Remote Microscope software 1.0a1 released

Andrew M. Kuchling (akuchlin@cnri.reston.va.us)
Tue, 24 Nov 1998 13:25:27 -0500 (EST)

Version 1.0alpha1 of CNRI's Remote Microscope software is now
available. The Remote Microscope system allows users to access and
control an optical microscope over the Internet using a Java applet,
as demonstrated at the recent Python conference.

This is relevant to the SANE list because it uses SANE and, in
particular, David Skoll's DMC backend to handle the acquisition of
images.

Overview
========

As part of the MEMS Exchange project, CNRI is working on fully
automated and remotely controllable semiconductor inspection
microscopes to let chip designers view their wafers from any location
having an Internet connection. However, Internet microscope access
can be useful in other fields, such as biology or material science.
We're releasing the code for our microscope software in the hope that
other people will find it useful and will contribute suggestions,
improvements, ports to new systems, etc.

The system consists of a server that manages the microscope and
handles TCP connections, and Java-based client software that allows
users to control the microscope. Currently the server software has
been run on a Linux machine connected to the following devices:

* Leica INM200 optical microscope
* Polaroid Digital Microscope Camera

It shouldn't be too difficult to get the server running on other
operating systems. Adding support for a different digital camera or
microscope will be more difficult, but such portability is important
to us, so we're willing to provide guidance and help to anyone trying
to do that. Extensibility is important to us, because one of our
future goals is to extend the system to support different microscopes
and cameras, and even other inspection devices such as scanning
electron microscopes and profilometers.

Where to find it
================

At the Remote Microscope home page, you can find screen shots, more
technical information, the software license, and the actual code.

Remote Microscope home page:
http://www.mems-exchange.org/software/microscope/

Requirements
============

The client software should run in any Java virtual machine that
supports version 1.1 of the Java specifications. We've been using
either Netscape 4.06 and up, or the 1.1 version of Sun's JDK.

The server software requires Python, the Python Imaging Library, and
the SANE (Scanners Are Now Easy) API. Consult the following URLs for
more information about the required packages:

Python:
http://www.python.org
Python Imaging Library:
http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/index.htm
SANE:
http://www.mostang.com/sane/

Mailing lists
=============

A mailing list (microscope-list) has been created for discussion of
the microscope software, from both the user and developer perspective.
There's also a moderated list for announcements (microscope-announce).

Mailing list info:
http://www.mems-exchange.org/software/microscope/lists.html

We're working on a way to let users take our microscope for a test
drive; that will be announced on the microscope-announce mailing list
when it becomes available.

Regards,

-- 
A.M. Kuchling			akuchlin@cnri.reston.va.us
Technical Staff, CNRI		Tel.: (703) 620-8990 x278
"Wet", said he. Classics was his subject, and he sometimes affected a
classical simplicity in social conversation.
    -- Robertson Davies, _Tempest-Tost_

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