWO or RPi. This replaces the CAMERA variable in the config.sh file and also allows you to switch between cameras connected to the Pi. For example, if you have both an RPi and ZWO camera attached, you can switch between them using this setting.
  • Max Auto-Exposure for day and night. When using auto-exposure, exposure times will not exceed this value.
  • Max Auto-Gain for day and night. When using auto-gain, gain values will not exceed this value.
  • Auto White Balance, Red Balance, and Blue Balance are now available for day and night.
  • Frames to Skip for day and night determine how many initial auto-exposure frames to ignore when starting Allsky, while the auto-exposure algorithm homes in on the correct exposure. These frames are often over or under exposed so not worth saving anyhow.
  • Consistent Delays determines whether or not the time between the start of exposures will be consistent (current behavior) or not. When enabled, the time between images is the maximum exposure time plus the delay you set.
  • Overlay Method determines if the text overlay (exposure, time, etc.) should be done by the legacy program or by the new "module" system (see above).

    The default method will change to the module method in the next release of Allsky, and after that the legacy overlay method will be removed.

  • Require WebUI Login specifies whether or not the WebUI should require you to login. Only set this to No if your Pi is on a local network and you trust everyone on the network. Do NOT disable it if your Pi is accessible via the Internet!
  • Cooling and Target Temp. (ZWO only) now have separate settings for day and night.
  • Aggression (ZWO only) determines how much of a calculated exposure change should be applied. This helps smooth out brightness changes, for example, when a car's headlights appear in one frame.
  • Gamma (ZWO only) changes the contrast of an image. It is only supported by a few cameras; for those that don't, the AUTO_STRETCH setting can produce a similar effect.
  • Offset (ZWO only) adds about 1/10th the specified amount to each pixel's brightness, thereby brightening the whole image. etting this too high causes the image to turn gray.
  • Contrast and Sharpness(RPi only).
  • Extra Parameters (RPi only) replaces the CAPTURE_EXTRA_PARAMETERS variable in the config.sh file, and allows you to pass parameters to the libcamera-still image capture program that Allsky doesn't natively support, such as auto-focus options.
  • Mean Target (RPi only) for day and night. This specifies the mean target brightness (0.0 (pure black) to 1.0 (pure white)) when in auto-exposure mode.
  • Mean Threshold (RPi only). This specifies how close the actual mean brightness must be to the Mean Target. For example, if Mean Target is 0.5 and Mean Threshold is 0.1, the actual mean can vary between 0.4 and 0.6 (0.5 +/- 0.1).
  • The Focus Metric setting is now available for ZWO cameras. Higher numbers indicate better focus. Use only when sky conditions are NOT changing.
• NOTE: the following settings moved from config.sh to the WebUI, and are "advanced" options so you'll need to click the "Show Advanced Options" button to see them:
  • DAYTIME_CAPTURE is now Take Daytime Images in the WebUI.
  • DAYTIME_SAVE is Save Daytime Images.
  • DARK_CAPTURE is Take Dark Frames.
  • DARK_FRAME_SUBTRACTION is Use Dark Frames.
• Debug Level is more consistent:
  • 0: errors only.
  • 1: level 0 plus warnings and messages about taking and saving pictures. This is the default.
  • 2: level 1 plus details on images captured, sleep messages and the like.
  • 3: level 2 plus time to save image, details on exposure settings and capture retries, and module execution.
  • 4: lots of gory details for developers only.
• System messages appear at the top of the WebUI whenever you need to take an action.
• Many minor enhancements were made.

