What's new in this release 1.2.7

• Fixed issues: 29 and 47
• Upadte Java Virtual Machine
• Other minor bugs fixed

Installation instructions of JMicroVision 1.2.7

Windows Instructions:

1. Right-click on the link and select "Save Target As..."
2. After downloading, double-click JMicroVision-v127-win32.exe
3. Follow the instructions in the installation wizard to complete the installation.

Uninstall: Start > Program Files > JMicroVision 1.2.7 > Uninstall

Launch JMicroVision: Start > Program Files > JMicroVision 1.2.7 > JMicroVision

Start the Configuration Wizard: Start > Program Files > JMicroVision 1.2.7 > JMicroVision Configuration

Linux Instructions:

1. Right-click on the link and select "Save Target As..."
2. After downloading, extract the archive
3. Then, set the execute permissions to the directory: type chmod -R u+x JMicroVision-v127-linux in a Terminal screen

Uninstall: Delete the directory of JMicroVision 1.2.7.

Launch JMicroVision: In the directory of JMicroVision 1.2.7, double-click JMVision or type ./JMVision in a Terminal screen. If the launcher does not start, type ldd JMVision to show the dependencies with the shared libraries and add to your system the missing packages. It is also possible to launch JMicroVision by using the Java command (see Generic or Other Platforms Instructions).

Start the Configuration Wizard: In the directory of JMicroVision 1.2.7, type ./JMVision -config in a Terminal screen.

Solaris X86 Instructions:

1. Right-click on the link and select "Save Target As..."
2. After downloading, extract the archive
3. Then, set the execute permissions to the directory: type chmod -R u+x JMicroVision-v127-solarisx86 in a Terminal screen

Note: You need to install a Java 1.5.0 (or later) virtual machine (JRE) or later and JAI 1.1.2 (for JRE) or later before launching JMicroVision.

Uninstall: Delete the directory of JMicroVision 1.2.7.

Launch JMicroVision: In the directory of JMicroVision 1.2.7, double-click JMVision or type ./JMVision in a Terminal screen. If the launcher does not start, type ldd JMVision to show the dependencies with the shared libraries and add to your system the missing packages. It is also possible to launch JMicroVision by using the Java command (see Generic or Other Platforms Instructions).

Start the Configuration Wizard: In the directory of JMicroVision 1.2.7, type ./JMVision -config in a Terminal screen.

Mac OS X Instructions:

1. Requires Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or later and J2SE 5.0 must be installed
2. Click on the link to save "JMicroVision-v127-mac.zip"
3. Extract the application from the archive and use it as a common OS X application

Note: For 10.7 and later, Java must be installed on your System (for Lion). 1) Open the Applications folder in Finder, find the app and choose show package contents. 2) Find JavaApplicationStub, /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/A/Resources/MacOS/JavaApplicationStub. 3) Copy it into the JMicroVision 1.2.7.app/Contents/MacOS folder from step 2.

Uninstall: Delete the application.

Launch JMicroVision: Double-click JMicroVision 1.2.7.

Start the Configuration Wizard: Does not exist. To modify the parameters of Java Runtime, control-click on JMicroVision 1.2.7 in the Finder and choose “Show Package Contents”, edit the Info.pList file located in the folder “Contents”.

Generic or Other Platforms Instructions:

1. Right-click on the link and select "Save Target As..."
2. After downloading, extract the archive

Note: You need to install a Java 1.5.0 (or later) virtual machine (JRE) or later and JAI 1.1.2 (for JRE) or later before launching JMicroVision.

System Requirements

• Any platforms supporting Java 1.5 and JAI (Java Advanced Imaging), but Windows, Linux, Solaris and Mac OS X (partially) have a native acceleration that improves the performance.
• 256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended for handling large images)
• 60-90 MB available disk space (includes Java Virtual Machine)

Optimize Performance

Memory Management

The initial Java heap size sets the amount of memory that is initially reserved for the application, while the maximum Java heap size determines the largest amount of memory the application will be allowed to consume. Optimal settings for these options are dependent on several issues such as the Java runtime you are using and the actual physical configuration of your machine.

Open the JMicroVision.ini file located in the install directory with a text editor or start the Configuration Wizard in graphical mode (see above for each platform) and change the values of the heap size. Default values (64 for initial and 384 for maximum) are suitable for a machine with 512 MB of RAM. For instance, if you have a computer with 256 MB of RAM, the values must be changed to 32 MB (initial) and 128 (maximum) to avoid memory swapping. But with 128 MB of maximum heap size, some operations like converting or saving images may result in a "out of memory" message of the Java runtime.

Note: These changes take effect when you restart JMicroVision. Before editing the JMicroVision.ini file, it is safer to make a backup. In Generic or Other Platforms distribution, the JMicroVision.ini does not exist, only the command parameters (-Xms and -Xmx) define the heap size values.

Note: On Mac OS X, the JMicroVision.ini does not exist. Control-click on JMicroVision in the Finder and choose “Show Package Contents”. This will open a folder that contains a folder called “Contents”. Open the Info.pList file in a text editor and change the heap size values (-Xms and -Xmx).

The cache memory for tiles is the memory used to store the image tiles for future requests. Each tile can be processed and stored separately. Previously allocated tiles may also be re-used to save memory. Tiling improves the performance and facilitates the use of multiple threads for computation.

When loading an image, JMicroVision asks to convert the image to a tiled TIFF format, which is a format with a tiled data structure. As a result, each tile can be loaded separately in memory (without a tiled format, the whole image would be loaded).

The value of the cache memory for tiles essentially depends on the maximum Java heap size. The best value is the maximum Java heap size minus the memory required by the application (generally 20 to 100 MB, it can be more when converting very large images; cache memory used by images is not included). The used memory is the total memory used by the application.

Using OpenGL for Java 2D

J2SE 5.0 includes a new OpenGL-based pipeline for Java 2D. This pipeline provides hardware acceleration for simple rendering operations (text, images, lines and filled primitives) as well as those that involve complex transforms, paints, composites and clips. This pipeline is available on Solaris, Linux and Windows platforms (not supported in J2SE 5.0 Release 1 on Mac OS X) and is currently disabled by default (-Dsun.java2d.opengl=false).

To enable the OpenGL acceleration, open the JMicroVision.ini file located in the install directory with a text editor or start the Configuration Wizard in graphical mode (see above for each platform) and change the value "false" by "true" (-Dsun.java2d.opengl=true).

Note: These changes take effect when you restart JMicroVision. Before editing the JMicroVision.ini file, it is safer to make a backup. In Generic or Other Platforms distribution, the JMicroVision.ini does not exist, use the VM option command "-Dsun.java2d.opengl=true".

Note: Some graphics drivers might cause rendering artifacts or very slow rendering in JMicroVision. Try to install the latest OpenGL drivers provided by your graphics hardware manufacturer. If it doesn't work, set back the option to "-Dsun.java2d.opengl=false".