Allsky Website

• The Allsky Website is now installed in ~/allsky/html/allsky.
• If an older version of the Website is found during Website installation you'll be prompted to have its images and settings moved to the new location.
• The home page can be customized:
  • You can specify the order, contents, look, and style of the icons on the left side. You can also hide an icon or display a new one.
  • You can specify the order, contents, and style of the popout that appears on the right side. For example, you can add a link to pictures of your allsky camera.
  • You can set a background image.
  • You can easily change the maximum width of the image.
  • You can add a link to a personal website. This link appears at the top of the page.
  • You can add a border around the image to have it stand out on the page.
  • You can hide the "Make Your Own" link on the bottom right of the page.
  • You can change the icon that appears on the browser's tab.
  • See the Allsky Website documentation for other customizations you can make.
• Left sidebar:
  • The constellation overlay icon (Casseopeia icon) is hidden by default and should only be displayed after you've set the overlay to match your stars.
  • If you are creating mini-timelapse videos, when you install the Website an icon for the current video will appear on the left side. You can also manually show/hide the icon.
  • There's a new icon to display the image full-size.
  • The startrails and information icons were updated.
• Popout on right side:
  • A link to your Image Settings can optionally be displayed via the Display Settings option in the WebUI.
  • The version of Allsky and the Allsky Website are displayed.
• Timelapse video thumbnails are now created by default on the Pi and uploaded to a remote server. This resolves issues with remote servers that don't support creating thumbnails. See the TIMELAPSE_UPLOAD_THUMBNAIL setting.
• Configuration file changes:
  • The two prior configuration files (config.js and virtualsky.json) are replaced by configuration.json.
  • There are several new settings, including the ability to specify the opacity of the overlay.
  • The overlaySize setting, which defined both the width and the height of the constellation overlay, was split into overlayWidth and overlayHeight. Having separate values can be helpful when trying to get the overlay to line up with the actual stars.
  • The WebUI Editor page must be used to edit the Allsky Website's configuration file since it performs various checks before updating the configuration.
  • The Editor page should also be used to edit a REMOTE Allsky Website's configuration file for the same reason.s A master copy of the remote server's configuration.json is kept on the Pi and automatically re-uploaded to the server after every change. After you do this, the drop-down list on the Editor page will now have configuration.json (remote Allsky Website) to distinguish it from a local Website's file. See the Allsky Website Installation documentation for details.

• Works on Bullseye operating system.
• RPi version:
  • Has an improved auto-exposure algorithm. To use it, set CAPTURE_EXTRA_PARAMETERS="-daymean 0.5 -nightmean 0.2" in config.sh.
  • Has many new settings including support for most of the text overlay features that are supported by the ZWO version.
• New and changed config.sh variables, see the Software Settings Wiki page for more information:
  • IMG_UPLOAD_FREQUENCY specifies how often the image should be uploaded to a website. Useful with slow uplinks or metered Internet connections.
  • IMG_CREATE_THUMBNAILS specifies whether or not thumbnails should be created for each image.
  • REMOVE_BAD_IMAGES now defaults to "true" since bad-image detection is now done after a picture is saved rather than once for all pictures at the end of the night. This helps decrease problems when creating startrails, keograms, and timelapse videos.
  • IMG_PREFIX: no longer used - the name of the image used by the websites is now whatever you specify in the WebUI (default: image.jpg).

  • When upgrading to 0.8.3 you MUST follow the steps listed here.

• Replaced saveImageDay.sh and saveImageNight.sh with saveImage.sh that has improved functionality, including passing the sensor temperature to the dark subtraction commands, thereby eliminating the need for the temperature.txt file.
• The image used by the websites (default: image.jpg) as well as all temporary files are now written to allsky/tmp.

  If you are using the Allsky Website you will need to change the imageName variable in /var/www/html/allsky/config.js to "/current/tmp/image.jpg".

• You can significantly reduce wear on your SD card by making allsky/tmp a memory-based filesystem.

• Rearranged the directory structure.
• Created a Wiki with additional documentation and troubleshooting tips.
• Renamed several variables in config.sh and ftp-settings.sh.
• CAMERA type of "auto" is no longer supported - you must specify "ZWO" or "RPi".
• Startrails and keograms are now created using all CPUs on the Pi, drastically speeding up creation time.
• Installing the WebUI now preserves any website files (keograms, startrails, etc.) you have. This allows for non-destructive updates of the WebUI.
• New script called upload.sh centralizes all the upload code from other scripts, and can be used to debug uploading issues. See this Wiki page for more information.
• The RPi camera does much better auto-exposure if you set the -mode-mean and -autoexposure options.
• The WebUI will now show the Pi's throttle and low-voltage states, which is useful for debugging.
• Darks work better.
• Many bug fixes, error checks, and warnings added.

• Workaround for ZWO daytime autoexposure bug.
• Improved exposure transitions between day and night so there's not such a huge change in brightness.
• Decrease in ZWO sensor temperature.
• Lots of new settings, including splitting some settings into day and night versions.
• Error checking and associated log messages added in many places to aid in debugging.
• Ability to have "notification" images displayed, such as "Allsky is starting up" and "Taking dark frames".
• Ability to resize uploaded images.
• Ability to set thumbnail size.
• Ability to delete bad images (corrupt and too light/dark).
• Ability to set an image file name prefix.
• Ability to reset USB bus if ZWO camera isn't found (requires uhubctl command to be installed).
• Ability to specify the format of the time displayed on images.
• Ability to have the temperature displayed in Celsius, Fahrenheit, or both.
• Ability to set bitrate on timelapse video.